[JPRT 109-33]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
109th Congress S. Prt.
1st Session JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT 109-33
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRACTICES FOR 2004
VOLUME II
__________
R E P O R T
SUBMITTED TO THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
U.S. SENATE
AND THE
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
U.S. 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
SEPTEMBER 2005
Printed for the use of the Committees on Foreign Relations of the U.S.
Senate and International Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives
respectively
______
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana, Chairman
CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware
LINCOLN CHAFEE, Rhode Island PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland
GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut
NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BARBARA BOXER, California
JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire BILL NELSON, Florida
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska BARACK OBAMA, Illinois
MEL MARTINEZ, Florida
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Staff Director
Antony J. Blinken, Democratic Staff Director
------
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
Vice Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
DAN BURTON, Indiana ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
ELTON GALLEGLY, California Samoa
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
DANA ROHRABACHER, California ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
PETER T. KING, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
RON PAUL, Texas WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
DARRELL ISSA, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona BARBARA LEE, California
JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
JERRY WELLER, Illinois SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
MIKE PENCE, Indiana GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida DIANE E. WATSON, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina ADAM SMITH, Washington
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
CONNIE MACK, Florida DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
MICHAEL McCAUL, Texas
TED POE, Texas
Thomas E. Mooney, Sr., Staff Director/General Counsel
Robert R. King, Democratic Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Foreword......................................................... ix
Letter of Transmittal............................................ xi
Preface.......................................................... xiii
Overview and Acknowledgments..................................... xv
Introduction..................................................... xix
Volume I
Africa
Angola....................................................... 1
Benin........................................................ 15
Botswana..................................................... 24
Burkina Faso................................................. 33
Burundi...................................................... 43
Cameroon..................................................... 59
Cape Verde................................................... 79
Central African Republic..................................... 84
Chad......................................................... 97
Comoros...................................................... 112
Congo, Democratic Republic of the............................ 117
Congo, Republic of........................................... 143
Cote d'Ivoire................................................ 151
Djibouti..................................................... 180
Equatorial Guinea............................................ 188
Eritrea...................................................... 199
Ethiopia..................................................... 209
Gabon........................................................ 231
Gambia, The.................................................. 239
Ghana........................................................ 249
Guinea....................................................... 266
Guinea-Bissau................................................ 278
Kenya........................................................ 284
Lesotho...................................................... 304
Liberia...................................................... 310
Madagascar................................................... 321
Malawi....................................................... 329
Mali......................................................... 340
Mauritania................................................... 349
Mauritius.................................................... 360
Mozambique................................................... 366
Namibia...................................................... 380
Niger........................................................ 389
Nigeria...................................................... 398
Rwanda....................................................... 420
Sao Tome and Principe........................................ 438
Senegal...................................................... 441
Seychelles................................................... 451
Sierra Leone................................................. 457
Somalia...................................................... 468
South Africa................................................. 478
Sudan........................................................ 495
Swaziland.................................................... 513
Tanzania..................................................... 522
Togo......................................................... 547
Uganda....................................................... 559
Zambia....................................................... 577
Zimbabwe..................................................... 592
East Asia and the Pacific
Australia.................................................... 615
Brunei....................................................... 628
Burma........................................................ 636
Cambodia..................................................... 664
China (includes Hong Kong and Macau)......................... 682
China (Taiwan only).......................................... 755
East Timor................................................... 769
Fiji......................................................... 779
Indonesia.................................................... 786
Japan........................................................ 817
Kiribati..................................................... 828
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of....................... 832
Korea, Republic of........................................... 843
Laos......................................................... 855
Malaysia..................................................... 869
Marshall Islands............................................. 891
Micronesia, Federated States of.............................. 895
Mongolia..................................................... 901
Nauru........................................................ 910
New Zealand.................................................. 914
Palau........................................................ 920
Papua New Guinea............................................. 925
Philippines.................................................. 932
Samoa........................................................ 949
Singapore.................................................... 955
Solomon Islands.............................................. 972
Thailand..................................................... 979
Tonga........................................................ 1000
Tuvalu....................................................... 1004
Vanuatu...................................................... 1008
Vietnam...................................................... 1014
Europe and Eurasia
Albania...................................................... 1037
Andorra...................................................... 1052
Armenia...................................................... 1055
Austria...................................................... 1066
Azerbaijan................................................... 1076
Belarus...................................................... 1095
Belgium...................................................... 1118
Bosnia-Herzegovina........................................... 1126
Bulgaria..................................................... 1146
Croatia...................................................... 1160
Cyprus....................................................... 1178
Czech Republic............................................... 1194
Denmark...................................................... 1205
Estonia...................................................... 1212
Finland...................................................... 1218
France....................................................... 1223
Georgia...................................................... 1234
Germany...................................................... 1252
Greece....................................................... 1266
Hungary...................................................... 1279
Iceland...................................................... 1293
Ireland...................................................... 1301
Italy........................................................ 1308
Kazakhstan................................................... 1317
Kyrgyz Republic.............................................. 1339
Latvia....................................................... 1356
Liechtenstein................................................ 1364
Lithuania.................................................... 1369
Luxembourg................................................... 1380
Macedonia.................................................... 1385
Malta........................................................ 1402
Moldova...................................................... 1407
Monaco....................................................... 1421
Netherlands, The............................................. 1425
Norway....................................................... 1432
Poland....................................................... 1436
Portugal..................................................... 1450
Romania...................................................... 1456
Russia....................................................... 1478
San Marino................................................... 1526
Serbia and Montenegro........................................ 1529
Slovak Republic.............................................. 1571
Slovenia..................................................... 1582
Spain........................................................ 1589
Sweden....................................................... 1597
Switzerland.................................................. 1604
Tajikistan................................................... 1616
Turkey....................................................... 1629
Turkmenistan................................................. 1656
Ukraine...................................................... 1670
United Kingdom............................................... 1698
Uzbekistan................................................... 1709
Volume II
Near East and North Africa
Algeria...................................................... 1733
Bahrain...................................................... 1750
Egypt........................................................ 1770
Iran......................................................... 1793
Iraq......................................................... 1816
Israel and the occupied territories.......................... 1830
Jordan....................................................... 1865
Kuwait....................................................... 1881
Lebanon...................................................... 1901
Libya........................................................ 1919
Morocco...................................................... 1926
Western Sahara............................................... 1942
Oman......................................................... 1945
Qatar........................................................ 1953
Saudi Arabia................................................. 1963
Syria........................................................ 1979
Tunisia...................................................... 1995
United Arab Emirates......................................... 2013
Yemen........................................................ 2027
South Asia
Afghanistan.................................................. 2043
Bangladesh................................................... 2055
Bhutan....................................................... 2071
India........................................................ 2079
Maldives..................................................... 2112
Nepal........................................................ 2120
Pakistan..................................................... 2140
Sri Lanka.................................................... 2158
Western Hemisphere
Antigua and Barbuda.......................................... 2173
Argentina.................................................... 2177
Bahamas...................................................... 2187
Barbados..................................................... 2195
Belize....................................................... 2200
Bolivia...................................................... 2208
Brazil....................................................... 2219
Canada....................................................... 2245
Chile........................................................ 2252
Colombia..................................................... 2263
Costa Rica................................................... 2292
Cuba......................................................... 2302
Dominica..................................................... 2321
Dominican Republic........................................... 2325
Ecuador...................................................... 2341
El Salvador.................................................. 2352
Grenada...................................................... 2367
Guatemala.................................................... 2371
Guyana....................................................... 2393
Haiti........................................................ 2403
Honduras..................................................... 2419
Jamaica...................................................... 2436
Mexico....................................................... 2444
Nicaragua.................................................... 2464
Panama....................................................... 2480
Paraguay..................................................... 2494
Peru......................................................... 2505
St. Kitts and Nevis.......................................... 2523
Saint Lucia.................................................. 2528
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines............................. 2532
Suriname..................................................... 2537
Trinidad and Tobago.......................................... 2548
Uruguay...................................................... 2552
Venezuela.................................................... 2559
Appendixes
A. Notes on Preparation of the Reports.......................... 2579
B. Reporting on Worker Rights................................... 2583
C. Selected International Human Rights Conventions.............. 2585
D. Description of Conventions in Appendix C..................... 2593
E. FY 2004 Selected U.S. Assistance Programs--Actual Obligations 2594
F. 60th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission Voting
Record......................................................... 2605
G. 60th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission Voting Table 2611
H. United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights......... 2615
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.
Richard G. Lugar,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations.
Henry J. Hyde,
Chairman, Committee on International Relations.
(ix)
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
Department of State,
Washington, DC, March 31, 2005
Hon. Richard Lugar,
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 2004, 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,
Paul V. Kelly,
Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.
Enclosure.
(xi)
PREFACE
----------
HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS
In his second inaugural address, President Bush renewed
America's commitment to stand for freedom and human dignity
throughout the world:
America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are
now one. From the day of our founding, we have
proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has
rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they
bear the image of the maker of heaven and earth. Across
the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of
self-government, because no one is fit to be a master,
and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these
ideals is the mission that created our nation. It is
the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the
urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the
calling of our time.
So it is the policy of the United States to seek and
support the growth of democratic movements and
institutions in every nation and culture, with the
ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices provide a key
framework that the United States and others around the world
use in assessing the state of human freedom and in marshalling
efforts to advance it. The conscientious compiling of these
reports equips us to more effectively stand against oppression
and for human dignity and liberty. Our embassies and Washington
staff work closely with local citizens, human rights and other
organizations, and community leaders to identify, investigate,
and verify information. These volumes, available in the
languages of most of the world's peoples, foster discussion,
promote advocacy, permit the measurement of progress, and show
where improvements are needed.
Over the last 12 months, we have worked closely with the
international community to enable citizens in countries such as
Guatemala, Indonesia, Ghana, Ukraine, and Afghanistan to make
their votes truly count in selecting their governments. This
fundamental right to effective suffrage opens the door for
advancing a wide range of other rights, as the records in these
countries have already begun to show.
This 28th edition of our Country Reports turns our
spotlight on 196 countries, ranging from the stoutest defenders
to the worst violators of human dignity. We take seriously our
responsibility to report as accurately, as sensitively, and as
carefully as possible the information in these reports.
The information contained in this report allows us to
construct strategies for promoting freedom and individual
liberty. In the coming month we will report on the specific
steps we have taken over the past year to support human rights
and democracy.
Mindful of the diligent effort and widespread cooperation
both within and outside the Department that has gone into
preparing these reports, I am pleased to transmit the
Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
for 2004 to the U.S. Congress.
Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
OVERVIEW AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
----------
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 August 1993, the Secretary of State moved to strengthen
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 2004
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, the 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 issues, 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, prohibition of forced or compulsory
labor, the status of child labor practices, and 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: Nadia Tongour; Deputy Editor-in-Chief: LeRoy
G. Potts; Senior Advisors: Elizabeth Dugan, and Gretchen
Birkle; Senior Editors: Cortney Dell, Dan Dolan, Stephen
Eisenbraun, Leonel Miranda, Jennifer M. Pekkinen and Stan
Ifshin; Editors: Joseph S. Barghout, Jonathan Bemis, Ryan J.
Casteel, Sharon C. Cooke, Stuart Crampton, Frank B. Crump,
Mollie Davis, Sajit Gandhi, Joan Garner, Solange Garvey, Jerome
L. Hoganson, Victor Huser, Kari Johnstone, David T. Jones,
Sandra J. Murphy, Daniel L. Nadel, Donald E. Parker, Gary V.
Price, Elizabeth Ramborger, Peter Sawchyn, and Julie Turner;
Assistant Editors: Lori Rothamel, Janet Mayland, Editorial
Assistants: Gene Bigler, Kent Brokenshire, Sally I. Buikema,
Lynda Walker-Johnson and Carol G. Finerty; Technical Support:
Linda C. Hayes, Mancharee Junk, Alonzo Simmons, and Tanika N.
Willis.
INTRODUCTION TO THE COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES FOR 2004
On September 17, 2002, President Bush presented a new
National Security Strategy for the United States based on the
principle that promoting political and economic freedom and
respect for human dignity will build a safer and better world.
To guide and focus the national effort that had grown out of
the war on terrorism, the strategy outlined a series of
fundamental tasks which, among others, required our Government
to champion aspirations for human rights and build democracy.
In his second inaugural address on January 20, 2005, President
Bush elaborated on that principle: ``The survival of liberty in
our land depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The
best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in
all the world.''
The United States and its international partners worked
with many countries during 2004 to expand freedom by helping to
protect the political rights of their citizens and to advance
the rule of law in their societies. In a few cases, where
concerns centered on the rights of the people to choose their
own governments, dramatic developments focused global attention
on their struggles and landmark achievements.
In the past three years since the removal of the Taliban
regime, the people of Afghanistan have worked to diminish
terrorism and improve security; to bridge traditional ethnic,
religious, and tribal divides; to craft a new constitution
faithful to their values and way of life; to extend fundamental
rights to women and minorities; and to open their society to
unprecedented political competition and freedom of expression.
The international community responded to this undertaking by
helping to register voters across a geographically scattered,
largely illiterate population; by educating cadres of Afghan
election workers and political participants in the conduct of
elections and campaigns and by joining with Afghan forces to
provide security during pre-election preparations and during
the actual voting. In the presidential election, which took
place in October, 18 candidates vied for the votes of the 10
million registered Afghans, more than 40 percent of whom were
women. Despite threats and attacks before the vote and serious
technical challenges, more than 8 million Afghans--including
more than 3.2 million women--cast ballots to choose their
leader in a truly democratic election for the first time, with
a majority selecting President Hamid Karzai.
In Ukraine, the presidential election campaign was marred
by government pressure on opposition candidates and by
widespread violations and fraud during the voting. The Kuchma
government engaged in fraud and manipulation during the
presidential election in both the first and second round of
voting on October 31 and November 21. The Government censored
media outlets and journalists to influence news coverage, which
sparked the so-called ``journalist rebellion'' among reporters
who refused to follow government directives. Eventually,
popular demonstrations against the official results of the
flawed November 21 vote gradually swelled into an ``Orange
Revolution,'' the campaign color associated with opposition
leader Viktor Yushchenko, who was widely believed to have won
the election.
Respect for human rights in Ukraine took a decided turn for
the better when, on December 3, the country's Supreme Court
invalidated the runoff election as fraudulent, vindicating the
observations of many domestic and international monitors about
numerous violations of electoral procedures, harassment of
opposition candidates, heavily biased coverage in government-
controlled media, and widespread voting and counting fraud. In
the court-mandated repeat election on December 26, the people
of Ukraine selected their new President. International
observers of that vote, won by Yushchenko, noted the
improvements in media coverage, increase in transparency of the
voting process, decrease in government pressure to support a
particular candidate, and fewer disruptions at the polls. The
new President expressed a strong commitment to democracy, the
rule of law, and observance of human rights.
In Iraq, people faced a series of difficult tasks as they
prepared to choose their own leader through democratic
elections, while the severity and ubiquity of terrorist attacks
expanded the dimensions of the challenges. First, the Iraqi
Governing Council achieved consensus on a framework for the
transition of sovereignty back to Iraqi authorities under the
aegis of the rule of law and clearly defined procedures by
which Iraq's citizens would be able to choose their own
authorities and construct their own constitutional order. In
March, the approval of the Transitional Administrative Law
(TAL) achieved these objectives and paved the way for the
second step, the transition of sovereignty from the Coalition
Provisional Authority to the Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) on
June 28.
Working with the assistance of the United Nations and other
international advisors, the IIG established the Independent
Electoral Commission of Iraq, an independent election authority
that established procedures for registration of and voting by
Iraqis and expatriates in 14 other countries. On August 15-18,
the National Conference convened and elected a 100-member
Interim National Council. Elections for the Transitional
National Assembly, the country's legislative authority and the
first step in the formation of an Iraqi Transitional
Government, were scheduled to take place on January 30, 2005.
According to the TAL, the transitional government will draft a
permanent constitution that is to be ratified by August 2005,
and new elections are to be held for a permanent government
under that Constitution by December 2005.
We believe events like these elections will increase the
prospects for peace, provide a solid grounding for self-
government in these countries and help create momentum for the
improvement of human rights practices for all people
participating in them. Yet progress along this path will not be
easy or rapid, at least at first, as the 196 detailed reports
in this volume amply demonstrate. In a number of cases, these
reports will show that human rights practices may actually have
eroded despite the successful completion of internationally
accepted elections, as has occurred in some respects with the
judiciary and the media since the voting that took place last
year in Venezuela.
It was in part the recognition of the complexity and
difficulty of the task of promoting human rights that led
Congress in 1977 to institutionalize the Department of State's
process of compiling these annual Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices. By providing this compendium of witness to
the global human rights experience, we hope that the record of
this work in progress will help illuminate both future tasks
and the potential for greater cooperation in advancing the
aspirations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Year in Review: Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Behind the detail of 196 country reports contained in the
pages that follow, the developments and experiences in certain
countries stand out due not only to the intensity of the human
rights problems but also to our involvement with the victims
and their governments during 2004.
The Government of Sudan's human rights record remained
extremely poor as it continued to restrict freedom of speech,
press, assembly, association, religion and movement. It
arrested and harassed those who exercised these rights.
At year's end, there were more than 1.5 million Internally
Displaced Person (IDPs) in the Sudanese Province of Darfur, and
another 200,000 civilians had fled to Chad, where the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) coordinated a massive refugee
relief effort. Approximately 70,000 people reportedly died as a
result of the violence and forced displacement.
Despite the Government's repeated commitments to refrain
from further violence in Darfur, the atrocities continued.
Government and government-supported militias known as the
Jinjaweed routinely attacked civilian villages. Typically, the
Jinjaweed, often in concert with regular government forces,
conducted attacks under cover of military aerial support. In
September, after carefully reviewing a detailed study conducted
by independent experts covering the experience of more than
1,100 refugees, Secretary of State Colin Powell concluded that
genocide had been committed against the people of Darfur,
saying that ``Genocide has been committed in Darfur and that
the Government of Sudan and Jinjaweed bear responsibility and
that genocide may still be occurring.''
Government forces in that region routinely killed, injured,
and displaced civilians, and destroyed clinics and dwellings
intentionally during offensive operations. There were confirmed
reports that government-supported militia also intentionally
attacked civilians, looted their possessions, and destroyed
their villages.
At the same time, year-end developments in negotiations
related to the North-South conflict provided hope for peace and
improvement of human rights practices in other areas of Sudan.
By year's end, the State Department saw significant movement on
the preliminary accords between the Government and the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement Army after 21 years of low
intensity conflict.
In response to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's
(North Korea) continued brutal and repressive treatment of its
people, the United States Congress enacted the North Korea
Human Rights Act of 2004. The Act seeks to address the serious
human rights situation in North Korea and to promote durable
solutions for North Korean refugees, transparency in provision
of humanitarian assistance, a free flow of information, and a
peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula.
In Belarus, police abuse and occasional torture of
prisoners and detainees continued. The security forces
arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens for political
reasons; in addition, individuals were sued and sentenced to
jail terms for such political crimes as ``defamation'' of state
officials, often interpreted to include criticism of their
policies. The Government of Belarus persisted in discounting
credible reports regarding the role of government officials in
the long-term disappearances of a journalist and well-known
opposition political figures and failed to conduct full,
transparent investigations into these disappearances. Instead,
the Government appointed Viktor Sheiman, linked to
disappearances by credible evidence in a Council of Europe
report, as Head of the Presidential Administration, thus
perpetuating a climate of abuse with impunity.
In Burma, the Junta ruled by decree and was not bound by
any constitutional provisions providing any fundamental rights.
Security forces carried out extrajudicial killings. In
addition, disappearances continued, and security forces raped,
tortured, beat, and otherwise abused prisoners and detainees.
Arbitrary arrests and incommunicado detention were frequent.
Security forces also regularly infringed on citizens' privacy,
forcibly relocated populations, and conscripted child soldiers.
The Government of Iran was responsible for numerous
killings during the year, including executions following trials
that lacked due process. There were numerous reports that
security forces tortured prisoners and detainees. Additionally,
there were arbitrary arrests, extended incommunicado detention,
poor and overcrowded prisons, lack of access to counsel,
punishment by the lash, and violation of personal privacy.
China's cooperation and progress on human rights during
2004 was disappointing. China failed to fulfill many of the
commitments it made at the 2002 U.S.-China Human Rights
Dialogue. However, at the end of the year, working level
discussions on human rights, which had been suspended when the
U.S. supported a resolution on China's human rights practices
at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), were resumed.
During 2004, the government continued to arrest and detain
activists, such as individuals discussing freely on the
Internet, defense lawyers advocating on behalf of dissidents
and the dispossessed, activists arguing for HIV/AIDs issues,
journalists reporting on SARS, intellectuals expressing
political views, persons attending house churches, and workers
protesting for their rights. Abuses continued in Chinese
prisons. The Government continued its crackdown against the
Falun Gong spiritual movement, and tens of thousands of
practitioners remained incarcerated in prisons, extrajudicial
reeducation-through-labor camps, and psychiatric facilities.
The National People's Congress amended the Constitution to
include protection of human rights, yet it is unclear to what
extent the Government plans to implement this amendment.
In Saudi Arabia, there were positive developments in a few
areas, including a government-sponsored conference on women's
rights and obligations and the formation of the first formal
human rights organization permitted in the Kingdom. In October,
the Government issued an executive by-law entitling some long-
term residents to apply for citizenship, and by year's end,
voter and candidate registration, albeit only for men, was well
advanced for municipal elections scheduled for February 2005.
The record of human rights abuses and violations for Saudi
Arabia, however, still far exceeds the advances. There were
credible reports of torture and abuse of prisoners by security
forces, arbitrary arrests, and incommunicado detentions. The
religious police continued to intimidate, abuse, and detain
citizens and foreigners. Most trials were closed, and
defendants usually appeared before judges without legal
counsel. Security forces arrested and detained reformers. The
Government continued to restrict freedoms of speech and press,
assembly, association and movement, and there were reports that
the Government infringed on individuals' privacy rights.
Violence and discrimination against women, violence against
children, discrimination against ethnic and religious
minorities, and strict limitations on worker rights continued.
In contrast to developments in a number of countries that
increased direct citizen control over government authorities,
in Russia changes in parliamentary election laws and a shift to
the appointment, instead of election, of regional governors
further strengthened the power of the executive branch. Greater
restrictions on the media, a compliant Duma (Parliament),
shortcomings in recent national elections, law enforcement
corruption, and political pressure on the judiciary also raised
concerns about the erosion of government accountability.
Racially motivated violence and discrimination increased,
despite considerable legislative prohibitions. Authorities
failed to investigate actions against minorities while
subjecting them to more frequent document checks, targeting
them for deportation from urban centers, and fining them in
excess of permissible penalties or detaining them more
frequently. Government institutions intended to protect human
rights were relatively weak.
The Government of Zimbabwe has conducted a concerted
campaign of violence, repression, and intimidation. This
campaign has been marked by disregard for human rights, the
rule of law, and the welfare of Zimbabwe's citizens. Torture by
various methods is used against political opponents and human
rights advocates. War veterans, youth brigades, and police
officers act with sustained brutality against political
enemies. The Mugabe regime has also targeted other institutions
of government, including the judiciary and police. Judges have
been harassed into submission or resignation, replaced by
Mugabe's cronies. The news media have been restricted and
suppressed, with offending journalists arrested and beaten.
Land seizures continue to be used as a tool for political and
social oppression, and opponents of these destructive policies
are subject to violent reprisals.
Respect for human rights remained poor in Venezuela during
2004, despite the Government victory in an August referendum to
recall President Chavez. Opponents charged that the process was
fraudulent, but Organization of American States (OAS) and
Carter Center observers found that the official results
``reflected the will of the electorate.'' Throughout the year,
the Government increased its control over the judicial system
and its interference in the administration of justice.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were subject to threats
and intimidation by government supporters. In December, the
legislature passed laws that erode freedom of the media,
freedom of speech, and which in effect make criticism of the
government a criminal offense. The U.S. Government sanctioned
the Venezuelan Government for continuing to fall short in
efforts to combat trafficking in persons.
Fidel Castro added another year to his record as the
longest serving dictator in the world. The Government retained
its stance of rejection of all democratic processes and
continued its harassment and intimidation of pro-democracy
activists, dissidents, journalists and other professionals and
workers seeking to undertake economic activities not controlled
by the state. The majority of the 75 dissidents sentenced to
long jail terms in 2003 remained incarcerated despite
international protests, and the authorities arrested 22
additional human rights activists and sentenced them for acts
such as ``contempt for authority.'' Addressing abuses in Cuba
continued to be a priority for the United States as a member of
the UNCHR.
During its 2004 session, the UNCHR formally adopted a U.S.-
sponsored resolution on Cuba, as well as resolutions on
Turkmenistan, North Korea and Belarus for the second year in a
row. A resolution on Burma was approved by consensus. With such
member countries as Zimbabwe, Cuba, Sudan, and China, which
fail to protect their own citizens' rights, the 2004 session of
the UNCHR fell short in several respects. The Commission failed
to adopt resolutions on the human rights situations in China,
Zimbabwe and Chechnya. The United States continued to emphasize
the need to improve the functioning of the Commission,
especially by supporting the inclusion of more countries with
positive human rights records.
The United States believes that democratically elected
governments are more likely to respect their citizens' human
rights. For this reason, the United States collaborated with
other participating countries of the Community of Democracies
(CD), a network of democratic countries working together to
promote, solidify, and advance democracy throughout the world.
In 2004, the U.S. joined other CD countries to help launch the
formation of a democracy caucus, a group of like-minded
countries that coordinates more closely in the UNCHR and other
UN settings to advance goals consistent with democratic values.
At the UNCHR, the United States--jointly with Peru, Romania and
East Timor--introduced and succeeded in having adopted a
resolution to enhance the UN's role in promoting democracy.
Among the resolution's recommendations is a call for the
establishment of a mechanism--a ``Focal Point''--within the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, dedicated to
helping new and emerging democracies access UN resources
available to support them.
In addition to its support for the creation of the UN
democracy caucus, the CD sought to support the development of
democratic institutions and values through projects linking
democratic countries. It sent a multinational delegation of
democracy practitioners to East Timor to share best practices
with Timorese officials. Likewise, a group of Iraqi, election-
related officials traveled from Iraq to Lithuania to observe
and learn about election processes. Unifying democratic voices
against violations of basic human rights--rights that have been
codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that
were reaffirmed in the CD's Warsaw Declaration and Seoul Plan
of Action--is an essential way to maintain pressure on
governments that deny and violate the rights of their own
citizens.
INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
In Qatar, the process of constitutional change continued
with the Emir's approval of the draft of a new constitution
that voters overwhelmingly had approved in 2003. Although the
Emir's family will maintain hereditary rule, the new
constitution expected to be enacted in June 2005, contains a
number of human rights provisions.
In Pakistan, President Musharraf continued as Chief of the
Army Staff, despite his promise to step down by year's end.
In Africa, the Central African Republic (CAR) enacted a new
constitution and took a number of other steps to further an
announced transition to democracy under President Bozize, who
seized power in a March 2003 coup. In Guinea-Bissau, following
a military coup in September 2003, the military installed a
civilian government. In both cases, the stabilization of post-
coup situations has been accompanied by a decline in the number
of reported violations of human rights.
Turkey's desire to meet the EU Copenhagen Criteria to begin
the accession process moved the Government to pass an important
package of reforms, including a new, relatively more liberal
penal code and a set of constitutional amendments to combat
honor killings and torture; expand the freedom of religion,
expression, and association; and reduce the role of the
military in government. However, implementation of these
reforms lagged. Security forces continued to commit numerous
abuses, including torture, beatings, and arbitrary arrest and
detention, although observers noted a decrease in such
practices and the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture reported that local authorities were making efforts to
comply with the Government's "zero tolerance" policy on
torture. Honor killings continued. The Government relaxed some
restrictions on the use of Kurdish and other languages, but
restrictions on free speech and the press remained.
The year witnessed increasing efforts by some governments
to fight corruption. Costa Rica was the most ambitious in
actually investigating former high-level officials, as it
launched separate investigations for misuse of funds,
kickbacks, and illegal contracts by three former presidents. In
Africa, anti-corruption campaigns focused on pecuniary as well
as human rights abuses by officials. Gambian President Jammeh's
campaign centered on curbing official corruption to restore
international credibility, and the work of the Commission of
Inquiry led to the dismissal of a number of top officials and
some prosecutions for economic crimes. Kenya created an anti-
corruption czar, and the Government opened a number of
investigations into allegations of extrajudicial killings. In
Zambia, a Police Complaints Authority instituted in 2003 to
combat police misconduct continued investigations into
complaints.
POLITICAL RIGHTS
Regrettably, with the exception of Georgia and Ukraine,
political developments in Eurasia remain a serious concern.
Progress continues to be measured largely in terms of civil
society development. More and more NGOs, opposition parties,
and citizens are willing to organize and advocate for
government accountability. In Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,
opposition parties are unable to register. At the same time,
governments of the regions are drawing the wrong lessons from
Ukraine and Georgia and attempt to stifle civil society by
harassing democracy NGOs through bureaucratic obstacles and
specious legal means.
In Georgia, the progress that international observers noted
in last January's presidential election set the stage for ``the
most democratic elections in Georgia's history'' in
parliamentary voting in March. Other governments in the region
have made some limited progress in improving electoral
processes by drafting new election codes. New election laws
introduced in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are an
improvement in some areas, but in all three countries, the laws
continue to fall short of international standards. Likewise,
elections in 2004 in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan marked limited
improvements over previous ones, but domestic and international
observers raised questions about voting irregularities, abuse
or harassment of opposition candidates, or limitations on equal
access to the media.
In Belarus, the Government continued to deny citizens the
right to change their government through a democratic political
process. A seriously flawed referendum on October 17 removed
constitutional term limits on the presidency. In advance of the
referendum and the equally flawed parliamentary elections held
simultaneously, the Government suspended independent newspapers
and disqualified many parliamentary candidates. The Government
used excessive force and in some cases beat and arrested
political leaders who peacefully protested electoral fraud and
the journalists covering the protests. During the year, the
Government also shut down a number of major registered NGOs
that focused on political rights, and state security
authorities increasingly harassed those that remained.
In October, Bosnia and Herzegovina held its first self-
administered municipal elections since the signing of the
Dayton Peace Accords. The elections were judged to meet
international democratic standards.
A notably high voter turnout in a series of three elections
in Indonesia paved the way for the transition in political
power there from a defeated incumbent to an elected opposition
leader. The process also marked the defeat of military and
police candidates who stood for seats in Parliament. In
noteworthy elections in Africa, the incumbent political parties
of Ghana and Mozambique gained re-election in processes that
were judged generally free and fair. Sierra Leone held its
first local government elections in 32 years, although there
were irregularities in some areas.
In Burundi, concern focused on the delay in holding
elections and the progress of the country's transition to
democracy. The Transitional Government failed to hold the local
and national elections that are stipulated by the Arusha Peace
and Reconciliation Agreement, and at the end of the year it
also delayed indefinitely a referendum on a draft constitution.
The Maoist insurgency and the deadlock among Nepal's political
parties also prevented the holding of elections there during
the year and helped deepen the country's political crisis.
In Rwanda, greatly circumscribed political rights were
further limited when leading human rights organizations were
either shut down or effectively dismantled. The action was
justified as part of a campaign against ``divisionism,''
according to a government report that accused human rights
groups, journalists, teachers, and churches of promoting an
``ideology of genocide.''
The Iranian Government's respect for the freedom and
political participation of its citizens continued to
deteriorate. Elections that were widely perceived as neither
free nor fair were held for the 290-seat Majlis (Parliament) in
February. The conservative, cleric-dominated Guardian Council
excluded virtually all reformist candidates, including 85
incumbent members of parliament. Reasons cited included not
showing "demonstrated obedience" to the current system of
government. As a result of the seriously-flawed elections,
reformers were reduced to a small minority of the parliament.
Meanwhile, the conservative backlash against reformist trends
and parties continues.
INTERNAL AND OTHER CONFLICTS
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone
completed public hearings in which approximately 10,000
citizens participated to air grievances as victims or provide
confessions from the civil war. The Commission suggested legal,
political and administrative reforms to the Government. The
Government also released numerous children who had fought as
child soldiers. By year's end, the UN Mission to Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL) had handed over responsibility countrywide to the
Sierra Leone Armed Forces and the Sierra Leone Police, as
UNAMSIL began preparations to withdraw by June 2005 as
stipulated by its Security Council mandate.
After being elected in a runoff at the end of 2003,
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger ``re-launched'' the 1996
Peace Accords as a national agenda and symbolically apologized
to citizens on behalf of the State for human rights violations
committed during that country's protracted civil war. The
Government also reduced the size of the military, eliminated
some major commands and units and reduced the military budget.
In August, the military made public a new doctrine, which
includes provisions on the importance of protecting human
rights.
As a result of negotiations throughout the year, the
Government of Colombia demobilized approximately 3,000 fighters
from the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
(AUC) in November and December. In addition, hundreds of
municipal officials returned to their towns after the
government established a permanent police presence in every
urban center in the country. As a result, rates for homicides,
kidnappings, and other violent crimes decreased.
In Haiti, domestic conflict continued throughout the year.
The political impasse, combined with increasing violence
between pro- and anti-Aristide factions, culminated on February
29, when President Aristide submitted his resignation and left
the country. Despite the presence of UN peacekeeping forces,
the constitutionally-established Interim Government remained
weak. In September, pro-Aristide partisans in Port-au-Prince
launched a campaign of destabilization and violence known as
"Operation Baghdad." This campaign included kidnapping,
decapitation and burning of police officers and civilians,
indiscriminate shootings, and the destruction and incineration
of public and private property. The violence prevented the
normal functioning of schools, public markets, the seaport, and
the justice system in Port-au-Prince for several weeks.
A series of conflicts continued to trouble South Asia. In
Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states of India,
violence continued, and security forces committed abuses with
impunity, killing civilians and not just armed combatants. In
Sri Lanka, both the Government and the terrorist organization,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, violated the ceasefire. In
Nepal, the disappearance of persons in custody remained a very
serious problem, and government security forces continued to
have broad authority to arrest and detain individuals suspected
of sympathizing with the Maoist insurgents. Security forces
also used arbitrary and unlawful lethal force. As the Maoist
insurgency continued, rebel militants tortured civilians, while
government agents forcibly conscripted children as soldiers and
conducted bombings that killed civilians.
The Great Lakes region of central Africa, which encompasses
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and
Uganda, has been plagued by civil war, large-scale interethnic
violence, and massive human rights abuses associated with them
for well over a decade due to the continuing presence of armed
groups and militia that move between the countries. These
groups compete with one another for strategic and natural
resources and inhabit an environment of shifting alliances.
Among the most worrisome groups in the eastern Congo are those
who took sanctuary in the region after the 1994 Rwandan
genocide. This same group continues to oppose the Government of
Rwanda and launch cross-border campaigns, as well as attack
civilians in the DRC and commit numerous other abuses. There
are also armed groups in the region who oppose the governments
and peace process in Uganda and Burundi.
While prospects for peace in the Great Lakes region are
promising, human rights abuses are almost routine. Children are
the primary victims and are forcefully recruited, abducted, and
turned into soldiers, although some of the governments have
made progress in demobilizing child soldiers in their ranks.
Some militia groups are predominantly comprised of children.
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable, as rape
increasingly is used as a weapon of war. The region is a home
to approximately five million of the world's 25 million
internally displaced persons and hosts a number of refugees.
The United States is actively pursuing talks between the DRC,
Uganda and Rwanda. We continue to monitor the situation in all
the countries in the region by focusing attention on the threat
posed by armed groups.
In Cote d'Ivoire, an attack on the rebel positions and an
air strike on French peacekeeping troops in November broke the
tenuous 18-month ceasefire between the Government and rebels.
Despite the embargo and threat of sanctions, the Government has
threatened to pursue a military solution to the conflict.
President Bush determined that Cote d'Ivoire, once one of the
United States' largest trading partners in the region through
the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), was ineligible
for AGOA this year due to concerns about the security situation
and the general decline in the rule of law that make it a
hostile place for foreign investment.
In Russia, the September attack on a school in Beslan in
North Osettia and the ongoing disappearances of civilians
detained by security forces underscored the extent to which
both sides in the expanding conflict in the North Caucasus
continue to demonstrate little respect for basic human rights.
There were credible reports of serious violations, including
politically motivated disappearances and unlawful killings, by
both the government and Chechen rebels. Individuals seeking
accountability for these abuses also continued to be targeted,
and Chechen rebels continued to attack Russian civilians,
including a bombing of a Moscow subway.
INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON
After years of controversy, the Chilean Supreme Court
upheld an appeals court decision to lift the judicial immunity
of former President Augusto Pinochet. On December 13, a
prosecuting judge indicted Pinochet for crimes committed as
part of ``Operation Condor'' during the 1970s. In Central
African Republic as the process of transition to civilian rule
continued, the government disbanded the Security Investigation
Division, a military intelligence unit that was accused of
committing numerous human rights abuses, including torture,
rape and extortion, during 2003. In December 2003, President
Bozize reconvened the permanent military tribunal after an
eight-year suspension. The tribunal considered cases on a
variety of alleged human rights abuses including extrajudicial
killings, rape and armed robbery.
North Korea remains one of the world's most repressive and
brutal regimes. An estimated 150,000-200,000 persons are
believed to be political prisoners in detention camps in remote
areas, and defectors report that many prisoners have died from
torture, starvation, disease, exposure, or a combination of
causes. The regime also subjects citizens to rigid controls
over many aspects of their lives.
In Egypt, the 1981 Emergency Law, extended in February 2003
for an additional three years, restricted many basic rights.
The security forces continued to mistreat and torture
prisoners, which resulted in at least ten reported deaths in
custody at police stations or prisons during the year.
Arbitrary arrest and detention and prolonged pretrial detention
remained serious problems. Dismal prison conditions persisted.
Widespread use of torture by the Government of Syria
resulted in at least eight deaths during the year. Arbitrary
arrest and detention, prolonged pre-trial detention without
trial, fundamentally unfair trials in the security courts, and
deteriorating prison conditions all persisted. Throughout the
year, the security services conducted mass arrests of Kurds in
Hassakeh province, Aleppo, Damascus, and other areas. On March
12, 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 erupted. In the days of
rioting that followed, dozens were killed, as many as 2,000
Kurds were detained, and nearly 300 Kurds remained in custody
and were awaiting trial before the State Security Court and
Military Court at year's end. The Government also continued to
withhold information on the welfare and whereabouts of persons
who have been held incommunicado for years.
In Uzbekistan, torture was routine in prisons, pretrial
facilities, and local police and security service precincts,
and members of the security forces responsible for documented
abuses were rarely punished. However, the government took some
notable steps to address torture and establish police
accountability. It created preliminary procedures within some
divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for investigating
and disciplining officers for human rights abuses and allowed
NGO access to its prisons and to train prison guards in human
rights practices. The Government also cooperated with
international forensic experts to take part in investigations
of deaths in custody in which torture had been alleged.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
A conservative backlash to democratic demands in Iran
extended into a number of areas beyond explicit questions of
political rights. For example, the investigation into the 2003
death of a Canadian/Iranian photographer who suffered a brain
hemorrhage after sustaining injuries while in an Iranian prison
stagnated during 2004. The Government also gradually suppressed
all independent domestic media outlets and arrested or
intimidated their journalists into silence. In 2004 the last
forum for free debate, weblogs, came under pressure when the
government began arresting their creators and forcing them to
sign false confessions. The increase in government pressure and
control of media in Russia continued to weaken freedom of
expression and independence of the media there, as a trend of
increasing control and harassment of the press was noted in a
number of Eurasian countries, especially Belarus and some
countries in Central Asia. The Russian approach centered on use
of controlling ownership of broadcast media to limit access to
information on sensitive issues, such as Chechnya. Government
pressure also increased self-censorship of journalists.
In Togo, after the Government undertook formal political
consultations with the European Union, it adopted a new press
code with mixed results. It eliminated prison sentences for
most journalistic offenses, but maintained them for inciting
certain actions, such as ethnic hatred or violation of the law,
as well as for publishing under a false name. The law also sets
standards of professionalism for journalists and requires
independent newspapers to ensure that at least one third of
their staff meet the Government's standards.
While Algeria experienced its first contested democratic
election in 2004, leading to the reelection of President
Bouteflika, the Government acted to increase restrictions on
the media. The use of defamation laws and government harassment
of the press significantly increased, leading to the
imprisonment of several journalists for terms from two to 24
months, closure or suspension of two newspapers, and more self-
censorship by the press.
In Venezuela, international organizations and domestic
journalists charged the government with encouraging a climate
of hostility toward the media. Administrative acts, combined
with a new law passed in December, created a climate of
hostility toward the independent media with increasing threats
of prosecution.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
These issues are discussed in depth in the Annual Report on
International Religious Freedom, released in September 2004,
while these Country Reports further highlight and update
important developments.
The International Religious Freedom Act requires that those
countries that engage in particularly severe violations of
religious freedom be designated as Countries of Particular
Concern (CPC). In September 2004, the Secretary of State re-
designated Burma, China, Iran, North Korea, and Sudan as CPCs,
and designated for the first time Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and
Vietnam.
With the cessation of government-sponsored violations of
religious freedom under Saddam Hussein, the Secretary acted to
remove Iraq's CPC designation in June 2004. Since the
liberation of Iraq by coalition forces, there have been no
governmental impediments to religious freedom, and the Iraqi
Transitional Administrative Law provides for ``freedom of
thought, conscience, and religious belief and practice.''
The Government of Saudi Arabia's actions in the area of
religious freedom were disappointing. Throughout 2004, senior
U.S. officials engaged Saudi authorities in an intense
discussion of religious practices, and in September, the
Secretary of State designated Saudi Arabia as a "Country of
Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom
Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
The Government rigidly mandates religious conformity. Non-
Wahabi Sunni Muslims, as well as Shia and Sufi Muslims, face
discrimination and sometimes severe restrictions on the
practice of their faith. A number of leaders from these
traditions have been arrested and imprisoned. The government
prohibits public non-Muslim religious activities. Non-Muslim
worshippers risk arrest, imprisonment, torture, or deportation
for engaging in religious activities that attract official
attention. There were frequent instances in which mosque
preachers, whose salaries are paid by the government, used
violent language against non-Sunni Muslims and other religions
in their sermons.
Vietnam continued to restrict freedom of religion and the
operation of religious organizations other than those approved
by the State. The Government failed to issue a nationwide
decree banning forced renunciations of faith, did not end the
physical abuse of religious believers, continued to hold a
significant number of religious prisoners, and although it
permitted the re-opening of some churches closed in the Central
Highlands in 2001, it refused to allow the re-opening and
registration of hundreds of others. However, following CPC
designation, some improvements in religious freedom were
evident. Some religious leaders expressed cautious optimism
about a new Ordinance on Religion that the Government released
in November, and in December, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam
North (ECVN) held its first National Congress in 20 years and
named a new, independent leadership board. Among the gains in
freedom of religion covered by the Country Reports, the
Jehovah's Witnesses in Armenia succeeded in October to register
with the government after they had experienced a string of
rejected applications. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a new state-
level law on religious freedom passed both houses of the
legislature. The law provides comprehensive rights to religious
communities and confers a legal status upon them they had not
held previously. And in Georgia, there were fewer reports of
violence against minority religious groups this year.
TREATMENT OF MINORITIES, WOMEN AND CHILDREN
On December 30, the Department of State completed its
Report on Global Anti-Semitism, July 1, 2003-December 15, 2004.
Drawing extensively on material from our embassies, NGOs and
accounts submitted for these Country Reports, this separate
compendium was prepared in accordance with a separate
legislative provision.
In the Czech and Slovak Republics, discrimination against
Roma persisted, although both governments made efforts to
improve the situation through such measures as revising legal
norms and recruiting Roma to serve as community liaisons with
the police forces or as health assistants.
In Croatia, the restitution of property to mostly Serb
refugees has improved significantly, although local obstruction
to the return of minority groups remained a problem. In Kosovo,
acts of violence against the minority Kosovo Serb population
and other non-Serb minorities took place during a series of
riots over two days in March, demonstrating the continued
tenuousness of minority rights there.
In Thailand, the government's human rights record was
marred by abuses committed by security forces against Muslim
dissidents in the southern part of the country. On April 28,
elements of the police and military killed more than 100
persons while repelling attacks by Muslim separatists in Yala,
Pattani, and Narathiwat provinces. On October 25, 78 Muslim
detainees being transported to an army camp died from
asphyxiation after police and military forces stacked them into
overcrowded truck beds.
In Afghanistan and Iraq, women made unprecedented strides
in exercising political rights by voting, holding public office
and standing for election as candidates. In education and other
areas as well, women made increasing strides in achieving basic
rights. In Pakistan, special women's police stations with all
female staff have been established in response to complaints of
custodial abuse of women. Additionally, while honor killings
continued in Pakistan, new legislation stiffened penalties for
honor killings and criminal proceedings for the blasphemy laws
and Hudood ordinances were changed to reduce abuses.
In a number of countries, one of the most significant
problems related to the abuse of women and children is the
failure of the state to combat vigorously against conditions
that engender the trafficking of women and children.
In Burma, women and girls from villages were trafficked for
prostitution at truck stops, fishing villages, border towns,
and mining and military camps. Burmese men, women and children
are also trafficked to other countries. Government economic
mismanagement and forced labor policies worsen the situation.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), women and girls are used
as prostitutes and domestic servants, and young boys are
exploited as camel jockeys. A recent documentary on camel
jockeys notes the very young age at which abuse often begins,
the harsh conditions that may lead to serious injuries or
death, and the malnutrition, and physical and sexual abuse by
employers. The Government has pledged and taken some measures
of limited effectiveness against these practices.
State promotion of tourism drives the predatory interests
that promote sex tourism and sexual exploitation of underage
girls for prostitution in Cuba.
The booming oil sector in Equatorial Guinea contributes to
making the country both a transit point and destination for
trafficking of women for prostitution.
The estimate of the number of Indians trafficked into
forced labor and the sex trade runs into the millions, in
addition to thousands of Nepalis and Bangladeshis trafficked to
India for sexual servitude. Trafficking in persons in India is
a significant problem, and some government officials
participated in and facilitated the practice. While India
continues to lack a national law enforcement response to its
trafficking in persons problem, some progress has been noted in
individual states and the central government recently expressed
a commitment to establishing and implementing a national anti-
trafficking policy.
Violence and discrimination towards vulnerable groups
continued to be a problem in Tanzania. In August, the semi-
autonomous island of Zanzibar outlawed homosexuality and set
severe penalties for it in its autonomous island territory. On
mainland Tanzania, 4 million women and girls have undergone
female genital mutilation (FGM), and despite a law partially
outlawing the practice, police rarely enforced the law and the
average age of the practice appeared to have decreased in an
effort to avoid detection.
WORKER RIGHTS
In Iraq, the exercise of labor rights remained limited,
largely due to violence, unemployment, and maladapted labor
organizational structures and laws, although, with
international assistance, some progress was underway at year's
end. According to the Brussels-based International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), workers reported
organizing unions in workplaces where they were forbidden under
the laws of the former regime and revitalized union structures
previously dominated by the Ba'ath party. The International
Labor Organization (ILO) provided technical assistance to Iraq
throughout the year to help bring its labor laws into line with
international labor standards, rebuild the capacity of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, establish emergency
employment services, and put in place training and skills
development programs.
In April, a Commission of Inquiry appointed under Article
26 of the ILO Constitution visited Belarus to investigate a
complaint that the Government was systematically violating its
obligations under the ILO's fundamental Conventions on freedom
of association and protection of the right to organize and
bargain collectively, both of which it has ratified. The
Commission's report, issued in October, concluded that the
country's trade union movement was subject to significant
government interference. The Commission recommended that the
government take all necessary steps to register independent
unions, amend laws and decrees restricting freedom of
association, protect independent trade unionists from anti-
union discrimination, and disseminate the Commission's
conclusions and recommendations. It stated that most of these
recommendations should be implemented by June 2005 at the
latest.
Under the leadership of President Bush the United States
has stepped forward with its democratic allies to reaffirm our
commitment to human rights and democracy. We rest upon the
principle that nations governed by free people will be the
cornerstone for the development of a world that is more
peaceful for all. The execution of our democratic duty depends
on the determination and passion of its promoters. Let the
following Country Reports serve as an indicator of the progress
made and as a guide for the challenges ahead.
NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
----------
ALGERIA
Algeria is a multi-party republic based on a constitution and a
presidential form of government. The head of state is elected by
popular vote to a 5-year term. The President has the constitutional
authority to appoint and dismiss cabinet members, as well as the prime
minister, who acts as the head of the Government. The president also
serves as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. President Bouteflika,
elected in 1999 in an uncontested election, completed a full term in
office, the first president to do so since the adoption of the multi-
party system in 1989. In Algeria's first democratic, contested
presidential elections, he was re-elected in April from among five
other candidates while the military remained neutral.
The security apparatus comprises the army, consisting of ground,
naval, and air defense forces; the national gendarmerie; the national
police; communal guards; and local self-defense forces. All of these
elements were involved in counterterrorism operations. The Ministry of
National Defense and the Ministry of the Interior oversee the
maintenance of order within the country. The military has traditionally
influenced government decisions beyond defense and foreign policy and
is widely believed to have orchestrated the outcome of the 1999
presidential elections. More recently, however, with increased civic
peace and the president's re-election, there has been a trend toward
more civilian control, a reduced role for the military in day-to-day
decision-making, and an increased military focus on modernization and
professionalism. During the April elections, the Armed Forces Chief of
Staff ordered all members of the military to maintain strict political
neutrality, and a law was passed ending military/security force voting
in their barracks, a practice that was thought to have been a source of
voting irregularities in previous elections. Although the Constitution
provides for an independent judiciary, it continued to be restricted by
executive influence and internal inefficiencies. While the Government
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there
were some instances in which security force elements acted
independently of government authority. Some security force members
committed serious human rights abuses.
Algeria is emerging from over a decade of terrorism and civil
strife in the 1990s, in which between 100,000 and 150,000 persons were
estimated to have been killed. It is making a slow, uneven, and
incomplete transition from a military-dominated state with a state-
administered economy toward democracy and an open market economy. The
country has a population of approximately 33 million. The hydrocarbon
sector was the backbone of the economy, accounting for 55 to 60 percent
of budget revenues, 35 percent of Gross Domestic Product, and over 95
percent of export earnings. Government statistics put the economic
growth rate at 6.8 percent. Unemployment has been estimated at 20 to 30
percent; for citizens between the ages of 20 and 30, unemployment is
even higher.
The Government's human rights record remained poor overall and
worsened in the area of press freedoms; however, there were significant
improvements in some areas. There continued to be problems with
excessive use of force by the security forces as well as failure to
account for past disappearances. New allegations of incidents and
severity of torture continued. Citing the country's ongoing struggle
against armed terrorist groups, civilian and military police
arbitrarily detained and arrested persons and incommunicado detention
continued. The Government routinely denied defendants fair and
expeditious trials. Despite judicial reforms, prolonged pretrial
detention and lengthy trial delays were problems. Denial of defendants'
rights to due process, illegal searches, and infringements on privacy
right also remained problems. The Government did not always punish
abuses, and official impunity remained a problem. The Government
continued to restrict freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association,
and movement during the year. The use of defamation laws and government
harassment of the press significantly increased, leading to the
imprisonment of several journalists for terms ranging from 2 to 24
months, the closure or suspension of two newspapers, and more self-
censorship by the press. The Government also continued some
restrictions on freedom of religion. Domestic violence against women,
the Family Code's limits on women's civil rights, and societal
discrimination against women remained serious problems. Child abuse was
a problem. Despite the Government's recognition of Tamazight as a
national language, restrictions on Amazigh (Berber) ethnic, cultural,
and linguistic rights continued to provoke occasional demonstrations.
Child labor was a problem in some sectors. The Government continued to
restrict workers' rights by not officially recognizing some unions.
Despite these problems, the Government took several notable steps
to improve human rights. There was a significant reduction in reported
abuses by the security forces. Government actions reduced the number of
terrorism-related civilian deaths and strengthened the basic human
right to life and security. The Government oversaw generally free fair
elections, according to international observers, including a
representative from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE). The government-appointed Ad Hoc Mechanism on the
Disappeared recommended and the Government agreed to accept
responsibility for unauthorized actions by security forces and pay
indemnities to families of the disappeared. The Government also
negotiated in good faith with the Berber group ``Arouch'' as part of
its National Reconciliation plan. In October, the Government passed new
Penal Code legislation criminalizing both torture and sexual harassment
for the first time.
Terrorist groups committed numerous, serious abuses. Terrorists
continued their campaign of insurgency, targeting government officials,
families of security force members, and civilians. The death of
civilians often was the result of rivalries between terrorist groups or
to facilitate the theft of goods needed to support their operations.
Terrorists used violence to extort money, food, and medical supplies.
Terrorists also used vehicle-borne explosive devices to attack
infrastructure targets and also used ambushes to attack military
convoys. The violence occurred primarily in the countryside, as the
security forces largely forced terrorists out of the cities. Successful
operations by security forces helped to eliminate terrorist cells and
leaders, weakened terrorist groups, and resulted in significantly lower
casualty levels for 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.--Citing the
Government's continued struggle against terrorism, security forces
killed terrorists in armed confrontations. There were no politically
motivated killings by the Government or its agents; however, communal
guards killed one unarmed person allegedly without warning. The
Government stated that, as a matter of policy, disciplinary action is
taken against soldiers or policemen who are guilty of violating human
rights. In December, Ali Tounsi, head of security forces in the
Ministry of the Interior, announced that 300-400 police officers are
dismissed every year due to stricter disciplinary standards and better
recruitment. The Government did not routinely release specific
information regarding punishments of military and security force
personnel.
According to credible reports in May, adolescents Chouaib Argabi
and Ali Remili stole food, hid it in a palm grove, and attempted to
retrieve it in the night. In an area where armed militants are known to
be active, Communal Guards (GLD) noticed their movements and allegedly
fired without warning, killing Argabi, an ethnic Berber, and sparking
demonstrations the next day (see Section 1.c.). No investigation was
conducted into the incident, but the commander of the GLD denied his
guards fired summarily.
The gendarme responsible for the death of a Kabylie youth that
sparked the 2001 Black Spring was tried in 2002 by a military tribunal
and sentenced in 2003 to 2 years in prison for involuntary homicide. He
was released during the year (see Section 1.d).
No disciplinary action was taken in the March 2002 case where
hundreds of persons died in riots between gendarmes and protesters and
the April 2002 case in which numerous persons were injured and killed
during street battles between Kabylie protesters and riot police.
During the year, security forces killed numerous suspected
terrorists. In September, Interior Minister Zerhouni stated publicly
that 450 terrorists had been killed, arrested, or had surrendered
during the first 8 months of the year. According to press reports, an
estimated 219 terrorists were killed and 444 arrested during the year.
Terrorists targeted both civilians and security forces. According
to press reports, there were 93 civilian deaths at the hands of
terrorists, compared to 198 in 2003. Terrorists were also responsible
for the deaths of 117 members of the security forces, compared to 223
last year.
According to the Government, the total number of terrorist,
civilian, and security force deaths during the year was approximately
429, compared to 1,162 in 2003.
Terrorist groups mainly targeted infrastructure and security
forces. These groups also committed acts of extortion by carrying out
violent reprisals against those who failed to pay a ``tax.'' Other
tactics included creating false roadblocks outside the cities, often by
using stolen police uniforms, weapons, and equipment. Some killings,
including massacres, also were attributed to revenge, banditry, and
disputes over private land ownership. The violence appears to have
occurred primarily in the countryside, as the security forces largely
forced the terrorists out of the cities.
b. Disappearance.--During the year, there were no reports of
politically motivated disappearances. There have been credible reports
of thousands of disappearances occurring over a period of several years
in the mid-1990s, many of which involved the security forces. The last
known disappearance, according to local and international NGOs,
occurred in 2002.
The total number of disappeared continued to be debated.
Officially, the Government estimated that approximately 7,200 persons
were missing or disappeared as a result of government actions and
approximately 10,000 additional persons missing or disappeared as a
result of terrorist kidnappings and murders. Local NGOs reported
security forces played a role in the disappearances of approximately
8,000 persons. Amnesty International (AI), in its 2003 report, stated
that 4,000 men and women disappeared from 1993-2000 after being
arrested by members of the security forces or state-armed militias. In
November, Farouk Ksentini, Director of the Ad Hoc Mechanism on the
Disappeared, said that 5,200 cases of the disappeared were attributable
to security force abuses. Human rights attorney Ali Yahia Abdenour
placed the combined number of missing from both security force and
terrorist actions, based on the testimony of family members, at 18,000,
which is comparable to the official government estimation.
In 2003, local NGOs reported a trend of prolonged detentions
ranging from 8 to 18 months that were frequently characterized as
disappearances until the prisoners were released to their families.
Disappearances resulting from prolonged detention or other factors
remain contrary to the legal procedures stipulated in the country's
Penal Code and its Constitution.
Nearly all of the disappearances remained unresolved. Local offices
of the Ministry of Interior in each district accept cases from resident
families of those reported missing. Credible sources stated that the
offices provided little useful information to the families of those who
disappeared. In September 2003, the Government announced the
establishment of the Ad Hoc Mechanism on the Disappeared (the
``Mechanism'') and named Farouk Ksentini as director. Ksentini
described the Mechanism as an interface between the Government and
victims' families with the authority to request information from
governmental agencies in order to research familial claims of
disappearances. Ksentini has noted that the Mechanism is not an
investigative body and cannot force the cooperation of other
governmental agencies or the security forces.
In February, President Bouteflika publicly declared that the State
must accept responsibility for the actions of security personnel, even
though such actions were not authorized by Government policy. On April
28, the Mechanism provided President Bouteflika with recommendations
for dealing with disappearances. One recommendation was that, for cases
verifiable by the Mechanism's files, an indemnity should be paid to the
families of the disappeared. According to Ksentini, the Mechanism had
files on 5,000 such cases, although an NGO claimed in September that
the Mechanism only had 300 files, despite the large numbers of
disappearances and records maintained by local NGOs. In December,
during Human Rights Day, President Bouteflika announced that the
Mechanism would present further recommendations on the disappeared by
March 2005.
Local human rights NGO groups severely criticized the Mechanism for
its ineffectiveness during its 18-month mandate. NGOs were not invited
to give any input related to the Mechanism's creation nor consulted for
recommendations. However, the Mechanism has met, on a case-by-case
basis, with individual NGOs that requested a meeting. NGOs also claimed
the Mechanism could not provide any guarantee of its independence and
impartiality. After some reflection, local NGOs generally welcomed
indemnities in some form. However, local NGOs and family members of the
disappeared continued to demand that the Government make greater
efforts to locate the remains of the missing, investigate
disappearances, determine responsibility, and to hold perpetrators
accountable.
There were no reported prosecutions of security force personnel
stemming from these cases. According to some local NGOs, the Government
has refused to investigate cases for fear of raising criminal charges
against security forces or other government officials. One group also
claimed that the Government feared investigations leading to the
prosecution of terrorists who received an amnesty under the Civil
Concord would embarrass President Bouteflika, who has been a driving
force behind the Concord and the policy of national reconciliation. In
its 2003 report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that the Mechanism's
mandate fell short of holding perpetrators accountable and bringing
them to justice. For courts to hear charges of disappearance, the law
requires at least two eyewitnesses. Courts have therefore refused to
consider several cases where a family member, as a single eyewitness to
an abduction, had identified specific policemen as the abductors.
The Government asserted that the majority of reported
disappearances either were committed by terrorists disguised as
security forces or involved former armed Islamist supporters who went
underground to avoid terrorist reprisals. However, there is no evidence
that the Government investigated any of the 5,200 cases that it
admitted were caused by security forces. Ksentini reiterated throughout
the year previous statements that if security forces had played a role
in the disappearances, it was due to the actions of individuals
operating outside the scope of their superior's orders and not on the
orders of any specific government institution. While acknowledging
government responsibility for protecting its citizens, Ksentini said
the Mechanism would forward evidence of responsibility to the judiciary
for prosecution, but had not done so because there was not enough
evidence in any case.
In October 2003, Salah-Eddine Sidhoum, physician and human rights
activist, was acquitted of subversion and jeopardizing the State. Dr.
Sidhoum had been convicted in absentia in 1997.
The Government also placed restrictions on the international NGO
Freedom House's efforts to investigate the issue of the
``disappeared.'' The Government required Freedom House to submit its
proposed activities in advance for governmental approval. Government
officials said technical assistance was welcomed, but no political
activities would be allowed. As a result, some proposed activities were
denied. The Government also denied visas to Freedom House associates,
causing some events to be cancelled.
In November 2003, a suspected mass gravesite was discovered in
Relizane and the personal effects of El Hadj Abed Saidane, who
disappeared in 1996, were identified. The family of Saidane accused
Mohamed Fergane, the former mayor of the local town and the head of a
self-defense militia at the time of Saidane's disappearance. Fergane
had previously been accused of being responsible for 212 forced
disappearances between 1994 and 1997 by families of the disappeared.
The Relizane prosecutor's office agreed to conduct an investigation
into this case, but failed to do so after the remains were removed by
unknown persons. Government authorities did not pursue an investigation
into who was responsible for the removal of the remains.
In February 2003, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Groupe
Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat, or GSPC) kidnapped 38
foreign tourists in the southwestern part of the country but released
them 6 months later after crossing into Mali. One of the hostages died
from exposure.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Both the Constitution and legislation prohibit such
practices; however, according to local human rights groups, defense
lawyers, and media reports, security forces continued to use torture
when interrogating persons.
Although torture had been denounced in the Penal Code, new
legislation enacted in September criminalizes torture, and government
agents may face prison sentences for up to 3 years for committing such
acts. However, during the year, there were no reports of police or
security forces receiving punishment for torturing suspects. Impunity
remained a problem (see Section 1.d.).
Though human rights lawyers have stated that the incidence and
severity of torture is on the decline--in part due to better training
of the security forces and alternative intelligence gathering
techniques--they maintained that torture still occurred in military
prisons, more frequently against those arrested on ``security
grounds.'' Last year, the independent press reported that the
``chiffon'' method--placing a rag drenched in dirty water in someone's
mouth--was the preferred method of torture because it left no physical
traces of assault. In 2003, AI reported an increased number of accounts
detailing the usage of the wet rag method.
In May, 24 adolescents were arrested in T'kout following
demonstrations protesting the death of Chouaib Argabi (see Section
1.a.). Six of the adolescents alleged to their lawyer that they were
tortured and sexually abused by the gendarmerie during their detention.
Their attorney, Salah Hanoun, reported to the press that he saw the
physical proof of mistreatment and took photographs. During their
trial, defense lawyers raised the issue of torture, but the judge
refused any discussion of the matter.
In March 2003, according to AI, a 42-year-old restaurant manager
from Bouira was tortured for 10 days at the military security center in
the Ben Aknoun quarter of Algiers. He stated he was tied down and
forced to swallow large quantities of dirty water, beaten, subjected to
electric shocks, and forced to sign a statement ``admitting'' links to
armed groups. He was remanded in pre-trial detention. The Government
did not investigate his alleged torture.
No action was taken in the 2002 cases in which security forces
allegedly tortured a shopkeeper in Surcouf or in which security forces
tortured four members of the political party Rally for Democratic
Culture (RCD) and their families.
Prison conditions generally met international standards, and the
U.N. Development Program (UNDP) noted improved conditions in civilian
and low security prisons as a result of prison reform efforts
undertaken by the Ministry of Justice. The UNDP also worked with the
Government to improve educational programs in prisons.
However, overcrowding, insufficient medical treatment, and the
Government's continued refusal to allow international observers access
to military and high security prisons remained problems. In October
2003, the media reported there was 1 doctor for every 300 prisoners.
While the Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers to regular, non-military prisons, it did not permit visits to
its military or high security prisons. In October, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited civilian prisons and pre-
trial detention centers, but it was still barred from the country's
military and high security prisons
Hunger strikes were held in several prisons throughout the country
in protest over the length of detentions before trial.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, in practice the security
forces continued arbitrarily to arrest and detain citizens, although
reportedly less frequently than in previous years.
The national police or General Directorate for National Security
(DGSN) falls under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. The
Gendarmerie, under the Ministry of Defense, also performs police-like
functions throughout the country. Police are generally effective at
maintaining order throughout the country. Low levels of corruption do
exist, especially in the customs police, but appear to be limited to
individuals and not sanctioned by the state.
Impunity remained a problem, and the Government did not publicize
the numbers, infractions or punishments of police officials. According
to human rights attorneys, police officials, and local NGOs, most
abuses of police authority occurred as a result of officers not
following established guidelines for arrests.
The Ministries of Justice and Interior told AI in April 2003 that
at least 23 gendarmes had been prosecuted and sentenced in military
tribunals for ``abusive use of firearms.'' However, the National
Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights (Commission Nationale Consultative de Promotion et de Protection
des Droits de l'Homme, or CNCPPDH) told the AI delegation that only one
gendarme had been sentenced. The Government has not provided an
explanation for this discrepancy.
The police are required to obtain a summons from the prosecutor's
office in order to bring a person in to a police station for
questioning.
Police may make arrests without a summons if they witness the
offense taking place. Arrest warrants are only issued when a suspect is
a flight risk. The Constitution requires that a suspect may be held in
incommunicado pretrial detention for no longer than 48 hours before the
prosecutor must determine if enough evidence exists to continue to hold
or release them. If more time is required for gathering additional
evidence, the police may request the prosecutor to extend the suspect's
detention from 48 to 72 hours. In practice, the security forces
generally adhered to the 48-hour limit in non-terrorism cases.
Persons accused of acts against the security of the state,
including terrorism, may be held in pre-trial detention no longer than
12 days.
Prolonged pre-trial detention remained a problem. If the prosecutor
determines enough evidence exists to pursue a trial and the suspect is
also a flight risk or has committed a serious felony offence, the
suspect may be held in investigative detention (``detention
preventive'') for 4 months with trial extensions not to exceed 16
months. Ksentini, CNCPPDH President, said that there has been an
abusive use of investigative detention by prosecutors and that its use
should remain an exceptional measure according to law.
While in pretrial detention, detainees must be informed of their
right to communicate immediately with family members, receive visitors,
and to be examined by a doctor of their choice at the end of their
detention. However, there have been frequent reports of these rights
not being extended to detainees, and, in some cases, local NGOs and
human rights attorneys noted that the detention period extended beyond
the legal limit.
There is no system of bail, but in non-felony cases suspects are
usually released on ``provisional liberty'' while waiting for their
trial. Under provisional liberty, suspects are required to report
weekly to the police station of their district and are forbidden from
leaving the country.
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. In addition, any suspect can request
a medical examination once on police premises or before facing the
judge.
On August 10, Belaid Abrika, the leader of the autonomy-seeking
Berber Arouch Citizen's Movement, was arrested by Tizi-Ouzou police
during a protest at a hospital. The previous day, Abrika and 10
delegates of the Citizen's Movement had called on the mayor of Tizi-
Ouzou to leave his position, as had been negotiated with the Government
in January. The Mayor lodged a complaint against Abrika, who was
arrested the following day. No arrest warrant was produced and no
notification of the summons had been sent to Abrika, who spent 28 hours
in jail. He was charged with participation in a riotous assembly and
breaking the peace. The prosecutor placed Abrika on probation and
forbade him from organizing or taking part in any type of meeting.
On November 1, President Bouteflika issued a presidential pardon to
3,822 prisoners on the occasion of the anniversary of the country's
revolution. The prisoners released were convicted of petty crimes
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was not independent in
practice. Executive branch decrees and influence, interference by the
Ministry of the Interior, and inefficiency within the justice system
restricted the independence of the judiciary. The Government continued
to utilize international technical assistance for the reform of its
judiciary during the year. In March 2003 the legislature passed
significant reforms to revise the role, power, and structure of the
judiciary by granting more authority to prosecutors; by providing more
specialized judicial functionality in creating law enforcement,
administrative, and commercial courts; by initiating a thorough review
of the civil and penal codes; and by establishing penitentiary reforms
focusing on prisoner rights.
The judiciary is composed of the civil courts, which hear cases
involving civilians facing charges not related to security or
terrorism; and the military courts, which hear cases involving
civilians facing security and terrorism charges. Long-term detentions
of suspects awaiting trial continued as reported the previous year (see
Section 1.d.).
The 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. The Council has nine members: three
of the members (including the council president) are appointed by the
president; two are elected by the upper house of the Parliament; two
are elected by the lower house of the Parliament; one is elected by the
Supreme Court; and one is elected by the Council of State. Regular
criminal courts try those persons accused of security-related offenses.
The Minister of Justice appoints judges who serve 10-year terms.
The Minister of Justice may, according to the Constitution, remove
judges for violations of the law or if they are involved in a situation
that jeopardizes the reputation of justice.
According to the Constitution, defendants are presumed innocent
until proven guilty. Trials are public, and defendants have the right
to be present and to consult with an attorney, which is provided at
public expense. Defendants can confront or question witnesses against
them or present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants also
have the right to appeal and the testimonies of minorities and women
have equal individual weight.
However, government authorities did not always respect all legal
provisions regarding defendants' rights, and they continued to deny due
process. Women were denied equal rights in practice before the law due
to the court's application of the Family Code, based on Shari'a
(Islamic law) (see Section 5). Defendants and their attorneys were
sometimes denied access to government-held evidence relevant to their
cases. There were no reports of political prisoners.
In February, Judge Mohamed Ras El Ain was permanently dismissed as
a judge in a disciplinary hearing held by the Superior Council of
Judges. Judge El Ain was not afforded due process during the trial.
Among a number of procedural problems, Ras El Ain was denied access to
the evidence of his disciplinary file. A request for a continuation to
review the file was denied. Human rights lawyers and local and
international press reported that Ras El Ain was brought up on
disciplinary charges for criticizing the politicization of the
judiciary and an October 2003 court decision preventing oppositionists
within the National Liberation Front from holding a party congress.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however, in
practice government authorities at times infringed on citizens' privacy
rights. The Government actively monitored the communications of
political opponents, journalists, human rights groups, and suspected
terrorists (see Section 4). Journalists from the independent press
complained that emails sometimes took several days to deliver.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of violations of
Ordinance 95-11, passed in 1995 to rescind the use of exceptional
warrants accorded under the 1992 Emergency Law.
Armed terrorists entered private homes either to kill or kidnap
residents or to steal weapons, valuables, or food (see Section 1.a.).
Armed terrorist groups consistently used threats of violence to extort
money from businesses and families across the country.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and press; however, in practice, the Government
markedly increased restrictions on these rights. The Government's use
of defamation laws to harass and arrest journalists, its closure of two
papers for debts to the state-owned printing house, and its continued
grant of an advertising monopoly to the state-owned advertising agency
intimidated papers into practicing a degree of self-censorship.
Although the press was able to criticize government shortcomings and to
highlight pressing social and economic problems, it faced significant
repercussions from the Government for doing so.
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 to 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.
The country's independent media consisted of nearly 43 publications
that supported or opposed the Government in varying degrees. Few papers
have a circulation exceeding 15,000; however, the 7 largest papers had
substantial circulations: El-Khabar (circulation 530,000), Quotidien
d'Oran (circulation 195,000), Liberte (circulation 120,000), El-Watan
(circulation 70,000), L'Expression (circulation 29,000), Djazair News
(circulation 20,000) and Chorouk El-Youmi (circulation 9,000). Two
French-speaking papers, El-Moudjahid and Horizons, and two Arab
speaking papers, El-Chaab and El-Massa, are owned by the state. There
were no newspapers owned by political parties, although several
newspapers reflected a clear and often critical political perspective.
Many parties, including legal Islamic political parties, had access to
the independent press, in which they expressed their views without
government interference. The three largest papers in circulation are
owned and managed by employees. Opposition parties also disseminated
information via the Internet and in communiques.
Radio and television are government-owned, with coverage favoring
President Bouteflika and the Government's policies. Presidential
candidates received equal amounts of time on the state-owned radio and
television channels during the 3-week official campaign season prior to
the April elections. However, both before the official campaign and in
the period following the elections, opposition candidates were
generally denied access to the public radio or television.
Satellite dish antennas are widespread, and millions of citizens
had access to European and Middle Eastern broadcasting. While in the
past the Government hindered the publication of some books related to
Tamazight and Amazigh culture, during the year the Government began to
print schoolbooks in Tamazight, through the introduction of a Tamazight
curriculum in Tamazight-speaking provinces. Government-owned radio
broadcast Tamazight language programming almost 24 hours a day and
government-owned television broadcast a nightly news bulletin in this
language.
Restrictions were also placed on the international media, limiting
its ability to report freely. In June, the Ministry of Communication
closed the office of the Al-Jazeera television station for an
unspecified period. The Government said the closure was related to
``work it had to do on regulating foreign media offices'' even though
Al-Jazeera had been in the country since the 1990s. The Government's
decision to close the station was made a week after an Al-Jazeera
broadcast that criticized high-ranking officers who worked in the
French army during the war for independence; criticized the president's
national reconciliation policy; and aired the results of a poll that
indicated 72 percent of viewers felt there had been no improvement in
the country's economic, social, and political situation. During a June
press conference, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia called Al-Jazeera ``a
channel whose sole aim was to tarnish Algeria's image.'' Reporters
Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres, or RSF) condemned the
decision and called for a lifting of the ban. Although the station is
still available to viewers, the Government continued to deny
accreditation to its, journalists, and the office remained closed at
year's end.
In February, the Ministry of Communication and Culture prevented
the distribution of an issue of the French magazine Jeune Afrique
l'Intelligent. The issue contained the article ``Who the Generals Vote
For,'' which speculated on the private involvement of generals in
supporting presidential candidates. RSF issued a communique condemning
the censorship. Additionally, the March edition of Le Monde
Diplomatique, with the articles ``Algeria: From Terror to
Normalization'' and ``The Cogs of A Secret War,'' was prevented from
reaching newsstands. The Government did not offer any explanation for
the ban.
Two foreign journalists were denied re-accreditation. In February,
Christian Lecompte of the Swiss journal Le Temps Suisse was denied re-
accreditation after publication of his critical article ``Bouteflika
Dictator.'' Ahmed Megaache of Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television was
also denied re-accreditation after having covered several stories on
press harassment, a 2003 teachers' strike, Ali Benflis' presidential
campaign, and discontent in the Kabylie.
In March, for the first time since the 1992 State of Emergency, the
Government granted increased freedom of movement to foreign journalists
covering an election by permitting them to decline a ``security
detail.'' Journalists were able to move without a police escort on
condition that they sign a liability waiver with the Government.
There was a marked increase in the level of harassment, arrest, and
intimidation towards journalists following President Bouteflika's
presidential victory. Human rights observers and media watch groups
viewed this year's increased press harassment as politically motivated,
targeting journalists that were critical of President Bouteflika and
the Minister of the Interior, Norredine Zerhouni.
The law permits the Government to levy fines and jail time against
the press in a manner that restricts press freedom. The most common
form of harassment was through the use of defamation laws. The Penal
Code imposes high fines and prison terms of up to 24 months for
defamation or ``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 50,000 to 500,000
dinars ($704 to $7,042). During the year, at least 10 prosecutions
occurred under the Penal Code. Djamel Benchenouf, Farid Allilat, and
Ali Dilem from Liberte; Mohamed Benchicou and Sid Ahmed Semiane from Le
Matin; Hafnaoui Ghoul of Djazair News; and Ali Boughanem, Mohamed
Bouhamidi, and Kamel Amarni from le Soir d'Algerie were all charged for
libel or slander under the Penal Code.
Four journalists were imprisoned for the first time, unlike in
previous years when only fines were imposed. The most prominent case
was against Mohamed Benchicou, the managing editor of the opposition
paper Le Matin and author of a book critical of the president,
``Bouteflika--An Algerian Imposter.'' In February, plainclothes
policemen instructed several bookstores not to display Benchicou's book
or attempt to sell it; otherwise their copies would be seized.
According to the independent press, Minister of the Interior Zerhouni
ordered the police to conduct an investigation to determine the
publisher of the book and to take all measures to prevent the book from
being marketed. Police searched vehicles and the headquarters of Le
Matin for copies of the book. Others were detained for questioning by
plainclothes policemen in Algiers: Saida Azzouz, a journalist for Le
Matin; Ali Dilem, the cartoonist for Liberte; and Hamou L'hadj Azouaou,
a chauffeur for Le Matin. While no official reason was given for their
detention, the police questioned them about the book and seized their
copies.
Benchicou was also sentenced to 2 years in prison and fined for
violating foreign exchange controls. In August 2003, after returning
from abroad, Benchicou's luggage was searched and 13 cash receipts
worth 11.7 million dinars ($167,142) were discovered. The point of law
in question was debatable since the money remained in a local bank, not
with Benchicou. His 2-year sentence was upheld on appeal, and his fine
was tripled. Benchicou was also charged with six counts of defamation,
five of which were still pending at year's end, and the sixth resulting
in a fine of 50,000 dinars ($684).
In May, Hafnaoui Ben Ameur Ghoul, a journalist for el-Youm and a
member of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH),
was arrested and sentenced two days later to 6 months in prison and
fined 50,000 dinars ($704). In June, he was sentenced in another
defamation case to 2 months in prison and 10,000 dinars ($140). Ghoul's
defamation cases were related to articles alleging that the governor of
Djelfa and others in his administration mismanaged funds and were
involved in a public health crisis. Ghoul's appeals resulted in an even
harsher punishment of 3 months in prison and a fine of 100,000 dinars
($1,400) in the first case; and 3 months in prison, 10,000 dinars in
fines, and 100,000 dinars in damages in the second case. There were
approximately 30 other charges of defamation still pending against him.
Ghoul was also given an additional 2-month sentence in August for
passing a letter to his daughter via another journalist during a court
hearing rather than through the prison authorities. Ghoul conducted a
hunger strike in August that postponed the appeal of this latter case.
On October 3, Ghoul was sentenced to an additional 3 months in prison.
He was released on November 24 after serving 6 months out of a
combination of sentences amounting to 11 months.
Ahmed Benaoum, Ahmed Oukili, and Ali Djerri were also given jail
sentences. Additionally, Kamel Gaci and several other journalists and
editors were charged with defamation and given fines and/or probation
throughout the year. Kamel Gaci was also charged with ``failing to
report a fugitive'' after his meeting with a former police officer who
had escaped from prison and wanted to speak to him.
In February, the imam of a mosque in Constantine verbally attacked
the independent press, in particular the newspaper Liberte, during the
Friday sermon broadcast on state-owned television and radio. Similar
pleas were heard during sermons in Batna, Khenchela, Guelma, and
Algiers. The Government controls the mosques and directs the content of
sermons. Minister of Religious Affairs Bouabdellah Ghoulamallah told
Reuters news agency that the Government did counsel the imams about the
content of their sermons, but only with respect to religious concepts.
Prime Minister Ouyahia called the sermon ``a regrettable event.''
In December, an imam from an Algiers mosque accused journalists
from the independent press, particularly the journal El-Watan, of being
``missionaries of the Christian church in Algeria'' and exhorted his
followers to boycott the independent press. He also said, ``the
journalists deserved to be stoned to death.''
All newspapers are printed at government-owned presses, and the
Government continued to exercise pressure on 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 companies.
Unlike in previous years, government agencies had to channel all their
advertising through ANEP, which in turn decided in which papers to
purchase ad space for the various agencies. This move gave ANEP, and
therefore the Government, centralized control over the largest source
of potential income for Algerian newspapers, putting ad placement in
the hands of ANEP instead of individual agencies.
According to a 1994 inter-ministerial decree, independent
newspapers may print security information only from official government
bulletins carried by the government-controlled Algerian Press Service
(APS). However, independent newspapers openly ignored the directive.
Since 2002, the Government has been more open and factual regarding
security information. This trend continued this year.
Most independent newspapers continued to rely on the Government's
four publishers for printing presses and newsprint. In July, SIMPRAL,
the Algiers-based government publisher, stopped printing Le Matin for
its failure to pay a debt of 38 million dinars ($535,200). The paper
was out of business by September.
The Government imposed restrictions on the international media's
coverage of issues relating to ``national security and terrorism.'' In
July 2003, the Government deported four journalists for their coverage
``outside of their hotel rooms'' of released political prisoners Ali
Belhadj and Abassi Madani. The Government threatened similar action
against others who violated the guidelines of the Ministry of
Communication communique forbidding media coverage of the prisoners'
release (see Section 1.d.).
Unlike in previous years, the independent press reported openly
about allegations of torture, government corruption, and human rights
abuses. There also was significant coverage of NGO activity aimed at
publicizing government abuses committed in the past.
The Government generally did not restrict academic freedom. A
growing number of academic seminars and colloquiums occurred without
governmental interference. However, there were extensive delays in
issuing visas to international participants and instances of refusal to
allow international experts into the country (see Section 4).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for the right of assembly; however, the Emergency Law and
government practice sharply curtailed this right. Citizens and
organizations were required to obtain permits from their 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
only a few days before events were to take place, thus impeding event
publicity and outreach.
A decree issued in 2000 continued to ban demonstrations in Algiers.
In January, 200 citizens including members of parliament and former
ministers were clubbed by riot police when they tried to march from the
Parliament to downtown in protest of a court decision invalidating the
National Liberation Front (FLN)'s Eighth Party Congress (see Section
3). As a result, several persons were injured or hospitalized.
Despite official restrictions, the Government tolerated numerous
marches, protests, and demonstrations during the year in other parts of
the country. In May, the citizens of Beni Mered in the province of
Blida staged a sit-in in front of the municipality headquarters to
protest a housing list giving some people preferential treatment.
In May and June, riots took place in the district of Les Genets in
the Berber province of Tizi-Ouzou. Rioters protesting the arrest of a
Berber youth placed barricades and set fire. The police were present,
but did not intervene to avoid provoking a response. The protesters
were detained for 8-10 hours and then released.
In July 2003 in Oran, members of an NGO working on disappearances,
SOS Disparus, were forcibly dispersed during a protest seeking
government redress of the question of the disappeared. Sixty persons
were arrested, and police injured numerous individuals, including many
women over the age of 40.
Every Tuesday morning throughout the year, families of the
disappeared staged a sit-in before the Government's human rights
ombudsman, the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights (Commission Nationale Consultative de
Promotion et de Protection des Droits de l'Homme, or CNCPPDH). The
police did not intervene to break up the demonstrators, the majority of
whom were older women. Approximately 200 family members of disappeared
persons also attempted to hold a march on October 5, but were prevented
from doing so by riot police.
The Constitution provides for the right of association; however,
the Emergency Law and government practice severely restricted this
right. The Interior Ministry must approve all political parties before
they may be established (see Section 3). The Government restricted the
registration of certain NGOs, associations, and political parties on
``security grounds,'' but refused to provide evidence or legal grounds
for its refusal to authorize other organizations that could not be
disqualified under articles pertaining to national security. The
Government frequently failed to grant official national recognition to
NGOs, associations, and political parties in an expeditious fashion.
SOS Disparus, as well as the Democratic Front of Sid-Ahmed Ghezali and
the Wafa party of Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi are still not officially
recognized.
The Government issued licenses to domestic associations, especially
medical and neighborhood associations. The Interior Ministry reported
that many inefficient associations, especially cultural ones, died out
due to poor management, poor finances, and lack of interest. Youth,
medical, literacy, and neighborhood associations continued to benefit
from government support and the interest of members. The Interior
Ministry regarded those organizations unable to attain government
licenses as illegal. Domestic NGOs were prohibited from receiving
funding from abroad, although this restriction was unevenly enforced.
The Southern Movement for Justice (SMJ) was organized in March with
the objective of creating political awareness for politicians to
address the South's high rates of poverty, illiteracy, and
unemployment. In October, the Government arrested several SMJ members
for organizing meetings of a non-recognized association following two
peaceful protests.
The Ministry 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 of the State. After the Government suspended the parliamentary
election in 1992, it banned the FIS as a political party, and the
social and charitable groups associated with it (see ion 3). Membership
in the FIS, although a defunct organization, remained illegal.
In September 2003, police forces in Algiers arrested and physically
assaulted Arouch delegate Belaid Abrika during the breakup of a public
rally before the Court of Algiers held to protest government actions
against the independent press (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.). Abrika was
taken into custody and after refusing to state his name, beaten so
severely that upon his release, doctors at Mustapha Hospital ordered
him to undergo 21 days of bed rest. At the same rally, police detained
a noted human rights attorney. Credible sources report that three
police officers had to be restrained from attacking the individual once
witnessing officers recognized him.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution declares Islam to be the
state religion and prohibits discrimination based on various individual
liberties; however, the Constitution does not specifically prohibit
religious discrimination. In practice, the Government generally
respected religious freedom; however, there were some restrictions. The
law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other
than Islam, prohibits proselytizing, and controls the importation of
religious materials. However, the Government follows a de facto policy
of tolerance by allowing, in limited instances, the conduct of
religious services by registered non-Muslim faiths which are open to
the public.
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 religions, particularly protestant Evangelicals, are forced to
operate without government permission or register as a part of the
Protestant Church. According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the
Ministry of the Interior is responsible for determining the punishment
against a non-recognized religion.
Islamic law (Shari'a) does not recognize conversion from Islam to
any other religion; however, conversion is not illegal under civil law.
Because of safety concerns and potential legal and social problems,
Muslim converts practiced their new faiths clandestinely. There are no
specific laws against proselytizing; however the Government can
consider proselytizing as a subversive activity. The Government
restricted the importation of non-Islamic religious literature for
widespread distribution, although it did not restrict such materials
for personal use. Over the last few years, non-Islamic religious texts
and music and video selections have become easier to locate for
purchase. However, restrictions on the importation of Arabic and
Tamazight-language translations of non-Islamic texts were periodically
enforced. The government-owned radio station provided broadcast time to
a Protestant radio broadcast. The Government prohibited the
dissemination of any literature portraying violence as a legitimate
precept of Islam.
The Ministries of Education and Religious Affairs 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 of Religious Affairs frequently
appointed selected imams to mosques throughout the country, and the law
allows it to pre-screen religious sermons before they are delivered
publicly. (see Section 2.a.).
The Penal Code provides prison sentences and fines for preaching in
a mosque by persons who have not been recognized by the Government as
imams. Persons (including imams recognized by the Government) were
prohibited from speaking out during prayers at the mosque in a manner
that was ``contrary to the noble nature of the mosque or likely to
offend the cohesion of society or serve as an apology for such
actions.''
There were no anti-Semitic incidents during the year, although
anti-Semitic political commentary appeared periodically in the Arabic-
language press without government response. The Government did not
promote tolerance or anti-bias education, and there is no hate crime
legislation.
The country's decade-long civil conflict has pitted self-proclaimed
radical Muslims belonging to the Armed Islamic Group and its later
offshoot, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour
la Predication et le Combat, or GSPC), against moderate Muslims.
Radical Islamic extremists have issued public threats against all
``infidels'' in the country, both foreigners and citizens. As a rule,
the majority of the country's terrorist groups did not differentiate
between religious and political killings.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for freedom of domestic
and foreign travel, and freedom to emigrate; however, the Government
sometimes restricted these rights in practice. The Government does not
permit young men who are eligible for the draft and who have not yet
completed their military service to leave the country if they do not
have special authorization; however, such authorization may be granted
to students and to those persons with special family circumstances.
Under the State of Emergency, 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 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, to enhance security in those areas.
The police and the communal guards operated checkpoints throughout
the country. They routinely stopped vehicles to inspect identification
papers and to search for evidence of terrorist activity. They sometimes
detained persons at these checkpoints.
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 civilian
passengers at these roadblocks (see Section 1.a.). Such acts were not
performed or imposed by government forces.
The Family Code does not permit married females younger than 18
years of age to travel abroad without their guardian's permission (see
Section 5).
Neither the Constitution nor the law provides for forced exile, and
it was not known to occur.
The law provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum to
persons who meet the definition in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee
status and asylum. There were no reports of the forced return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
provided temporary protection to approximately 160,000 refugee
Sahrawis, former residents of the Western Sahara who left that
territory after Morocco took control of it in the 1970s. The office of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Program
(WFP), the Algerian Red Crescent, and other organizations assisted
Sahrawi refugees. The Government cooperated with UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to peacefully
change their Government; however, there are limitations on this right
in practice. The Constitution also mandates presidential elections
every 5 years.
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, a
sitting president not only completed his full 5-year term of office,
but was re-elected in a contested election of transparency which was
unprecedented for the country; however, the election and the electoral
system were not without flaws. President Bouteflika was re-elected in
April to his second term, winning approximately 85 percent of the vote
according to the official results. Voter participation was 58 percent,
remaining steady from the 1999 elections and reflecting stable public
confidence in the political process, which had steadily dropped over
the past decade.
Unlike previous elections, there was marked improvement towards a
more free and transparent electoral process. The military was generally
neutral in the election, upholding the Chief of Staff's promise not to
intervene and abiding by a January electoral reform law that eliminated
the practice of voting in barracks a day before the ``general vote.''
Six candidates representing parties with a wide-range of political
views participated, and they were able to campaign publicly on
television and radio. A woman also ran for president for the first time
in the country's history. Unlike in 1999, the candidates did not drop
out on the eve of the election; and for the first time, candidates and
party representatives were able to review the voter lists prior to the
election. The lists were made available to the heads of political
parties on CD-ROM, reducing the possibility of election fraud. 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, though not without flaws.
Problems with the electoral system persisted. The Administrative
Court of Algiers was criticized among the country's political class and
independent media for having invalidated the National Liberation
Front's Eighth Party Congress. 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.
Opposition candidates also complained that the Ministry of the
Interior 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. According
to the Constitutional Council, which validates election results and
determines whether candidates meet all the requirements, three
potential candidates did not receive sufficient numbers of signatures
for placement of their names on the ballot. Two candidates claimed the
Council's invalidation of their signatures was politically motivated,
but they were unable to provide any evidence of fraud. Despite
opposition candidates' access to the state-controlled media during the
official 3-week election campaign period, they were systematically
denied similar access both before the campaign and following the
election.
Furthermore, the incumbent's ability to use state largesse in
government work projects in every wilaya to amass political support 8
months before the election created inequitable campaign advantages.
Additionally, opposition candidates, primarily the (Islamist) ``Islah''
or Renaissance Party, expressed concern over potential tampering of the
voter lists. Candidates filed numerous complaints that the lists were
neither alphabetized nor classified by voting station or gender; that
the lists did not conform to the electoral lists used during election
day (which comprised full name, date and place of birth, and address
for each voter); and that the number of voters on the list was
inflated. The Electoral Commission made hundreds of corrections based
on these filed complaints.
In April 2003, Prime Minister Benflis resigned and was replaced by
the head of the RND Party, Ahmed Ouyahia. Prime Minister Ouyahia
maintained the same cabinet until September 2003 when there was a
reshuffle of FLN ministers. In April, following the presidential
election, Prime Minister Ouyahia presented his resignation as required
by the Constitution and was reappointed as Prime Minister with a new
cabinet.
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 5-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 6-
year terms, and the Constitution requires that half the elected portion
of the Council and one-third of the appointed portion be replaced every
3 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 order. However, he must submit the executive order to Parliament for
approval upon its return, first to the Assembly then to the Council. If
the Assembly disapproves the executive order twice, the President must
dissolve the Assembly. Assembly elections were held in May 2002, and
indirect elections for the Council of the Nation were held in December
2003.
The law requires that potential political parties receive official
approval from the Interior Ministry before they may be established. To
obtain approval, a party must have 25 founders from across the country
whose names must be registered with the Interior Ministry. The
Government has refused to register two parties: Wafa and Front
Democratique. No party may use religion, Amazigh heritage, or Arab
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 December 2003, indirect elections for one-third of the Council
of the Nation (upper house) were held. The National Democratic Rally
(RND) won 17 seats, and the FLN won 22 seats (split evenly amongst
Benflis and Bouteflika supporters). The two conservative Islamic
parties, MSP and El Islah, won four and two seats respectively, marking
the first time members from Islamic parties have been elected to the
Council. One independent member was also elected. Members of the
regional assemblies in the Kabylie wilayats of Tizi-Ouzou and Bejaia
did not participate due to their longstanding boycott of national
elections.
Corruption in the executive and legislative branches of Government
continued to be a serious problem. There are anti-corruption
regulations in the Penal Code that call for prison sentences of up to 2
years and increase to up to 10 years' imprisonment for high executives;
however, they are not widely implemented. During the year, the
Government established a new anti-money laundering law and installed a
financial intelligence unit to aid in the fight against corruption.
There is no government transparency in the country. The Government
routinely does not provide any access to government information.
There were 32 women serving in senior positions in the executive
and legislative branches. There were four women in the Cabinet: as
Minister of Culture; and as Minister Delegates for Family and Female
Condition, for the Algerian Community Living Abroad, and for Scientific
Research. Women also held 24 of the 389 seats in the lower house of
Parliament and 4 of the 144 seats in the upper house. In 2002, women
held 19 seats in the lower house and 6 seats in the upper house, and
held 5 ministerial positions during President Bouteflika's first term.
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 9 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 May and October 2003 and the
April elections underscored the economic and social neglect felt by
many in this community, which makes up nearly one-third of the overall
population.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups were not
able to operate without government interference while trying to
investigate and publish their findings on human rights cases. The
Government continued to harass local NGOs, and it utilized bureaucratic
hurdles to impede the work of international NGOs. While some human
rights groups were allowed to move about freely, the most active and
visible organizations reported harassment by government authorities,
including surveillance and monitoring of telephone services, arbitrary
detention, questionable and repeated police summonses, and false arrest
(see Section 1.f.). Domestic NGOs must be licensed by the Government
and are prohibited from receiving funding from abroad, although they
may receive donations in-kind. Some unlicensed NGOs operated openly.
International NGOs continued to experience visa delays or refusals.
The most active independent human rights group was the Algerian
League for the Defense of the Rights of Man (LADDH), an independent
organization that had members throughout the country; however, the
LADDH was not permitted access to government officials for human rights
advocacy or research purposes, or to prisons, except for normal
consultations allowed between lawyer and client.
The less active Algerian League for Human Rights (LADH) is an
independent organization based in Constantine. LADH has members
throughout the country who followed individual cases. In September
2003, Mohamed Smain, President of LADH, was summoned to the local
police precinct and arrested without charge. The presiding judge
dismissed the court case the following day. Smain had been sentenced to
1 year in prison for the defamation of the mayor of Relizane and eight
members of its local self-defense force. He alleged in a published
report on human rights abuses that his nine accusers had participated
in the abduction, torture, killing, and disappearance of dozens of
people. Smain was granted ``provisional liberty'' the same year while
the Supreme Court reviewed his case.
Visits by international human rights NGOs occurred both at the
invitation of the Government and independently, when the Government
chose to issue visas. Representatives of the National Endowment for
Democracy, Freedom House, and Global Rights all visited the country
during the year. However, numerous international human rights groups
continued to encounter visa difficulties following the publication of
reports deemed critical of the Government. Difficulty with obtaining
visas also occurred when groups intended to hold meetings, conferences,
or workshops related to what the Government considered sensitive
issues, such as disappearances or electoral reform. The Moroccan
employees of Global Rights experienced lengthy visa delays that forced
them to cancel several meetings in the first quarter of the year.
Representatives of the Fund for Global Human Rights and the
International Foundation for Election Systems were denied visas in
September. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied Freedom House (FH)
permission to open an office in Algiers until, according to an official
at the MFA, FH wrote a more ``balanced'' annual report. The Government
also told FH that its activities related to disappeared persons would
be approved on a case-by-case basis. FH was also forced to cancel a
seminar on disappearances because some of the seminar participants'
visa applications were denied. Representatives of Human Rights Watch
and Amnesty International were also denied visas during the year.
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.).
The Government continued to deny requests for visits from the U.N.
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the U.N.
Special Rapporteur on Torture, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on
Extra-judicial Executions. The U.N. Rapporteur on the Freedom of
Religion was allowed to visit the country in September 2002.
The government-established Consultative Commission for the
Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (Commission Nationale
Consultative de Promotion et de Protection des Droits de l'Homme, or
CNCPPDH) is its Ombudsman for human rights. Directed by Farouk
Ksentini, the Commission is made up of 45 members, 22 of whom belong to
governmental bodies and 23 of whom come from civil society and NGOs.
The nongovernmental members include 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.
In December, Ksentini announced that the Government was considering
working more closely with international and local NGOs. He mentioned,
however, that it was important for NGOs to cooperate and ``not
interfere in the country's domestic affairs.''
In September 2003, the President announced the creation of a
government commission dedicated to the issue of the disappeared and
named Farouk Ksentini to head the body, which would serve as an ``Ad
Hoc Mechanism'' between the families of the disappeared and the
Government (see Section 1.b.). Both the CNCPPDH and the Ad Hoc
Mechanism were perceived to be government-influenced and not effective,
lacking investigative or enforcement powers. Their reports go directly
to the President of the Republic and are not made public.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on birth, race,
sex, language, and social status; however, women continued to face
legal and social discrimination.
Women.--Spousal abuse was common. In March, the National Institute
of Public Health hosted a seminar on violence against women. Seminar
statistics showed that 69.5 percent of female victims of violence were
housewives, 27 percent were illiterate, and that rape constituted more
than 55 percent of all sexual assaults.
Spousal abuse was more frequent in rural than urban areas and also
more frequent among less-educated persons. Spousal rape also occurred.
Prison sentences for non-spousal rape range from 1-5 years; however,
there are no specific laws against spousal rape. There are 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. Battered women must obtain medical certification of the
physical effects of an assault before they lodge a complaint with the
police. Because of societal pressures however, women frequently were
reluctant to endure this process. According to a study by the Ministry
of Justice, women's associations, and the National Institute of Public
Health, 70 percent of women refused to lodge a complaint.
SOS Femmes en Detresse and the Wassila Network are two prominent
associations for women that have received recognition by the Government
and the international community. Both groups 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. There were
several rape-crisis centers run by women's groups, but they had few
resources. The Working Women section of the state union, 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 law prohibits prostitution; however, for economic reasons,
prostitution was reported to be a growing problem, according to the
National Institute of Public Health.
Some aspects of the law and many traditional social practices
discriminated against women. The Family Code, adopted in 1984 and based
in large part on Shari'a, treats women as minors under the legal
guardianship of a husband or male relative. Under the Code, Muslim
women are prevented from marrying non-Muslims, although this regulation
was not always enforced. The 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. Divorce is difficult for a wife to obtain. Husbands generally
obtain the right to the family's home in the case of divorce. Custody
of the children normally is awarded to the mother, but she may not
enroll them in a particular school or take them out of the country
without the father's authorization. Only males are able to confer
citizenship on their children.
The Family Code also affirms the Islamic practice of allowing a man
to marry up to four wives, although this rarely occurs in practice.
Approximately 5 percent of marriages are polygynous. A wife may sue for
divorce if her husband does not inform her of his intent to marry
another woman prior to the marriage.
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 income that they earn
themselves. Married females under 18 years of age may not travel abroad
without their husbands' permission. Married women may take out business
loans and use their own financial resources.
Despite constitutional and legal provisions providing equality
between men and women, in practice women still faced discrimination in
employment resulting from societal stereotypes. Leaders of women's
organizations reported that discriminatory violations are common. Labor
Ministry inspectors did little to enforce the law.
Social pressure against women pursuing higher education or a career
was greater in rural areas than in major urban areas. Women made up
more than half of the university student population; however, women
constituted only 19.7 percent of the work force. Nonetheless, women may
own businesses, enter into contracts, and pursue careers similar to
those of men. About 25 percent of judges were women, a percentage that
has been growing in recent years.
There were numerous women's rights groups, although the size of
individual groups was small. Their main goals were to foster women's
economic welfare and to amend aspects of the Family Code.
Children.--Child abuse was a problem. Hospitals treat numerous
child abuse cases every year, but many cases go unreported. Laws
against child abuse have not led to notable numbers of prosecutions.
NGOs that specialized in care of children cited continued instances of
domestic violence aimed at 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. One study performed by the
National Institute of Public Health in 2002 reported that 62 percent of
children have been victims of physical abuse.
Children continued to be victims of terrorist attacks. In one
November incident in the wilaya of Relizane, a whole family, including
children, was killed. In April, two children and their mother were
killed by a homemade bomb.
The Government is generally committed to the welfare, rights,
health and education of children. The Government provides free
education for children through high school. Education is compulsory
until the age of 16 and is free and universal. In 2004, more than 90
percent of children completed the ninth grade, on average the highest
grade level normally attained by students. Boys and girls generally
received the same treatment in education, although girls were slightly
more likely to drop out of school in rural areas because of familial
financial reasons, as sons were sometimes given educational priority
over daughters. The girls were then sent to vocational training
schools.
The Government provided free medical care for all citizens, albeit
in often rudimentary facilities. The Ministry of Youth and Sports had
programs for children, but such programs faced serious funding
problems.
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 there were reports that such practices occurred. The
Government did not acknowledge trafficking to be a problem, as the
Government is mostly concerned with the increasing rate of illegal
immigration. According to the Government, laws against illegal
immigration, prostitution, and forced labor are used to enforce anti-
trafficking standards, in the absence of specific anti-trafficking
laws.
According to media reports and a local NGO, forced prostitution and
domestic servitude of illegal immigrants from West Africa occurred as
immigrants transited through the country seeking economic opportunity
in Europe. Official statistical estimates of the severity of
trafficking do not exist. Since the Government did not acknowledge
trafficking to be a problem, there were no government assistance
programs for victims or any information campaigns about trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--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 law that requires that they reserve 1 percent of
their jobs for persons with disabilities. Social security provided
payments for orthopedic equipment, and some NGOs received limited
government financial support.
Section 6. Workers Rights
a. The Right of Association.--About two-thirds of the labor force
belonged to unions. Workers are required to obtain government approval
to establish a union, and 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. There is an umbrella labor confederation, the
General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) and its affiliated entities.
The UGTA encompasses national unions that are specialized by sector.
The law on labor unions requires the Labor Ministry to approve a union
application within 30 days and allows for the creation of autonomous
unions, others than those affiliated to UGTA. However, attempts by new
unions to form federations or confederations have been obstructed by
delaying administrative maneuvers. The Autonomous Unions Confederation
(CSA) has attempted since early 1996 to organize the autonomous unions,
but without success. The CSA continued to function without official
status.
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. Unions may form and join
federations or confederations, 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 (ICFTU). However, the law prohibits unions from associating with
political parties and also prohibits unions from receiving funds from
foreign sources. The courts were 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 this right in
practice for authorized unions. Under the State of Emergency, 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. The Government on occasion
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 government authorization prior to commencement.
Strikes and labor gatherings occurred throughout the year in various
sectors, including the construction, medical, port facility, education,
and customs sectors. The 2001 ban on marches in Algiers remained in
effect.
In 2004, the ILO Committee of Experts requested the Government take
steps through legislation to ensure that no provisions of Legislative
Decree 92-03 were applied against workers peacefully exercising the
right to strike. The decree defines as subversive acts, or acts of
terrorism, those offenses directed against the stability and normal
functioning of institutions through any action taken with the intention
of ``obstructing the operation of establishments providing public
service'' or of ``impeding traffic or freedom of movement in public
places.'' The Government did not act, claiming that the Decree was not
directed against the right to strike or the right to organize and has
never been used against workers exercising the right to strike
peacefully.
The Government eliminated free trade zones in November; labor laws
now apply equally throughout the country.
On June 6, the National Committee for Union Freedom (CNLS) gathered
8 autonomous unions in health, education, and public administration
(unaffiliated with the UGTA) to denounce infringements on the unions'
freedoms, the right to strike, and on union pluralism.
During August, workers at southern facilities of Sonatrach, the
state-owned oil and gas production company, protested inadequate
salaries and benefits.
On September 30, employers in the health sector began a weeks-long
``unlimited'' strike at the appeal of the National Federation of Health
Sector Workers (FNTS), an affiliate of the UGTA. The federation sought
increases in salaries and benefits. The National Union of Public Health
Practitioners (SNPSP) went on strike on October 10, seeking salary
increases of up to 80 percent.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Forced or bonded
labor is prohibited by the Constitution's provisions on individual
rights, and the Penal Code prohibits compulsory labor, including forced
or compulsory labor by children. The Government generally enforced the
ban effectively.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment is 16 years. Inspectors from the Ministry of
Labor supposedly enforced the minimum employment age by making periodic
or unannounced inspection visits to public sector enterprises. They did
not enforce the law effectively in the agricultural or private sectors.
UNICEF reported in 2003 that approximately 3 percent of children worked
in some capacity. No child labor was reported in the industrial sector;
however, economic necessity compelled many children to resort to
informal employment. Many children worked part time or full time in
small workshops, on family farms, and in informal trade. One report
stated that more than 25,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 were
working in the informal economy.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law defines the overall
framework for acceptable conditions of work but leaves specific
agreements on wages, hours, and conditions of employment to the
discretion of employers in consultation with employees. The monthly
minimum wage was insufficient to provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. The minimum wage was approximately 8000 dinars
($105) per month. Ministry of Labor inspectors were responsible for
ensuring compliance with the minimum wage regulation; however,
enforcement was inconsistent.
The standard workweek was 37.5 hours. Employees who worked beyond
the standard workweek 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.
There were well-developed occupation and health regulations
codified in the law, but government inspectors did not enforce these
regulations effectively. There were no reports of workers being
dismissed for removing themselves from hazardous working conditions.
Because employment generally was based on very detailed contracts,
workers rarely were subjected to conditions in the workplace about
which they were not previously informed. If workers were subjected to
such conditions, they first could attempt to renegotiate the employment
contract and, that failing, resort to the courts; however, the high
demand for employment in the country gave the advantage to employers
seeking to exploit employees.
__________
BAHRAIN
Bahrain is a monarchy, which in 2002 adopted a constitution that
reinstated a legislative body with one elected chamber. The Al Khalifa
extended family has ruled the country since the late 18th century and
continues to dominate all facets of society and government. The King,
Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, governs the country with the
assistance of his uncle, the Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Al-Khalifa;
his son, the Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad; and an appointed cabinet of
ministers. Members of the Al Khalifa family hold 8 out of 23 cabinet
positions, including all strategic ministries. The 2002 Constitution
provides that the King is head of the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches of the Government. The King also chairs the Higher
Judicial Council, which appoints members of the Constitutional Court.
The bicameral National Assembly consists of the elected Council of
Representatives and the appointed Shura (Consultative) Council. The
Constitution gives the Council of Representatives a role in considering
legislation, but most legislative authority still resides with the
King, and he appoints members of the Shura Council. The Constitution
provides for a nominally independent judiciary; however, the judiciary
was not independent because courts were subject to government pressure
regarding verdicts, sentencing, and appeals.
The Ministry of Interior is responsible for public security. It
controls the Public Security Force (police) and the extensive security
service, which are responsible for maintaining internal order. The
Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) is responsible for defending against
external threats. It also monitors internal security. The Government
maintained effective control of the security forces. The security
forces did not commit any serious human rights abuses during the year.
Impunity remained a problem, and there were no known instances of
security forces personnel being punished for abuses of authority
committed during the year or in the past.
The country had a population of approximately 710,000, an estimated
one third of whom were noncitizens, primarily from Asia. It had a mixed
economy, was a regional financial services center, derived income from
exports of petroleum and petroleum products, and depended on tourism
from Saudi Arabia. The Government estimated Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) growth rate at 6.8 percent. Higher average oil prices and
increased construction activity fueled by deficit government spending
contributed to higher GDP growth during the year. Real wages have been
falling for more than 10 years.
Problems remained in the Government's respect for human rights.
Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The
Government prohibits political parties, and none exist. Impunity of
government officials remained a problem, as did the lack of
independence of the judiciary and discrimination against the Shi'a
population, women, and foreign nationals. The press reported that some
judges were corrupt. The Parliament investigated an instance of
government corruption involving the government pension funds. The
Government continued to infringe to some extent on citizens' privacy
rights, and it restricted the freedoms of speech, the press, assembly,
and association. Journalists routinely practiced self censorship. The
Government also imposed some limits on freedom of religion and freedom
of movement. Violence against women and discrimination based on sex,
religion, and ethnicity remained a problem. There was reported
discrimination in the job market. In May, the Council of
Representatives rejected a law making discrimination a crime punishable
under the country's 1976 Penal Code. Abuse of foreign workers occurred,
including numerous instances of forced labor and some instances of
trafficking.
The Government took initial steps to improve the judiciary process
with the transparent recruitment of new judges, training of judges and
prosecutors, establishment of an office of mediation, and steps to
speed up the court process that automates case management. Five judges
were dismissed for corruption. The Government also provided increased
human rights training to law enforcement officers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the
Government or its agents.
On April 27, the High Civil Court ordered the Ministry of Interior
to pay BD 40,000 ($106,100) to the family of the 21-year old Bahraini
man killed in a demonstration in April 2002.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture and other cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. During protests on May
21, two civilians were injured by rubber bullets fired by the police.
On October 28, rubber bullets or tear gas canisters fired by the police
injured two protestors (see Section 2.b.). There were no known
instances of officials being punished for human rights abuses committed
either during the year or in any previous year.
Several cases of police abuse remain unresolved since 2002. In
April 2002, police beat a human rights activist who came to the aid of
another demonstrator. The investigation into this incident concluded
that the police were not at fault. In May 2002, the Department of
Military Intelligence (DMI) reportedly kidnapped a citizen and beat him
in retaliation for his involvement in another demonstration. At year's
end, there was no government investigation into this incident nor was
any punishment exacted.
In September 2003, three ex-detainees filed a criminal complaint
against an ex senior intelligence official and a retired security
intelligence officer, Colonel Adil Jassim Flaifel, accusing them of
torturing detainees from 1981 to 1996. Colonel Flaifel denied any
wrongdoing, and the Public Prosecutor rejected the detainees'
complaint. In 2002, lawyers for eight citizens made allegations against
Colonel Flaifel for routinely engaging in torture and mistreatment of
prisoners. According to Amnesty International (AI), the general
prosecutor in the Legal Affairs Bureau did not acknowledge receipt of
the complaint. He asserted that the general amnesty issued by the King
in 2001 applied to government employees as well as citizens
Unlike last year, there were incidents of violent societal abuse by
vigilantes. On March 12, following liquor vendors' refusal to suspend
operations after their neighbors' demands, between 100 and 200 Shi'a
protestors entered 4 houses and destroyed a large number of bottles of
liquor. Police eventually defused the violence hours later. The
Interior Minister issued a statement that citizens may not take the law
into their own hands, and instead should address complaints to the
ministry.
On March 17, as many as 150 Shi'a youths attacked a Manama
restaurant located near a conservative Shi'a neighborhood. The
restaurant was known to serve alcohol and was frequented by foreigners.
The youths arrived with knives, rocks, and Molotov cocktails. They set
fire to five vehicles and doused the back wall of the restaurant with
gasoline. Police were slow to respond and stood outside the restaurant
for 20 minutes before engaging the mob. Police arrested 12 teenagers
and detained 4 more for questioning; however, the King pardoned all 16
teenagers at the request of their families.
In 2003, credible reports of prisoner beatings and mistreatment
surfaced during three strikes at Jaw prison, in the southern part of
the country. In August 2003, a prisoner was allegedly beaten in front
of his family. News of the mistreatment reached 282 prisoners in
Building 4, who proceeded to take over the building and stage a 14-day
hunger strike. Press reports stated that the prisoners sought better
living conditions, medical treatment, monitoring by human rights
organizations, and a halt to beatings by prison guards. The Ministry of
Interior negotiated the end of the strikes by promising to establish a
joint parliamentary and Ministry of Interior commission to investigate
claims. The commission began work in April 2003; however, findings of
the commission's investigation have still not been made public. In
February, the Ministry of Interior improved medical care, social
services, and food at Jaw prison.
In December, several dozen prisoners at Jaw Prison started a hunger
strike and called for an end to delays in the justice system. The press
reported that some inmates were held for up to 9 months while waiting
for the courts to hear their cases. The prisoners claimed that once
they started the strike, they were denied hot water, phone calls, and
outdoor exercise.
Other prisons in the country generally met international standards.
Women prisoners were housed separately from and in better
conditions than men, and juveniles were housed separately from adults
until the age of 15 in a section of the women's prison. On April 13,
the Labor Ministry announced plans to open a separate center for the
care of juvenile delinquents, but it has not yet opened. In August, the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) met with government
officials and NGOs. The ICRC did not monitor prisons.
Political and ``security'' prisoners are not held in special
prisons or in special sections of regular prisons. Pretrial detainees
are housed separately from convicted prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions. At year's end, there were no reports of government
investigations into claims that the Directorate of Military
Intelligence (DMI) officers detained and beat a citizen in 2002.
There continued to be no known instances of police officers being
punished for human rights abuses committed either during the year or in
any previous year. The King ordered an investigation into police
conduct at a demonstration in May in which two civilians were injured
by rubber bullets (see Section 2.b.).
According to the Interior Ministry, its Disciplinary Court
convicted three police officers during the year for criminal activities
of property theft and disobedience.
From April 17 to 21, 40 ranking law enforcement officers from the
Interior Ministry, National Guard, Bahrain Defense Force and the Public
Prosecutor's office attended a 5-day U.N. Development Program seminar
entitled ``Training Course in the Human Rights Field for Law
Enforcement in the Ministry of the Interior.'' This training, the first
of its kind for the country's law enforcement officers from these
organizations, focused on protecting the rights of suspects and inmates
in accordance with international standards.
On March 30, police arrested the President of the National
Committee for Martyrs and Victims of Torture days before his group
planned to demonstrate against Law 56, the government decree that gives
immunity to past and present government officials responsible for
serious human rights abuses. Facing charges of un-Islamic behavior and
indecency, he was denied legal representation for the 5 days he was
detained in jail. This case was still pending at year's end. The
Government also broke its own laws and released his name and the nature
of the case to the local press. Releasing such information is illegal
in alleged vice cases.
Police must inform suspects of the charges against them within 48
hours of the arrest. The law provides a detained person the right to a
judicial determination on the legality of the detention within 45 days
of the arrest.
Judges may grant bail to a suspect and do so regularly.
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the assignment and
management of public prosecutors, while the Ministry of Interior
oversees security and all aspects of prison administration. Access to
attorneys was often restricted; in the early stages of detention,
attorneys must seek a court order to confer with clients. The state
provides counsel if the defendant cannot afford to hire an attorney.
After conviction, attorneys require the prison director's permission to
visit a client in jail.
Prisoners may receive visits from family members, usually once a
month.
Since the 2001 abolition of the State Security Act, courts have
refused police requests to detain suspects longer than 48 hours without
referring the case to the Public Prosecutor, and police have complied
with court orders to release suspects. Prisoners must see a judge
within 3 days of arrest. In December, inmates in Jaw Prison went on a
hunger strike to protest delays in the judicial system. Some claimed
they were spending up to 9 months in cells waiting for the courts to
hear their cases (see Section 1.c.).
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. In the past, the King, the Prime
Minister, and other senior government officials lost civil cases
brought against them by private citizens; however, the court ordered
judgments were not always implemented expeditiously. Members of the
ruling Al Khalifa family were well represented in the judiciary and
generally did not recuse themselves from cases involving the interests
of the Government. The King chairs the Higher Judicial Council, which
appoints members of the Constitutional Court.
The country's legal system is based on a mix of British Common Law,
Shari'a (Islamic law), tribal law, and other civil codes, regulations,
and traditions. The judiciary is organized into two separate branches:
the civil law courts; and the Shari'a law courts.
The civil law courts adjudicate all civil and commercial, cases,
and all 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 and commercial disputes. The
High Civil Court has three judges with jurisdiction over larger civil
and commercial disputes and personal status cases involving non-
Muslims. Appeals are made at the Civil High Court of Appeal, which is
presided over by three judges. The criminal law courts adjudicate
criminal cases. The Lower Criminal Court has one judge and rules on
misdemeanor crimes. The High Criminal Court has three judges and rules
on felonies. Appeals are made at the Criminal High Court of Appeal,
which also has three judges. Both the civil and criminal court systems
have a Supreme Court of Appeal (Court of Cassation), the final
appellate court.
In September 2003, the High Civil Court considered a lawsuit
brought against the Government by the family of a citizen, who died in
2002 during a violent demonstration in front of a foreign embassy. On
April 27, 2004, the Court ordered the Ministry of the Interior to
compensate the family (see Section 1.a.).
The Shari'a Law Courts have jurisdiction over personal status cases
involving citizen and non-citizen Muslims. There are two levels: the
Senior Shari'a Court; and the High Shari'a Court of Appeal. At each
level is a Sunni Shari'a Court with jurisdiction over all personal
status cases brought by Sunni Muslims, and a Jaafari Shari'a Court with
jurisdiction over cases brought by Shi'a Muslims. The High Shari'a
Court of Appeal must be composed of a minimum of two judges. In the
event of a disagreement, the Ministry of Justice provides a third judge
and the decision will be based on a majority vote.
Finally, the 2002 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's royal decree. These seven judges serve 9 year terms and
cannot be removed before their terms expire. The King may present draft
laws to the Court to determine the extent of their agreement with the
Constitution. The Court's determination is final and ``binding on all
state authorities and on everyone,'' according to the Constitution.
The Constitution provides that the King appoints 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 Office. The Constitution does not provide a
legislative branch confirmation process for judicial appointees nor
does it establish an impeachment process.
In March, the Justice Minister dismissed five Shari'a court judges
and suspended a sixth for corruption and disreputable behavior.
In February 2003, a citizen lost custody of her two children in a
Shari'a court. Her appeal was denied by the original judge on February
21, 2003. On January 11, the Shari'a court overturned its 2003 decision
and granted custody of the children to their mother.
In September 2003, a group of women's rights activists, attorneys,
and journalists who were critical of various decisions of Shari'a
judges published their views in the daily newspaper Akhbar Al-Khaleej.
Eleven Shari'a court judges brought slander charges against this group,
which was led by Anwar Abdulrahman, editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
Abdulrahman challenged the constitutionality of laws for the press,
judicial authority, and criminal procedures. In December 2003, the High
Shari'a Court of Appeal suspended his trial and passed the case to the
Constitutional Court. On July 13, seven of the Shari'a court judges
dropped the criminal case against Abdulrahman. The Ministry of Justice
dismissed the other four judges on charges of corruption. On October
10, the High Criminal Court rejected the judges' case. A newspaper
called the result a ``triumph for the press and social reformers'' in
the country (see Section 2.a.).
The Women's Petition Committee is a group of women who were
negatively affected by Shari'a court decisions. Since 2003, they have
called for the issuance of a long-promised personal status law. In a
petition to the King, they requested that the Supreme Judicial Council
intervene in matters of inspection, supervision, and reform of the
religious judiciary. There was no response from the Supreme Judicial
Council by the year's end; however, the King spoke of the necessity of
a personal status law during his address at the opening of Parliament
on October 9.
Civil and criminal trial procedures provided for an open trial, the
right to counsel (with legal aid available when necessary), and the
right to appeal. Juries are not a part of the judicial system.
Defendants may choose their own attorneys. If they are unable to
afford a private attorney, defendants may ask the Justice Ministry to
appoint an attorney to represent them in court. In the past, some
attorneys and family members involved in politically sensitive criminal
cases claimed that the Government interfered with court proceedings to
influence the outcome or to prevent judgments from being carried out;
however, there were no such reports during the year. There were
allegations of corruption in the judicial system.
Court procedures do not meet internationally accepted standards for
fair trials.
The BDF maintains a separate court system for military personnel
accused of offenses under the Military Code of Justice. The Ministry of
Interior has a similar system for trying police officials. Neither
court reviewed cases involving civilian, criminal, or security
offenses.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution provides for freedom from arbitrary
interference with privacy, home, and correspondence except under the
provisions of law and under judicial supervision; however, the
Government continued to infringe on citizens' right to privacy. The
Government continued to carry out some illegal searches. Telephone
calls and personal correspondence remained subject to monitoring. A
government controlled proxy prohibited user access to Internet sites
considered to be antigovernment or anti Islamic, but these restrictions
were often circumvented (see Section 2.a.). Police informer networks
were extensive and sophisticated.
According to press reports on August 15, the BDF denied one of its
high-ranking officers permission to marry a woman from a different
sect.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for the
freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government limited these
rights in practice, especially in the media.
Local press coverage and commentary on international issues was
open, and discussion of local economic and commercial issues also was
relatively unrestricted. However, representatives from the Information
Ministry actively monitored and blocked local stories on sensitive
matters, especially those related to sectarianism, national security,
or criticism of the royal family, the Saudi ruling family, and judges.
In April, the country's third independent daily newspaper, Al-Meethaq,
issued its first edition and soon discussed the issue of homosexuality,
creating a controversial debate throughout the country. The Government
did not participate in this debate. In October 2003, the Bahrain
Journalists Association (BJA) became a full member of the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
In 2002, a press law was issued by royal decree. The Government
began implementing the law but ``froze'' it due to a public outcry.
Although suspended, the law continued to be enforced at the
Government's discretion. The suspended press law provides for freedom
of press and speech; however, it also contains restrictions on these
``rights.'' 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 BD 2,000 ($5,300) 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 which may adversely affect the
value of the national currency; reporting any offense against the head
of a state which maintains diplomatic relations with the country; or
publishing offensive remarks towards an accredited representative of a
foreign country because of acts connected with his post.
In March, Sunni religious leaders and several Sunni
parliamentarians compelled the Dubai-based Middle East Broadcasting
Channel 2 (MBC 2) to halt its production of the reality television show
``Big Brother'' in the country, despite general public support for the
program. The show was to be based on the original Dutch version but
with some changes due to Islamic sensitivities. Whereas, in the
original, 12 female and male contestants were filmed 24 hours per day
as they lived together and periodically took votes to dismiss each
other, the local version separated the males from the females so that
they interacted only in communal areas. The Information Minister
accepted the program in this format, provoking attacks from
conservative parliamentarians who demanded his removal from office.
Outside parliament, conservative religious leaders denounced the
immoral nature of the program. Sunni conservatives organized a public
protest that attracted more than 1,000 demonstrators. On March 3, MBC 2
announced that it was halting production. It made no reference to
government pressure in its public statement.
In March, the Council of Representatives' Legal and Legislative
Affairs Committee approved amendments to the Penal Code that provide
for the imprisonment or fine of any person who publicly humiliates
members of the National Assembly or who publishes the content of closed
sessions.
In May, the Ministry of Information confiscated the May 9-15 issues
of Al-Mushahid Al-Siyasi magazine that contained articles on the recent
petition for constitutional change (see Section 2.b). Al-Mushahid Al-
Siyasi is a well-known Arabic magazine, published in London by the BBC,
and has a local circulation of 500 in Bahrain. Many issues of the
magazine have been confiscated in the past, particularly ones
containing articles critical of the country.
On July 27, the Al-Jazeera Theater staged a political comedy ``Mr.
MP'' under the patronage of Parliament Chairman Khalifa Al-Dhahrani.
The play addressed the Parliament's performance over the last 2 years,
making fun of individual parliamentarians and their proposals. There
were no reports of censorship.
Individuals openly expressed critical opinions regarding some
domestic political and social issues in private settings, internet chat
rooms, occasionally on State run television call in shows, and
increasingly in organized public forums. Some citizens criticized
leading government officials and one, Abd al-Hadi al-Khawaja, was
jailed. On September 25, police arrested al-Khawaja, former Director of
the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Executive, for criticizing the
Prime Minister, Sheikh Khalifa al-Khalifa (the King's uncle) during his
presentation on poverty at the Al-Aruba Club. Al-Khawaja accused the
Prime Minister of squandering public money and blocking key economic
and social reforms.
Shortly thereafter, the Government temporarily closed Al-Aruba Club
and dissolved the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. On November 21, al-
Khawaja was sentenced to 1 year in prison for violating Article 165
(public incitement against the regime) and Article 168 (spreading
rumors that could disrupt national security) of the Penal Code. Several
hours after the court case concluded, the King suspended al-Khawaja's
sentence and ordered authorities to release him. The Bahrain Center for
Human Rights challenged its closure. Court proceedings on that case
were set to begin in January 2005 (see Section 2.b.).
On October 10, criminal charges of slander were dropped against the
editor of Akhbar Al-Khaleej (see Section 1.e.). The other two court
cases brought by the Government against the country's newspapers in
2003 under the ``frozen law'' were ongoing at year's end.
In June 2003, Mansour al-Jamry, editor in chief of the independent
newspaper Al Wasat, was interrogated, sentenced, and fined for
allegedly publishing sensitive information on an ongoing investigation
of a locally based terrorist cell. Al-Jamry has appealed his case to
the Constitutional Court, citing discrepancies in the procedural
enactment of laws 42, 46, and 47 which deal with judicial authority,
criminal procedure, and the press. In May, a Higher Criminal Court
judge referred Al-Jamry's appeal to the Constitutional Court. At year's
end, this case was ongoing.
In September 2003, Radhi Mouhsin al-Mousawi, editor in chief of The
Democrat, a newsletter published by the National Democratic Action
Society, appeared before the High Criminal Court on charges of
impropriety, breach of trust, fraud, and forgery of a written document
after writing an article about corruption in the tourism sector and
making allegations against an unnamed tourism inspector. Al-Mousawi
also presented his case to the Constitutional Court, claiming that
discrepancies in the procedural enactment of the press, judicial
authority, and criminal procedures laws renders them unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court rejected Al-Mousawi's case. The High Criminal
Court resumed the tourist inspector's defamation case against Al-
Mousawi in September.
Public demonstrations increased over foreign policy, unemployment,
family status law, housing shortages, and human rights abuses. These
were covered in the print media but not always on government owned
television.
The Ministry of Information banned the publication of any news or
information regarding six local men detained in July on suspicion of
planning terrorist attacks. The Minister of Information issued a
written decree, explaining that the measure was intended to protect the
suspects' legal rights. The Minister cited articles 19, 21, and 70D of
the 2004 Press and Publications law that had not been approved by
Parliament. Parliamentarians and commentators asserted that such a ban
must be passed through the legislative branch, not the executive
branch.
In February 2003, under the 2002 Publication Laws, the Ministry of
Information seized copies of ``Mohammed's Character,'' a book
considered blasphemous for insulting the character of the Prophet
Mohammed. The Ministry also confiscated books and international
magazines that featured articles criticizing the 2002 Constitution and
articles discussing the naturalization of foreigners, which is called
``political naturalization'' within the country.
The 2002 Election Law regulated candidates' political activities,
prohibiting speeches at most public locations and limiting the areas
where campaign materials could be placed. However, these regulations
were only sporadically enforced.
The Information Ministry controlled local broadcast media and
exercised considerable control over privately owned local print media.
The most independent of the country's newspapers, Al-Wasat, was subject
to occasional Government harassment. The Government generally afforded
foreign journalists access to the country and did not limit their
contacts; however, the Government continued to ban correspondents from
the Qatar based Al Jazeera satellite television channel, accusing the
station of using sensationalized and one sided coverage to unfairly
project a negative image of the Government.
The Government owned and operated all local radio and television
stations. Radio and television broadcasts in Arabic and Farsi from
neighboring and regional countries were received without interference.
Al Jazeera was available in the country via satellite.
In October 2003, a foreign correspondent advised that the Ministry
of Information threatened to expel him if he did not retract his draft
article on political naturalization in the country. The correspondent
reportedly withdrew the story. In December 2003, another foreign
correspondent was threatened with expulsion if he did not reveal his
source for his story on a December 17, 2003 illegal political
demonstration that turned violent when demonstrators attacked police.
When he reportedly refused, the Ministry of Interior gave him 24 hours
notice to leave the country. The correspondent's regional bureau chief
intervened with the Information Minister to keep the correspondent in
the country.
The National Telephone Company (BATELCO) provided access to the
Internet. E mail use was reportedly unimpeded, although it was subject
to monitoring (see Section 1.f.). More than one third of the population
used the Internet. There were 140,000 web-based e-mail accounts that
the Government cannot monitor in the country. Many districts of Manama
have cyber cafes, and there are 80 chat rooms visited by more than
1,000 persons daily. It was estimated that 22 percent of the population
owned personal computers.
Although there were no formal regulations limiting academic
freedom, in practice academics avoided contentious political issues,
and the University of Bahrain did not have a political science program.
University hiring and admissions policies favored Sunnis and others who
were assumed to support the Government, rather than focusing on
professional experience and academic qualifications. However, there
continued to be some improvement in nondiscriminatory hiring of
qualified individuals during the year. A few Shi'a professors,
including women, were hired, and a Shi'a female professor was promoted
to Dean of the College of Sciences at the University of Bahrain. Larger
numbers of Shi'a students were accepted into the national university,
but this was still a smaller proportion than in the general population.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for the right of free assembly; however, the Government
requires organizers to notify the Ministry of Interior 72 hours before
a public gathering or demonstration takes place. The law prohibits
unauthorized public gatherings of more than five persons.
The Government periodically limited and controlled political
gatherings. On February 14, Bahrain's four main political opposition
societies launched a 2-day conference on constitutional reform entitled
``Towards a Contractual Constitution for a Constitutional Monarchy.''
Participants examined changes to the 1973 Constitution. Just prior to
the conference, the Government barred 15 international speakers and
participants from entering Bahrain, including a prominent MP and former
Parliamentary Chairman from Kuwait. The Government alleged that the
conference organizers had not obtained permission to hold the event.
However, the law requires only that societies notify the Government,
which the four opposition societies had done. Publicly, the Minister of
Information justified the participation restrictions by stating that it
would not allow foreigners to interfere in internal affairs.
On February 21, Al-Ayam fired its foreign news editor and columnist
allegedly because he participated in the Constitutional Conference. The
columnist claimed that his employer was instructed by the Information
Ministry to fire him.
Demonstrations occurred throughout the year, not all of which were
approved by the Government. Unless violent, the Government generally
did not intervene. During the year, there were four violent incidents
of political unrest. Numerous peaceful demonstrations protesting
government policies also occurred, many organized by Al-Wifaq National
Islamic Society, the country's largest political society. While the
Government does not permit political parties, it has permitted some
political activity by several political ``societies,'' including Al-
Wifaq. Since 2001, gatherings at social and political clubs for
political discussions have been held regularly and without any obvious
obstruction by the Government.
Citizens peacefully demonstrated against the French law banning the
hijab (head scarf) in public schools and government offices in France,
the cancellation of the ``Big Brother'' television show, the frequency
of electrical blackouts, the lack of housing, and high unemployment.
On April 6, the press reported that the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs sent letters to the four main opposition political
societies threatening legal action if they followed through on their
plan to hold a popular petition on April 21 to call for rejection of
the 2002 Constitution. The Labor Minister previously made public
announcements that such an action by the societies violated Article 29
of the Law on Societies, which states that only duly constituted
organizations and corporate bodies may address public authorities
collectively. The four societies held the petition drive on April 30.
During the event, police stormed the signature-collection stands and
arrested 17 petitioners. Three detainees were released on bail on May 2
for lack of evidence; 14 remained in prison (see Section 3).
In early May, ``Relatives of the Constitutional Petition
Detainees'' organized a series of demonstrations outside Parliament to
protest the detention of the 14 petition gatherers. Approximately 150
relatives gathered on several occasions in May to protest silently.
During the last protest, four demonstrators were arrested for defying
police orders to disperse. Three were released immediately; the fourth
was released on bail of BD 200 ($530) after being charged with calling
for unauthorized gatherings and gathering without permission. The law
requires persons to notify police in writing 72 hours prior to a
gathering. On May 20, the King released the 14 detainees, stressing the
importance of democracy in the country. He also announced the opening
of a dialogue between the Government and the four political opposition
societies aimed at resolving the dispute over the 2002 constitution.
The two violent demonstrations this year focused on international
issues. On March 26, demonstrators marched from Al Suboor Mosque to a
diplomatic mission after Friday prayers to hold a peaceful protest of
the assassination of Hamas' founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin.
The crowd of demonstrators grew to 400, and a group of young rioters
threw rocks at the police, who responded with tear gas. Rioters then
burned refuse, tires, and trees. One demonstrator was injured, and a
house reportedly caught fire after tear gas shells exploded inside.
Police arrested eight protesters.
On May 21, approximately 5,000 protesters expressed anger at U.S.
military operations in Najaf and Karbala as well as U.S. support for
Israel. Halfway through the rally, organized by the Islamic
Enlightenment Society and the Al-Wifaq National Islamic Society, riot
police attempted to redirect the protestors by setting up a roadblock.
When the crowd refused to turn back, police fired tear gas and rubber
bullets. Protesters responded by throwing stones at the police and
burning a police jeep. There were 13 persons injured, including 5
policemen. Shortly after the demonstration, King Hamad appointed a new
Interior Minister and ordered an investigation of police conduct at the
event. At the same time, he confirmed the people's right to protest
(see Section 1.c.).
In August, demonstrators protested against U.S. military operations
in Najaf and demanded protection for the Imam Ali shrine. On August 13,
a group of 8,000 demonstrators peacefully gathered around 2 main public
squares in Manama. Parliament also condemned the attacks in Najaf, and
Members of Parliament took part in the protest.
On October 28, more than 1,000 persons demonstrated against the
arrest of human rights activist Abd Al-Hadi Al-Khawaja. The protestors
formed a ``car parade'' that disrupted traffic in the capital for
hours. The press reported that police blocked the protesters and fired
tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the restless crowd. Two
protestors were injured by rubber bullets or tear gas canisters.
Twenty-five persons were arrested. All but 13 were released in the
following weeks. The King ordered the other 13 released with Al-Khawaja
on November 21 (see Section 2.a.).
The Political Rights Law promulgated in July 2002 had a negative
effect on the freedoms of speech and association (see Section 2.a.).
The law, which the King told political societies to ignore, is intended
to regulate election campaigns and prohibits ``election meetings'' at
worship centers, universities, schools, government buildings, and
public institutions. After this law's promulgation, the occurrence of
public meetings declined precipitously and they received little
coverage in the local press. One leader of a popular public forum
reported that he had been told by a high level government official to
reduce the attendance at meetings and make them ``less political.''
The Constitution provides for the right of free association;
however, the Government limited this right by preventing the formation
of political parties, although the Government has authorized political
societies to run candidates and support them financially, and it has
permitted several NGOs, including human rights organizations, to
conduct political activities.
The 1989 Societies Law prohibits any activity by an unlicensed
society and any political activity by a licensed society. The Ministry
of Labor and Social Affairs has the right to reject the registration of
any society whose services it deems unnecessary to society, are already
being provided by another society, are contrary to state security, or
are aimed at reviving a previously dissolved society.
In May, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs warned the Bahrain
Center for Human Rights (BCHR) for the second time since October 2003
that it would revoke the Center's license if the center continued to
conduct activities of a political nature (see Section 4). On September
27, the Labor Minister dissolved the Center after holding a seminar on
poverty at which a BCHR member criticized the Prime Minister (see
Section 2.a.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, in practice the Government placed some limitations
on this right. The Constitution declares Islam as the official
religion, and all other religious groups must obtain a permit from the
Ministry of Justice and Islamic affairs in order to operate and hold
religious meetings. Depending on circumstances, a religious group may
also need approvals from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the
Ministry of Information, and/or the Ministry of Education to manage a
school. There were four Sikh temples, a synagogue, and several official
and unofficial Hindu temples, located in Manama and its suburbs.
The Government funds, monitors, and subjects all official religious
institutions to some controls. These include Shi'a and Sunni mosques,
Shi'a ma'tams (religious community centers), Shi'a and Sunni waqfs
(charitable foundations), and the religious courts, which represent
both the Ja'afari (Shi'a) and Maliki (one of the four Sunni) schools of
Islamic jurisprudence. Although the region of Rifaa constitutes
approximately 40 percent of the country's landmass, the Royal Court, in
a letter dated April 27, denied an application for a Shi'a mosque
citing that land in Rifaa cannot be allocated for commercial
enterprises.
Thirteen Christian congregations that were registered with the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs operated freely and allowed other
Christian congregations to use their facilities. In May, Ministry of
Islamic Affairs officials participated in the Conference for Religious
Freedom in Qatar. The 3-day seminar focused on Islamic-Christian
dialogue. Since 1950, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar has sought
land from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to build a church and to hold
religious services. Though Mar Thoma is registered with the Government,
the Ministry has still not responded to the church's formal
applications. The National Evangelical Church allows Mar Thoma's
congregation to use its facilities for early morning services; however,
the facility can only accommodate half of Mar Thoma's congregation at
any time.
The Government discourages proselytizing by non Muslims and
prohibits anti Islamic writings; however, Bibles and other Christian
publications were displayed and sold openly in local bookstores.
Religious tracts of all branches of Islam, cassettes of sermons
delivered by sheikhs from other countries, and publications of other
religions were readily available. However, on April 2, the Ministry of
Information banned the film ``The Passion of the Christ'' because it
depicts the prophet Isa (Jesus).
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has repeatedly denied a Baha'i
congregation a license to operate. The Ministry views Baha'ism as an
inauthentic offshoot of Islam, and it therefore refuses to recognize
the congregation. The Baha'i congregation continued to practice its
faith without government interference.
The Government rarely interferes with what it considers legitimate
religious observations. Public religious events, most notably the large
annual 2-day national Shi'a holiday of Ashura, were permitted but
monitored closely by police. The King ordered the Ministry of
Information to provide full media coverage of Ashura events. There were
no restrictions on the number of citizens permitted to make pilgrimages
to Shi'a shrines and 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 Political Rights Law promulgated in July 2002 forbids election
speeches in worship centers, but political sermons continued (see
Sections 2.a. and 2.b.). There were no reported closures of ma'tams or
mosques during the year. The Government also may appropriate or
withhold funding in order to reward or punish particular individuals or
places of worship.
In April 2003, the Ministry of Interior lifted its ban on
policewomen wearing veils, or headscarves. In July 2003, the King
granted veiled women the right to drive, ending a decade-long ban. In
July 2004, the Ministry of Defense lifted its ban on growing beards, a
practice common among many Muslims. All military personnel who had been
terminated for growing beards were reinstated. In August, the Cabinet
reviewed a proposal to permit men to grow beards and women to wear
veils while working for government departments.
Discrimination against the 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 were allowed to hold posts in these
forces, though not in positions of significance. In September, the
Interior Ministry established a community police program to train 500
Shi'a men and women to patrol Shi'a neighborhoods. In the private
sector, Shi'a citizens tended to be employed in lower paid, less
skilled jobs. In private conversations, Shi'a consistently complained
of discrimination, especially in public sector jobs and positions at
the university. While Shi'a acknowledged that the situation was
improving slowly, they still compose a disproportionately high
percentage of the country's unemployed. Educational, social, and
municipal services in most Shi'a neighborhoods, particularly in
villages, were inferior to those found in Sunni urban communities.
There were no acts of physical violence or harassment of Jewish
persons or acts of violence against or vandalism of Jewish community
institutions, such as schools, synagogues, or cemeteries. The
Government has not enacted any laws protecting the right of Jews to
religious freedom; however, it has not interfered with their religious
freedom. The Government makes no effort to specifically promote anti-
bias and tolerance education. Some anti-Semitic political commentary
and editorial cartoons appeared, usually linked to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.
On April 30, unknown assailants vandalized the Zainab mosque. The
mosque restrooms were rendered inoperable. The assailants destroyed all
water faucets, fans, electrical switches, lamps, microphones, clocks,
and audiotapes. The Director of the government agency responsible for
managing government-held Shi'a properties sought police assistance to
investigate the crime. At year's end, there were no results of the
investigation.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution prohibits restrictions
on freedom of movement, except as provided by law and judicial
supervision. Banishment and prevention of return are prohibited. The
Government generally respected these rights. 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. A noncitizen resident may obtain a travel document, usually
valid for 2 years and renewable at the country's embassies overseas.
The holder of a travel document also required a visa to reenter the
country.
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 avoid addressing the question of discrimination against Shi'a in
sensitive government positions where employment is allegedly dominated
by non indigenous groups. The Government complied with a 2003
parliamentary committee's request for official naturalization data with
the understanding that the committee keep the data confidential. The
Government occasionally granted citizenship to Sunni residents, most of
whom are from Jordan, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt. The
Government stated that Saudis who recently received citizenship are the
grandchildren of citizens who had emigrated to Saudi Arabia. According
to the country's Nationality Law, these persons have a legal right to
citizenship.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports
of new cases of forced exile during the year. In May, the Royal Court
granted 34 citizens living in exile the right to return to the country.
Although the law does not include provisions for the granting of
refugee status or asylum to persons who meet the definition in the 1951
U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967
Protocol, there were no reports of the forced return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution.
The Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees.
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 ruling
family held all security related Cabinet positions.
The bicameral National Assembly consists of the elected Council of
Representatives and the appointed Shura (Consultative) Council. Either
of these chamber may propose legislation, but the Cabinet's Office of
Legal Affairs must draft the text of laws. 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 1 month.
The King may dissolve the Representative Council at his discretion,
and he retains the power to amend the Constitution and propose, ratify,
and promulgate laws. Either council may question government ministers,
and the Representative Council may pass a two thirds majority vote of
no confidence that requires a minister's resignation. The Council of
Representatives may also introduce a resolution indicating it cannot
cooperate with the Prime Minister. The entire National Assembly would
then have to pass the resolution by a two thirds majority that would
require the King to either dismiss the Prime Minister or dissolve the
Council of Representatives.
In 2002, the country held its first national elections in nearly 3
decades. Fifty-three percent of eligible voters elected 40 members to
the Council, who shared legislative powers with the King and with the
40 members of the Shura Council appointed by the King. The country also
elected municipal councils, whose role is still being defined.
There were no government candidates in the 2002 elections. Informed
observers reported that the election campaigning and voting was
generally free and fair; however, some candidates were not allowed to
visually observe ballot counting, and there was incomplete reporting of
election results. The Bahrain Transparency Society monitored the
elections, in addition to a number of other local NGOs. Significantly,
the Government drew the electoral districts in 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. International
observers commented that this gerrymandering generally violated the one
man, one vote principle common to most democracies.
Women accounted for 52 percent of voters in the 2002 municipal
election. The Government did not publish the percentage of women voters
in the legislative election. Although no women were elected in either
election, two of the six women that that ran for the Council of
Representatives forced their competitors into run offs in which each
woman received more than 40 percent of the vote.
Political parties are prohibited, but a number of ``societies''
operate much like political parties, holding internal elections,
campaigning for public support, and hosting political gatherings (see
Section 2.b.). Al-Wifaq National Islamic Society, the country's largest
political society, was joined by three other political societies in
boycotting the elections, citing grievances over the constitutional
provisions that equalize the powers of the elected Council of
Representatives and the appointed Shura Council. On June 7, the
Parliament defeated a political parties draft law. The Political Rights
and Election Laws restrict the freedoms of speech and association (see
Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
On April 30, police arrested 14 opposition society youths for
distributing pamphlets and collecting signatures for a petition calling
for constitutional reform (see Section 2.b.). The youths were charged
under Articles 160, 165, 166, and 169 of the 1976 Penal Code, all of
which pertain to ``crimes against the internal security of the state.''
Specifically, the Public Prosecutor accused them of not limiting
signatures to society members and using coercive language in the
pamphlets. One newspaper reported that many elderly and illiterate
citizens were brought to centers to sign the petition despite not
understanding its content. The Minister of the Royal Court also stated
that collecting signatures on a petition is illegal because only the
King and the National Assembly may call for constitutional change.
The parliamentary investigation into the alleged financial
corruption involving management of government-controlled pension funds
continued. The director general of the General Organization for Social
Insurance first raised concerns about the funds in April 2003 when he
announced that the organization would be bankrupt by 2023. According to
the investigation's initial findings in January 2004, the Government
lost BD 750 million ($ 1.9 billion) due to poor investments and
administrative mismanagement. The Parliamentary Investigative Committee
demanded that the Government repay the lost funds, implement oversight,
and restructure fund boards. The Prime Minister publicly endorsed the
Committee's recommendations. This investigation was marked by open
discussion of this financial scandal. The Prime Minister personally
appointed directors-general to each fund and restructured the pension
fund board to consist of 15 members. The country's labor federation,
the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), criticized the
Cabinet for changing the pension fund laws without its consultation,
and segments of the public called for the dismissal of the ministers
responsible for the mismanagement. The Parliament did not call for a
vote of no confidence to remove the three ministers involved.
The King has appointed six women to the Shura Council. The Ministry
of Cabinet Affairs reported that women held nine percent of senior
civil service posts. Health Minister Dr. Nada Haffadh, appointed April
27, was the first female minister in the country. There were four
female assistant secretaries and 52 female general directors in the
Government. Four women were appointed as Bahrain's first female
prosecutors, representing 15 percent of all public prosecutors.
The majority of women in Government worked in positions of lower
significance; only a few attained senior positions within their
respective ministries or agencies. In May, the Ministry of Defense
promoted two women officers to the rank of colonel. They were the first
women to hold this rank in the BDF.
The majority of citizens belong to the Shi'a and Sunni sects of
Islam, with the Shi'a constituting approximately two thirds of the
indigenous population. However, Sunnis predominate politically and
economically. The ruling family is Sunni and is supported by the armed
forces, the security services, and influential Sunni and Shi'a merchant
families who benefit from a relatively open economy.
The King appointed a Christian and a Jewish member to the Shura
Council. Twenty one Shura Council members were Shi'a Muslims and
seventeen were Sunni. Approximately one third of the cabinet ministers
were Shi'a.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Restrictions on freedom of association and expression sometimes
hindered investigation or public criticism of the Government's human
rights policies. There are 386 NGOs registered in the country. NGOs
must report to the Ministry of Labor when their members participate in
international NGO events.
In July, the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) released its
second annual report in which it praised the Government's commitment to
human rights and the democratic process; however, the report pointed
out insufficient legislation in various sectors. The report noted for
instance that the law does not adequately protect domestic servants
against abuse. The report also criticized political societies for
mixing politics with religion and using mosques and community centers
to promote their agendas. The BHRS offered recommendations, which
included amending legislation to bring it in line with the principles
of the constitution and international resolutions, ratifying
international resolutions, and implementing domestic law to protect the
rights of expatriate workers.
On May 12, the Labor Ministry sent a letter to the BCHR stating
that it would revoke the Center's license if it continued to conduct
political activities, which are prohibited according to Article 18 of
the Law on Societies. The letter did not specify the political
activities in which BCHR had engaged. However, on April 30, the BCHR
had organized a peaceful protest calling for the release of 25 persons
detained for petitioning for constitutional change. On June 27, the
Labor Ministry sent a letter instructing BCHR to stop working on
establishing a victim assistance shelter, citing that this activity is
not within the purview of its bylaws; however, with the endorsement of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BCHR raised more than BD30,000
($75,000) to establish a shelter for abused runaway housemaids. On
September 27, the Labor Ministry issued a press release to the local
newspapers announcing the dissolution of BCHR prior to any notification
to BCHR President or the board. The property was locked and bank
accounts frozen. The BCHR challenged its closure, and the case remained
in the courts at year's end (see Section 2.a.).
In recent years, the Government has allowed increased access
between civil society and international human rights organizations.
During the year, there were no reports of Government harassment of
these groups or their members.
On March 15, the ICRC held its fourth annual Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) conference in the country.
In March, an official from Human Rights Watch (HRW) participated in
a BCHR fundraiser for a victim assistance shelter and spoke at a BCHR
public forum on human rights.
In August, Amnesty International visited the country to gather
information on violence against women.
There are no parliamentary human rights committees; however, the
efforts of a Shura Council member led to the establishment of the
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) on December 11. The Society
planned to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the
country.
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, in practice these rights were protected
unevenly, depending on the individual's social status, ethnicity, or
sex.
Women.--Spousal abuse was widespread, particularly in poorer
communities. In August, a prominent clinical psychologist, based on a
study of 605 women of varying ages, social statuses, and educational
backgrounds, concluded that 30 percent of the country's married women
have been subjected more than once to verbal, physical, or
psychological spousal violence. However, there were very few known
instances of women seeking legal redress for violence, and there was
little public attention to or discussion of the problem. Incidents
usually were kept within the family.
No government policies or laws explicitly addressed violence
against women. Rape is illegal; however, because marital relations are
governed by Shari'a, spousal rape is not illegal.
It was not uncommon for foreign women working as domestic workers
to be beaten or sexually abused by their employers and recruiting
agents (see Sections 6.c. and 6.e.). Numerous cases were reported to
local embassies, the press, and the police; however, most victims were
too intimidated to sue their employers. Courts reportedly allowed
victims who did appear to sue for damages, return home, or both.
Although prostitution is illegal, some foreign women, including
some who worked as hotel and restaurant staff, engaged in prostitution
(see Section 6.f.). In September 2003, the National Democratic Action
Society (a political society that boycotted the 2002 elections) alleged
that the Ministry of Tourism's Inspectorate Division was corrupt and
had allowed a flourishing trade of trafficking in persons and
prostitution. The Government refuted the charge, and the author of the
article has been charged with defamation of character under the press
law (see Section 2.a.).
In July, authorities rounded up hundreds of women from Uzbekistan,
Ukraine, and Bulgaria who had entered the country on 2-week multiple
entry visas. They were charged with overstaying their visas. Some
runaway housemaids resorted to prostitution because they were unable to
legally secure a new employer. On July 10, the Central Security
Directorate raided an establishment that held four runaway housemaids
engaged in prostitution.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is not practiced in the country.
There is no specific law that prohibits FGM.
Women's specific 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,
are made. Since 2002, women have filed complaints with the Ministries
of Justice and Islamic Affairs against several Shari'a judges, arguing
that women were often treated unfairly in these courts. In March, the
Justice Minister dismissed five Shari'a court judges and suspended a
sixth for corruption and disreputable behavior (see Section 1.e.).
Shi'a and Sunni women have the right to initiate a divorce;
however, religious courts may refuse the request. Although local
religious courts may grant a divorce to Shi'a women in routine cases,
occasionally Shi'a women seeking divorce under unusual circumstances
must travel abroad to seek a higher ranking opinion than that available
in the country. 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. In
contrast, in the absence of a direct male heir, Sunni women 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 use wills and other legal maneuvers to ameliorate the
negative effect of these rules.
In divorce cases, the courts routinely grant Shi'a and Sunni
mothers custody of daughters under age 9 and sons under age 7, although
custody usually reverts to the father once the children reach those
ages. Regardless of custody decisions, the father retains the right to
make certain legal decisions for his children--such as guardianship of
any property belonging to 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
may marry a non Muslim man if the man converts to Islam. In such
marriages, the children are automatically considered to be Muslim.
Women may obtain passports and leave the country without the permission
of the male head of the household.
In July, Parliament amended Article 13 of the 1975 Passports Law
and granted a married woman the right to apply for a passport without
her husband's consent. On August 7, the Government announced that
children born to citizen mothers and foreign fathers would receive
citizenship.
In February, the Public Works and Housing Minister issued an order
granting widows, divorcees, and other women with child dependents the
ability to apply for government housing and loans. The Government also
granted divorcees the right to remain in their ex-husband's home while
they raised their children. However, the new regulation applies only to
homes granted by the Ministry or built with loans from the Ministry. In
December 2003, more than 100 protesters, including many divorced women,
staged a sit-in outside of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing,
demanding the settlement of their housing and loan requests. The
protesters claimed that the distribution of housing was discriminatory;
thousands of persons had been on the waiting list for 15 to 20 years
while some recent applicants received housing immediately. On October
4, in response to parliamentary demands, the Prime Minister announced
plans to reduce the waiting period for families to receive housing, to
make more land available for construction of new housing units, to
devote more attention to the housing demands of low income families,
and to ease the housing loan process. He said that the cost for these
plans will be reflected in the 2005-06 national budget.
On September 19, the Government approved a plan to establish an
alimony fund for divorced women with children whose ex-husbands did not
pay required alimony. The fund had not been established at year's end.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, women constituted 16.6
percent of the total workforce. The Government has publicly encouraged
women to work and was a leading employer of women, who constituted 40.4
percent of the government workforce and included university professors,
public school teachers, and employees in the public health and social
sectors. In August, the Traffic Directorate started training women to
become traffic police. On September 6, the Ministry of Interior
accepted applications for 100 women to serve on community police
forces.
Labor laws do not discriminate against women; however, in practice
there was discrimination in the workplace, including inequality of
wages and denial of opportunity for advancement, and the influence of
religious traditionalists sometimes has hampered women's constitutional
rights despite their participation in the work force.
Laws do not recognize the concept of equal pay for equal work, and
women frequently were paid less than men. In November, the Cabinet
Affairs Ministry reported that women hold 9 percent of senior civil
service posts, up from 7 percent in 2003. In December 2003, the BCHR
released a report on employment discrimination. According to the
report, Shi'a citizens, who account for 66 percent of the country's
citizens, held 101 of 572 (18 percent) high-ranking posts.
Sexual harassment is prohibited; however, it was a widespread
problem for women, especially foreigners working as domestics and other
low level service jobs. In May, a Lower Criminal Court official dropped
a case of sexual harassment against a Member of Parliament when the
general prosecutor's office sent a letter to the court stating that the
MP had immunity. The offenses allegedly took place in 2001 before he
became a parliamentarian in 2002.
The number of women holding business licenses has increased 41.7
percent from 2001-03 and 7 percent from 2003-04. According to the
Ministry of Commerce, commercial registrations for women accounted for
31 percent of all registrations.
The president of the University of Bahrain is a woman. Women
compose 70 percent of the students at the country's universities,
although some women complained that admissions policies at the
University of Bahrain discriminated against qualified female
applicants, especially Shi'a women. This year, 68 percent of new
students accepted into the university were women.
Large numbers of women's organizations seek to improve the status
of women under both civil and Islamic law. Some of the most active
women's groups are the Bahrain Businesswomen Society (BBS), Bahrain
Women's Society (BWS), and the Mustaqbal Society. The Supreme Council
of Women was established by royal decree and is directed by the First
Lady, Her Highness Shaikha Sabika bint Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.
Children.--The Government has often stated its commitment to the
protection of children's rights and welfare within the social and
religious framework of society. It generally honored this commitment
through enforcement of civil and criminal laws and an extensive social
welfare network.
Public education for citizen children below the age of 15 was free.
While the Constitution provides for compulsory education at the primary
levels (usually up to 12 or 13 years of age), the authorities did not
enforce attendance. Starting in the 2004-05 academic year, ``family
education'' will be taught to both boys and girls in the last year of
primary school. Previously, only girls were instructed in this subject,
which covers reproductive education and nutrition. According to the
U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), 85 percent of school-aged children are
enrolled. Most students finish secondary school.
Limited medical services for infants and preadolescents were
provided free of charge. Non-citizen adults and children pay less than
$3 per visit for care at health centers. Fees for operations vary
according to the costs of the hospital.
Civil law based on tradition and religion shape the social status
of children. Child abuse was rare, as was public discussion of it; the
preference of the authorities was to leave such matters within the
purview of the family or religious groups. In 2002, a 13-year old girl
disappeared after reportedly being abused by members of her family.
According to the local media, the case received attention at the
highest levels of Government, but despite the Prime Minister's public
charge to the police to find her, she remained missing.
The authorities actively enforced the laws against prostitution,
including child prostitution, procuring, and pimping. Violators were
dealt with harshly and may be imprisoned or, if a noncitizen, deported.
There were no reports of child prostitution during the year.
Independent and quasi governmental organizations, such as the
Bahraini Society for the Protection of Children and the Mother and
Child Welfare Society, played an active part in protecting children by
providing counseling, legal assistance, advice, and, in some cases,
shelter and financial support to distressed children and families. The
Child Care Home, funded from both the Government and private sources,
provided shelter for children whose parents were unable to care for
them. The Bahrain Women Society has established a ``healing center'' to
offer counseling, workshops, and therapy to victims of child abuse. The
Society implemented a 24-hour hotline for victims of sexual and
physical abuse.
There were very few reports of arrests and detentions of juveniles
during the year, and those who were arrested reportedly were released
soon thereafter.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were reports that some foreign
workers were recruited for employment on the basis of fraudulent
contracts and then forced to work under conditions different from what
was promised. Workers from Southeast Asia, South Asia, Ethiopia, and
the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc reported being forced into
conditions that amounted to trafficking. Some of these victims reported
being sexually exploited or being forced to work as prostitutes;
however, the most common forms of trafficking in persons involved
unskilled construction laborers and domestic workers. Up to half of low
and unskilled expatriate workers were subjected to contract
substitution and this was often due to the duplicity of recruiting
agents in the worker's home country. Victims of this form of
trafficking experienced withholding of passports by employers,
alteration of contracts without their consent, nonpayment of salaries,
or extremely long working hours.
There were also allegations from runaway housemaids that
recruitment agencies make it a practice to rape incoming housemaids.
Frequently, citizen traffickers within the country--including those
within influential families--bribed new workers to pay a substantial
fee (up to $1,200) to receive what turned out to be fraudulent visas
for nonexistent jobs. The Government has taken measures to fight this
illegal practice. In June, 10 companies faced court action for selling
over 150 fraudulent visas. On August 3, the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs (MOLSA) referred 43 business owners to the Public
Prosecutor on allegations of selling fraudulent visas.
On July 17, MOLSA revoked the licenses of two manpower agencies for
overcharging housemaids for processing work contracts. Two other
agencies were under investigation for allegations of raping housemaids.
Although prostitution is illegal, some foreign women, including
some who worked as hotel and restaurant staff, engaged voluntarily in
prostitution. There were also reports that some women were forced into
prostitution. When the Government discovered this kind of abuse, it
generally responded by prosecuting the offender and often the victim's
sponsor or employer. There were persistent reports that some women
working in hotels and restaurants were locked in a communal house or
apartment when not working and driven to work in a van (see Section
6.c.).
The Government has taken positive steps to combat trafficking;
however, trafficking remains a problem. A ``National Task Force''
committee published pamphlets on expatriate workers' rights in several
languages, provided manuals on these rights to local diplomatic
missions, and installed a telephone hotline for victims. Victims of
trafficking may seek assistance from their embassies, although the
Government did not provide direct assistance to victims. On July 18,
the Labor Ministry established a joint subcommittee with the Pakistani,
Bangladeshi, Filipino, and Indian Ambassadors. The committee will meet
semiannually to address labor issues affecting foreign workers.
In 2003, the Labor Ministry increased the number of inspectors from
9 to 40 and granted them the authority to inspect foreign labor camps.
During the year, MOLSA trained an additional 30 inspectors. There were
an additional 20 inspectors for entertainment outlets under the
Information Ministry's Tourism Affairs Office.
In December 2003, the Parliament ratified the U.N. Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and two protocols to prevent,
suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and
children and smuggling of migrants by land, sea, and air.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Labor Ministry estimated the number
of persons with disabilities at 7,000 in 2002, but the International
Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that persons with disabilities
accounted for 4 percent of the population--approximately 24,000
persons.
There were no reports of discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, or access to health care. 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.
The Government's housing regulations require that access be
provided to persons with disabilities, although enforcement is random.
Greater emphasis has been given in recent years to public building
design that incorporates access for persons with disabilities; however,
the law does not mandate access to non-residential buildings for
persons with disabilities.
Society tended to view persons with disabilities as special cases
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, and
it maintains a list of certified, trained persons with disabilities.
The Directorate of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation announced that 577
students with disabilities will start vocational training at centers
for persons with disabilities, an increase of 87 students from last
year and 187 from 2 years ago.
The 1976 Labor Law requires that any employer of more than 100
persons must 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 Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
placed persons with disabilities in public sector jobs, such as public
telephone exchanges.
A regional Center for the Treatment of the Blind was headquartered
in the country, and a similar Center for the Education of Deaf Children
was established in 1994.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Article 3 of the 1963
Citizenship Law grants naturalized citizenship to Arab applicants
residing in the country for 15 years and to non-Arab applicants
residing in the country for 25 years.
In 2003, the Council of Representatives formed a committee to
investigate the naturalization process and allegations that the
Government illegally naturalized persons who did not reside in the
country. On January 25, the Committee reported to the press that
citizenship was granted to more than 300 persons who did not have
permanent residence in the country. The committee's report pointed out
that political naturalization has a negative impact on security and
socio-economic conditions. It recommended amending the law and
restructuring the Citizenship Directorate. On March 13, six political
societies submitted detailed reports and photographic samples of
naturalized passports to the Undersecretary of Immigration and
Passports. To date, the Government has not responded.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--In 2002, the King promulgated a new
law on labor unions that, for the first time, granted workers the right
to form and join unions. The law also grants noncitizens the right to
join unions. There were 39 trade unions in the country. In June 2003,
the King confirmed the right to form unions at government ministries.
Since then, five public unions have been established. This law and the
Labor Union Law also improved the legal status of foreign workers.
The Labor Union Law established a union federation, the General
Federation of Bahraini Workers (GFBW) which provides that all unions be
members of the GFBW. During the year, the GFBW board renamed the
federation the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions. The law does
not restrict who may be a union official other than to stipulate that a
member of a company's management may not be a union member. The law
also states that no more than one union per establishment may be
created and prohibits unions from engaging in political activities. As
of September, only one federation of trade unions existed in the
country, despite criticism from the ILO, which called for multiple
federations.
The law allows union membership for private sector, civil service,
and maritime workers; however, soldiers (or members of the military)
are prohibited from joining workers in unions of the civil service, and
of maritime workers.
The law does not address anti-union discrimination, and no reports
of such behavior were reported. Nothing in the law prohibits unions
from access to the legal system. The law encourages unions to
participate in international labor forums and events; however, none
have yet joined an internationally affiliated trade union organization.
No internationally affiliated trade unions exist in the country.
Women activists have been trying since 2001 to establish the
Bahrain Women's Union and continued to face setbacks during the year.
The Labor Ministry refused to issue the license because it insists that
the group change their name to the Bahrain Women's Society. The women
disagreed with the name change since the union would bring together 12
societies to advocate women's rights, press for legislative changes,
and prepare women for political roles. One of the group's priorities is
the creation of a personal law to protect the rights of families,
women, and children. In September, the preparatory committee filed a
civil suit against the Government. To date, this case has not been
decided.
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 juristic 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
places some restrictions on this right. The law requires arbitration
before a vote to strike and that three quarters of a union's members
approve the strike in a secret ballot. It is not yet clear whether the
arbitration is binding.
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. Officials from the labor and business
sectors and from the Government have examined this ambiguity but are
not interested in changing it.
In March, Seef Properties fired 34 employees without notice or
severance. The President of the workers' union negotiated the highest
compensation package ever paid to a dismissed private sector employee,
a 6-month severance package. Union negotiators hoped for re-employment.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Forced or bonded
labor is prohibited by law; however, in practice, the labor laws
applied for the most part only to citizens, and abuses occurred,
particularly in the cases of domestic servants and those working
illegally. The Government also prohibits forced or compulsory child
labor, and there were no reports that such practices occurred.
Foreign workers, who make up approximately two thirds of the
workforce, in many 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. The
Government issued new regulations granting foreigners more freedom to
change jobs, but the process is legally cumbersome and many foreign
workers remain unaware of their rights and obligations under the law.
After 1 year in a position, a foreign worker is allowed to break this
contract and look for other work. Prospective employees must present
the new employer with a ``No Objection Certificate'' (NOC) from the
previous employer. After 2 years in a position, expatriate employees
may change jobs locally without the approval of the original sponsor
and within the duration of their contract period, provided the original
employer was notified in writing months in advance. Many foreigners
have been unable to obtain NOCs to get a new job.
Unskilled foreign workers can become indentured servants and often
lacked the knowledge to exercise their legal right to change
employment.
There were numerous credible reports that 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.).
Statistics provided by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights Migrant
Workers Group indicated that 22 construction workers committed suicide
in 2003. In the first 3 months of the year, 11 expatriate workers
committed suicide. According to the report and related press articles,
many of these workers were under financial strain, suffered exhaustion,
and missed their families back in their home countries.
In May, 10 Filipino retail workers presented their case to the
Justice Ministry charging their employer with contract substitution,
unpaid overtime, and sexual harassment. The case was settled amicably.
At the workers' request, the employer gave them their overdue salaries
and paid for their plane tickets to the Philippines.
On July 5, BCHR negotiated a BD 15,000 ($40,000) settlement with
employer Al Owainati Construction Company to pay 22 Indian runaway
workers their overdue salaries, unpaid overtime, leave entitlement, and
indemnity pay.
On July 5, the Cabinet approved legal action to establish a Control
Bureau to resolve disputes between workers and employers through
negotiations.
The Government worked to decrease instances of abuse by passing a
law assessing a BD 500 to BD 1,000 ($1,300 to $2,650) fine for
employers found guilty of forced labor. Claims of runaway workers in
the country have dropped dramatically since May 2003. The new rules
require sponsors to pay a BD 250 ($600) deposit per employee for each
report of a runaway.
Labor laws do not apply to domestic servants. There were numerous
credible reports that domestic servants, especially women, were forced
to work 12 or 16 hour days, given little time off, malnourished, and
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 maids
(see Section 6.e.).
It was estimated that there were 50,000 foreign housemaids working
in the country who are predominantly of Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Indian,
and Filipino origins. During the year, there were 19 incidents of
seriously abused housemaids reported in the press and another 50 cases
that have been reported directly to the Philippine Embassy. In 2003,
the Philippine, Indian, and Bangladeshi embassies proposed a four point
agenda to ensure the protection of housemaids. The agenda included
creating a separate labor law for housemaids, formulating a standard
contract guiding the hiring of housemaids, setting a standard minimum
wage, and abolishing the practice of employers retaining the
housemaids' passports. This agenda has not yet been introduced to the
National Assembly.
Housemaids that have no embassy representation in the country
(Indonesian and Sri Lankan) are often subject to the worst types of
physical and sexual abuse. With no diplomatic mission to protect them
and no established victim assistance shelter, runaway housemaids have
often been returned by untrained police to abusing employers.
Since February 2003, the Philippine Embassy has requested that all
Filipinos register with the embassy so it can track ``undocumented''
workers. Registration with the Philippine Embassy allows them certain
benefits, including scholarships for vocational courses and medical
insurance.
In August, the Indian Embassy held an open house to register all
Indian workers in the country. The mission announced its disappointment
with the low turnout.
As in 2003, there were numerous reports of employers and recruiting
agents raping and beating housemaids. Some housemaids also suffered
injuries escaping employers. On February 8, two Indian housemaids who
were physically abused fled their employers. They lived on the street
for two months before church staff found them and referred them to the
Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
On March 6, a 13-year old Indonesian housemaid (whose passport
indicated she was 24 years old) was found severely beaten and burned
wandering downtown Manama. The same night a Sri Lankan housemaid was
dropped off at a manpower agency after her employer tied her to a table
and raped her repeatedly at knife-point.
On March 14, an Indian housemaid committed suicide in her
employer's home.
On July 4, a man visited a recruitment agency in search of work.
There he saw an Indian housemaid who was beaten and locked in the back
room. He reported it to BCHR and the police. Police visited the agency
and received assurances from the agency owner that he would take the
housemaid to the Indian embassy. Instead, he took her to the airport
where she was arbitrarily deported. The BCHR filed a case with the
Public Prosecutor. The case is pending.
On July 26, a Filipino housemaid fell four stories from the window
of a manpower agency while attempting to escape after being locked for
days in the agency offices. She suffered serious spinal and leg
injuries.
On July 27, a Bangladeshi housemaid accused her employer of rape.
The employer's brother-in-law turned him in to the police.
On August 9, police took a citizen owner of a manpower agency into
custody after an Indonesian housemaid alleged he raped her.
On August 20, an Indian housemaid who was locked in her room for 3
months was freed by police after alerting them by screaming from her
window.
On January 28, the Higher Civil Appellate Court commuted the
sentence of the Ethiopian maid who killed her employer in 2003 from
death to life in prison.
There were persistent reports that some foreign women working as
hotel and restaurant staff were locked in a communal house or apartment
when not working and driven to work in a van. Many reportedly traded
sexual favors with hotel managers in exchange for time off from work
(see Section 5, Trafficking). In September 2003, the press reported
allegations of corrupt Ministry of Tourism inspectors. The inspectors'
job ensures hotels' compliance with tourism and labor laws. To date, an
investigation into the problem remained pending.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment is 14 years of age. Juveniles between the
ages of 14 and 16 may not be employed in hazardous conditions or at
night, and may not work more than 6 hours per day or on a piecework
basis. Child labor laws were enforced effectively by Ministry of Labor
inspectors 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, and even in such
businesses, it was not widespread.
The law prohibits forced and compulsory child labor, and the
Government enforced this prohibition effectively (see Section 6.c.).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The country does not have an
official minimum wage; however, the Government issued guidelines in
2002 that the public and private sectors should pay workers no less
than BD150 ($398) per month, and the Government observed this standard
in paying its employees. Compliance with these guidelines was not
actively monitored, and few unskilled foreign laborers earned as much
as the guidelines suggested. For foreign workers, employers considered
benefits such as annual trips home, housing, and education bonuses as
part of the salary. However, these guidelines did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family.
The Labor Law is enforced by the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs and mandates acceptable conditions of work for all adult
workers, including adequate standards regarding hours of work (a
maximum of 48 hours per week) and occupational safety and health. Under
the Labor Law, workers have the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their continued
employment.
In June 2003, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs established
a hotline to take calls to respond to complaints about working
conditions, delay in salary payments, and other related issues. A
separate hotline was established to receive information about illegal
workers. Due to limited training for staff, it was reported that
sometimes calls went unanswered. In December, an international NGO
trained the hotline staff.
The Ministry enforced the law with periodic inspections and routine
fines for violators. In February 2003, the first group of 11 new labor
inspectors graduated from training. In May 2003, the Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs increased the number of inspectors to 40. These
trained inspectors will also visit labor barracks to ensure that
workers' accommodations meet the necessary safety and hygiene
standards. The inspectors are only authorized to inspect premises that
have a commercial registration.
Most of the 50 Asian workers who filed complaints at the Ministry
of Labor and Social Affairs after falling victim to fraud by a local
company were repatriated.
The press often performed an ombudsman function on labor problems,
reporting job disputes and the results of labor cases brought before
the courts. The BCHR has also volunteered to assist the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs with inspections and monitoring. Once a worker
lodges a complaint, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs opens an
investigation and often takes remedial action. The Fourth High Court
consists of three labor courts and has jurisdiction over cases
involving alleged violations of the Labor Law. Complaints brought
before the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs that cannot be settled
through arbitration must be referred to the Court within 15 days. In
practice, most employers preferred to settle such disputes through
arbitration, particularly since the court and labor law generally are
considered to favor the employee.
The Labor Law specifically favors citizens over foreign workers and
Arab foreigners over other foreign workers in hiring and firing.
Because employers included housing and other allowances in their salary
scales, foreign workers legally may be paid lower regular wages than
their citizen counterparts, although they sometimes received the same
or a greater total compensation package because of home leave and
holiday allowances. Some foreign workers and citizen workers were paid
comparable wages, with total compensation packages often significantly
greater for the former. Women in most jobs were entitled to 60 days of
paid maternity leave and nursing periods during the day. However, women
generally were paid less than men.
The law provides that fines and jail sentences would be imposed
upon private sector employers who failed to pay wages required by law.
This law applied equally to employers of citizens and foreign workers
and was intended to reduce abuses against foreign workers, who at times
were denied the required salaries (see Section 6.c.). The law provides
equal protection to citizen and foreign workers; however, all foreign
workers require sponsorship by citizens or locally based institutions
and companies. According to representatives of several embassies with
large numbers of workers in the country, the Government was generally
responsive to embassy requests to investigate foreign worker complaints
regarding unpaid wages and mistreatment. However, foreign workers,
particularly those from developing countries, often were unwilling to
report abuses for fear of losing residence rights and having to return
to their countries of origin.
Legislation permits all workers except domestics to change jobs
without obtaining a NOC from their employers. However, the process for
utilizing these new rules was not well understood among expatriate
workers. They were also often unwilling to challenge their employers
for fear of being punished or deported. In addition, domestic workers
were exempted from this legislation, and many of them remained in
essence indentured workers, unable to change employment or leave the
country without their sponsors' consent (see Section 6.c.).
Foreign women who worked as domestic workers often were beaten or
sexually abused (see Section 5). In 2003, between 30 and 40 percent of
attempted suicide cases handled by the Government's psychiatric
hospitals were foreign maids (see Section 6.c.). Unverified reports
suggested that unskilled foreign laborers were also at risk of suicide.
The Government has set occupational health and safety standards and
identified agencies responsible for enforcement. Under the Labor Law,
workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without jeopardy to their continued employment, but during
the year there were no reports of workers attempting removal.
On April 10, a Bangladeshi construction worker died when he fell
from a four-story building. On July 17, a housing camp for 60
construction workers collapsed. No one was injured in the collapse but
the 60 workers had to find temporary shelter. On July 26, three
construction workers suffered extreme exhaustion, collapsing from
working in excessive heat.
The Government and NGOs held several occupational safety seminars
throughout the year.
__________
EGYPT
The Arab Republic of Egypt has been governed by the National
Democratic Party (NDP) since the party's establishment in 1978. The NDP
continues to dominate national politics and has maintained an
overriding majority in the popularly elected People's Assembly and the
partially elected Shura (Consultative) Council. Islam is the state
religion. In 1999, President Hosni Mubarak was reelected unopposed to a
fourth 6-year term in a national referendum. The President appoints the
Cabinet and the country's 26 governors and may dismiss them at his
discretion. The 1971 Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary; however, it is subject to influence by the Executive, and
application of the 1981 Emergency Law undermined its independence. The
Government continued to use the Emergency Law to try non-security cases
in the emergency and military courts. Corruption was a problem.
The Ministry of Interior controls the State Security Investigations
Service (SSIS), which conducts investigations and interrogates
detainees, and the Central Security Force (CSF), which enforces curfews
and bans on public demonstrations. Security forces continued to arrest
and detain suspected terrorists. The President is commander-in-chief of
the military. The Government maintained effective control of the
security forces, which committed numerous, serious human rights abuses.
The country is transforming from a government-controlled economy to
a free market system; however, state-owned enterprises still dominated
some key sectors of the economy. The country had a population of
approximately 70.5 million. Approximately 30 percent of the population
worked in the agriculture sector, which is almost entirely privately
owned. An estimated 3 to 5 percent of the population were subsistence
farmers. Income from tourism, remittances from approximately 2 million
citizens working abroad, petroleum exports, and Suez Canal revenues
were the other principal sources of foreign currency and were
vulnerable to external shocks. Approximately 17 percent of the
population live in poverty, but the poor performance of the economy
over the past 4 years likely has increased that figure.
The Government respected human rights in some areas; however, its
record was poor, and in many areas serious problems remained. Citizens
did not have the meaningful ability to change their government. The use
of military courts to try civilians and Emergency Courts to try
political cases continued to infringe on a defendant's constitutional
right to a fair trial before an independent judiciary. The 1981
Emergency Law, extended in February 2003 for an additional 3 years,
continued to restrict many basic rights. The security forces continued
to mistreat and torture prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain
persons, hold detainees in prolonged pretrial detention, and
occasionally engage in mass arrests. Local police killed, tortured, and
otherwise abused both criminal suspects and other persons. Police
continued to arrest and detain homosexuals. The Government partially
restricted freedom of the press and significantly restricted freedom of
assembly and association. The Government placed some restrictions on
freedom of religion. Domestic violence against women remained a
problem. Female genital mutilation (FGM) persisted, despite government
and nongovernmental efforts to eradicate the practice. Tradition and
some aspects of the law discriminated against women and religious
minorities, including Christians and particularly Baha'is. The
Government limited workers' rights. Child labor remained widespread,
despite government efforts to eradicate it. Exposure of workers to
hazardous working conditions and other employer abuses continued.
During the year, the Government convicted 14 police officers for
abuse and torture of prisoners. The Government abolished State Security
Courts in 2003 but continued to use Emergency Courts. The Government
established the National Council for Human Rights. The Government
generally permitted human rights groups to operate without
restrictions; although several groups encountered difficulty
registering under the NGO law, they developed alternate means to
conduct their work.
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 political killings; however, during the year, human rights
organizations and the press reported that at least 10 persons died in
custody at police stations or prisons.
In June, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) issued a
report entitled ``Torture: An Unchecked Phenomena,'' in which it
documented 41 cases of torture in police stations resulting in 15
deaths in custody from April 2003 to April 2004. EOHR also asserted
that from April 1993 to April 2004, it documented 412 cases of torture
in police stations, including 120 cases where detainees died as a
direct result of torture.
On February 25, police arrested Sayyed Mustafa for defaulting on a
loan. They tortured him at Awseem police station in Giza Governorate.
On March 20, police transferred him to Qasr El Eini hospital, which
declined to admit him, apparently for fear that the hospital would be
held liable for his condition. The police returned him to Awseem, where
he died the same day. The Public Prosecutor ordered an investigation,
the results of which remained unavailable at year's end.
Following the arrest of 52 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members in May,
one of the detainees, Akram Abdel Aziz El Zuhairy, died in custody. The
MB leadership said that he died from torture. MB members of Parliament
called for an immediate investigation, which led to the formation of a
committee that visited Tora prison in June where the other 51 MB
members were being held. The Ministry of Interior denied the torture
allegations, and instead claimed that Zuhairy hit his head while being
transported between detention and a meeting with prosecutors. On June
15, the Office of Forensic Medicine issued a report asserting that
there were no signs of injury to Zuhairy's body.
On August 27, 2 detainees died and 18 others required
hospitalization for asphyxiation/heat exhaustion after police
transported them in poorly ventilated trucks to Cairo from Saloum, on
the Libyan border. These dead and injured were part of a group of 80
young men who had illegally crossed the Libyan border for the eventual
purpose of seeking work in Italy. Libyan authorities arrested the men
and deported them in air-conditioned buses. Egyptian authorities,
however, used two enclosed non-air-conditioned police trucks for the
12-hour trip to Cairo. Upon arrival at Khalifa Police Station, 2
detainees had died and 18 others needed hospitalization. A number of
the detainees further said that police officers beat them during the
trip after they pleaded for better ventilation. The Minister of
Interior and the Office of the Public Prosecutor ordered immediate
investigations, but at year's end had not publicized their findings.
The investigation into the deaths of five prisoners in 2002 at
Ghurbaniyat Prison in Alexandria reportedly was completed, although the
Government has declined to publicize its findings.
b. Disappearance.--Human rights monitors continued to call
attention to unresolved cases of disappearance during the year. The
February 2003 disappearance of Adel Mohammed Kamiha, a coffee shop
owner who reportedly disappeared following his transfer from police
custody to State Security in Alexandria, remained unsolved.
In August 2003, Reda Helal, a journalist, disappeared. The police
initiated an investigation into his disappearance; however, Helal's
whereabouts continued to be unknown at year's end. Despite continued
speculation by human rights groups that the Government might be
withholding information about his disappearance, there was no evidence
to support this assertion.
On March 31, the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of
Prisoners (HRAAP) filed suit against the Ministry of Interior and the
Yemeni Embassy in Cairo to determine the whereabouts of Brigadier Ahmed
Salem Ebeid, a Yemeni citizen and former Yemeni Deputy Minister of
Defense and former Minister of Information. Ebeid, who had resided in
Egypt since 1994, disappeared on February 18. HRAAP asserted that the
Government exchanged Ebeid, alleged by Yemeni authorities to be an
opposition member, for an Egyptian terror suspect in Yemeni custody. In
a December 8 hearing, HRAAP lawyers showed that Ebeid was no longer in
Egypt. The next hearing is scheduled for February 2005.
On April 18, HRAAP appealed to President Mubarak to investigate the
disappearances of 29 individuals who had been arrested by State
Security officers, dating back to 1989. Most prominent among these
cases is a former Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister who disappeared in
1992.
During the year, EOHR reported that it was following 59 cases of
disappearance within the country since 1992. Domestic human rights
organizations provided names to the U.N. Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances; the Government reportedly has denied
involvement in any of the cases.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits the infliction of ``physical or
moral harm'' upon persons who have been arrested or detained; however,
torture and abuse of detainees by police, security personnel, and
prison guards remained common and persistent. According to the U.N.
Committee Against Torture, a systematic pattern of torture by the
security forces exists, and police torture resulted in deaths during
the year (see Section 1.a.).
Under the Penal Code, torture or giving orders to torture are
felonies punishable by 3 to 10 years imprisonment. For death 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 crimes punishable by imprisonment. Abuse of power
to inflict cruelty against persons is a crime punishable by
imprisonment and fines. In June 2003, the Government abolished hard
labor as a punishment.
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.
Despite these legal safeguards, there were numerous, credible
reports that security forces tortured and mistreated detainees. Human
rights groups reported that the State Security Investigations Service
(SSIS), police, and other government entities continued to employ
torture to extract information, coerce opposition figures to cease
their political activities, and to deter others from similar
activities. Reports of torture and mistreatment at police stations
remained frequent. 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 officers, punishments generally have not
conformed to the seriousness of the offense.
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 complain 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 investigation of complaints.
The Emergency Law authorizes incommunicado detention for prolonged
periods. Detentions under this law frequently were accompanied by
allegations of torture (see Section 1.d.).
In May, the Government's Central Audit Agency directed the Ministry
of Interior (MOI) to require any security/police officers found to be
responsible for torture to be financially liable for any judgments
levied against the MOI. The Audit Agency noted during the prior year
that punitive damages awarded by the courts to victims of torture
amounted to approximately LE 2.8 million ($450,000) in the 8
governorates (of 26 in the country) where data was available.
In October 2003, according to media accounts and human rights
monitors, police in Helwan stormed a house searching for two suspects
in a homicide. Although the suspects were not present, police took into
custody between 11 and 15 members of their family, including 4 women.
The detained family members allege they were beaten, whipped,
suspended, stripped, and molested as police attempted to extract
information about the whereabouts of the two suspects. On October 24, a
criminal court scheduled the next hearing on the case for February
2005.
The Government continued efforts during the year to hold security
personnel accountable for torturing prisoners in their custody;
however, the Government continued its practice of giving light
sentences to security personnel convicted of serious abuses, including
torture resulting in death. Human rights organizations and the press
reported that 14 police officers in 5 separate cases, 2 of which
involved deaths in custody, were held publicly accountable. Eight
police officers in 1 case involving 1 death were acquitted; and 6
cases, including 2 that led to deaths in custody involving charges
against 15 police officers, remained before the courts at year's end.
Some of the cases involved incidents that took place in previous years.
In a 2002 report ``The Truth,'' HRAAP (previously HRCAP, the Human
Rights Center for the Assistance of Prisoners), commended judicial
efforts to prosecute security officers for torture, but it also
outlined current obstacles, including a vague legal definition of
torture and the inability of victims to sue perpetrators directly.
In May 2003, a court of appeal upheld the December 2002 conviction
of police officer Arafa Hamza, who had been sentenced to 1 year in
prison for the death from torture of 21-year-old student Ahmed Mahmoud.
There were no developments in the prosecution of Luxor Police Major
Magdy Awad and an assistant for the May 2003 torture of Nagdy Mohamed
Gad El Rub.
Numerous cases of torture were documented. For example, on October
11, the North Cairo Criminal Court sentenced policeman Ashraf El
Ganzouri from the Azbakiya Police Station to 5 years in prison after he
was convicted of illegally detaining and torturing to death Mohamed
Hassan Abdallah in 2003. Ganzouri was charged with beating Abdallah
during an identity card investigation. Abdallah resisted and Ganzouri's
final attack resulted in Abdallah's death due to blunt trauma to the
head.
On January 22, the Public Prosecutor indicted Major Yasser Ibrahim
El Akkad, the head of the Criminal Investigations Department at Haram
Police Station, on charges that he tortured actress Habiba while
investigating the 1999 killing of Habiba's husband. Habiba was
convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving 5 years of
her sentence, new evidence emerged, implicating five other persons in
the murder. The Public Prosecutor also indicted these five new
suspects. On February 17, the Court of Cassation accepted Habiba's
appeal and ordered a retrial. The prosecution of Major El Akkad is
scheduled to begin in February 2005.
On April 23, the Public Prosecutor directed a Qalyoubiya criminal
court to charge a police captain from Kafr Shukr with excessive use of
force. The captain had sought to arrest the son of Mabrouka Ibrahim
Moselhi for theft. When Moselhi told the captain that her son was not
at home, the captain assaulted her. After the assault, she required
hospital treatment, and filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor.
By year's end, the Public Prosecutor had announced no additional
developments in the case.
On April 5, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal of Captain
Ashraf Gohar of the Nasr City II police station. Gohar's conviction of
charges stemming from the illegal detention, torture, and killing of
Sayyed Eissa originally resulted in a 3-year sentence in 2002. A 2003
appeal to a lower court had reduced Gohar's sentence to 1 year, but the
Court of Cassation affirmed the original penalty.
In May and again in December, the Alexandria Criminal Court
postponed the case of Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim. Two officers and four
policemen, including Yasser Youssri, had been charged with torture
leading to the death of Ibrahim in 2002, as well as falsification of
official documents to cover up the crime. The Association for Human
Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA) also filed a civil case on behalf of Ibrahim's
family seeking LE 10 million ($1.6 million) in compensation. The Court
is scheduled to consider the case in March 2005.
On June 6, the Banha Criminal Court (in Qalyoubiya Governorate)
began the trial of four police officers accused of forcing three
members of a family to make a wrongful murder confession. The family
members were convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.
Shortly after they began their sentences, a serial killer confessed to
the crime. The trial of the police officials was underway at year's
end.
During the year, civil courts continued to review cases and
frequently awarded compensation to victims of police abuse. Human
rights observers recommended that rules and standards for victims be
established to obtain redress and parity in compensation.
Civil cases won compensation for some victims of torture. For
example, on February 25, the South Cairo Court of Compensations awarded
Mustafa Ibrahim Amin Ibrahim LE 5,000 ($806) in punitive damages as a
result of torture during his detention from 1999 to 2001. On July 26,
the South Cairo Court of Compensations awarded Ibrahim an additional LE
10,000 ($1,612) in punitive damages for torture during detention from
1993 to 1995. Ibrahim, who spent 12 years in detention, was released in
October 2003. HRAAP raised the case on Ibrahim's behalf.
On March 31, the South Cairo Court of Compensations awarded Hamdy
Mahmoud Abdel Latif Emara LE 14,000 ($2,258) in punitive damages from
torture during his detention from 1996 to 1998. Hamdy, who spent 6
years in detention, was finally released in July 1998. HRAAP raised the
case on behalf of Hamdy. On April 14, another branch of the same court
granted Hamdy an additional LE 7,000 ($1,129) in punitive damages for
torture during his detention from 1992 to 1993.
On May 12, the South Cairo Court of Compensations awarded LE 15,000
($2,419) punitive damages to Tarek Abdel Sattar Ahmed Murad as a result
of torture during detention from 1997 to 1999. On May 26, another
branch of the compensation court granted him an additional LE 15,000
($2,419) in punitive damages. Notwithstanding his award, Murad remained
in detention without charge. HRAAP pled the case on Murad's behalf.
On September 13, the South Cairo Court of Compensations awarded
Abdel Fattah Mohamed LE 24,000 ($3,871) in punitive damages for torture
during his detention period from 1994 to 1996. Mohamed spent 12 years
in detention without charge through renewed detention orders. HRAAP
raised the case on Mohammad's behalf.
In 2002, police arrested Zaki Saad Zaki Abd al-Malak, a 23-year
resident of Ismailia in an Internet sting operation. Human Rights Watch
(HRW) reported that police beat him daily during 2 weeks of detention
in Agouza Police Station. Malak was sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment,
followed by 3 years' police supervision. According to reports, he was
being held in Borg al-Arab prison near Alexandria. On October 17, the
Court of Cassation overturned Zaki's conviction on appeal, and he was
released.
In 2002, three domestic human rights associations, as well as two
international organizations, presented their allegations and findings
to the U.N. Committee Against Torture (the ``Committee''), a
subcommittee of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The Committee's
report expressed concerns about the continued implementation of the
state of emergency; consistent reports of torture and ill treatment;
abuse of juveniles and homosexuals; the continued use of administrative
detention; the lack of access by victims of torture to the courts and
lengthy proceedings; and disparities in the awarding of compensation.
The report included several recommendations: ending the state of
emergency; the adoption of a clear legal definition of torture; the
abolition of incommunicado detention; the review of military court
decisions by a higher tribunal; the removal of ambiguities in the law
that allow the prosecution of individuals for their sexual orientation;
the acceptance of a visit by a U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture; the
establishment of rules and standards for victims; and allowing human
rights organizations to pursue their activities unhindered. The
Government maintained that the Committee's recommendations were under
review at year's end.
Actions cited by the Government include the abolition of flogging
in prisons; unannounced inspections of places of detention; court
decisions that disregarded confessions obtained under duress; increased
human rights training for police officials; and the establishment of
several human rights committees and departments within government
ministries. With assistance from the U.N. Development Program, the
Government began to implement the Committee's recommendation for
increased human rights training for law enforcement personnel and
prosecutors.
The Government did not permit a visit to the country by the U.N.
Special Rapporteur on Torture during the year.
Prison conditions remained poor. 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.
In July, HRAAP stated in its 2003 annual report that prison
conditions remained dismal. HRAAP emphasized the deteriorating
conditions in temporary detention.
In October, Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the MOI was planning
to deliver a statement to the People's Assembly (Committee for Defense
and National Security) on the violation of rights of detainees at
police stations. This initiative came in response to the
interpellations by several Members of Parliament concerning the deaths
of two detainees who were being transported from the Libyan border to
Cairo (see Section 1.a.). At year's end, the Ministry had not provided
its statement to the People's Assembly.
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 access to
prisons for visits. Restrictions were placed on visits to prisoners
incarcerated for political or terrorist crimes, limiting the number of
visits allowed for each prisoner and the total number of visitors
allowed in the prison at one time.
On August 22, Dar al-Ifta, the official body responsible for
issuing Islamic fatwas (legal opinions) issued a legal opinion that all
prisoners should be allowed spousal visits on a monthly basis.
As required by law, the public prosecutor continued to inspect all
regular prisons during the year; however, findings were not made
public. The SSIS ``detention centers'' were excluded from mandatory
judicial inspection.
There were separate prison facilities for men, women, and
juveniles. In practice, the separation of adults from juveniles did not
always occur, and abuse of minors was common. Civilians were not
detained in military prisons. Political prisoners generally were
detained separately from prisoners convicted of violent crimes.
Lawyers were permitted to visit prisoners in their capacity as
legal counsel; however, in practice, they often faced considerable
bureaucratic obstacles that prevented them from meeting with their
clients (see Section 1.d.). The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) and other domestic and international human rights monitors
did not have access to prisons or to other places of detention.
On November 1, inmates at Abu Zabal prison began a hunger strike to
protest conditions at the prison, which was ongoing at year's end. The
prisoners' complaints included mistreatment, inadequate medical care,
poor sanitation, and limits on visitors.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, during the year, security
forces conducted large-scale arrests and detained hundreds of
individuals without charge. Police also at times arbitrarily arrested
and detained persons.
Previously, to obtain a warrant from a judge or prosecutor, the
Constitution provided that police had to show that an individual likely
committed a specific crime. The Emergency Law nullified this
requirement in 1981 and provides that in order to obtain a warrant,
police must show only that an individual poses a danger to security and
public order.
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. State Security and Central Security
Force 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 agencies, such as the Tourist
and Antiquities Police and the Anti-Narcotics General Administration,
also work at the national level.
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. There was widespread petty
corruption in the police force, especially below senior levels. There
is an internal affairs mechanism, the workings of which are not
publicized, which was regularly employed for investigating corruption
and other instances of police malfeasance. Judicial recourse was also
employed (see Section 1.c.).
The Emergency Law allows detention of an individual without charge
for up to 30 days, after which a detainee may demand a court hearing to
challenge the legality of the detention order, and may resubmit his
motion for a hearing at 1-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 U.N. Committee Against
Torture both expressed concern over the application of measures of
solitary confinement.
Access to counsel is provided in normal cases, but there were
reports that some suspects detained under the normal Penal Code
experienced difficulties meeting with counsel. In Emergency Law cases,
however, access to counsel was often restricted or denied prior to the
transfer of the accused to a courtroom for the start of 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 from a duty
roster issued by the Bar Association.
In addition to the Emergency Law, the Penal Code also gives the
State broad detention powers. Under the Penal Code, prosecutors must
bring charges within 48 hours following detention or release the
suspect. However, they may detain a suspect for a maximum of 6 months
pending investigation. Arrests under the Penal Code occurred openly and
with warrants issued by a district prosecutor or judge. There is a
functioning system of bail for persons detained under the Penal Code.
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.''
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of persons have been detained
administratively in recent years 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.). In a July 2003 interview published in Al-Ahram Weekly, HRAAP
(formerly HRCAP) estimated that the total number of persons held in
administrative detention was approximately 15,000. HRAAP further
estimated that about 7,000 additional persons have been released over
the past 3 years. According to HRAAP, approximately 300 detainees,
including convicts with remaining sentences and those who had been held
under emergency administrative detention, were released during the
year. In addition to these individuals, a much larger number of regular
convicts were released during the year, as result of having completed
their sentences.
In August 2003, 37 men suspected of belonging to the banned Gama'
al-Islami (Islamic Group, IG), which took part in a violent campaign to
overthrow the Government in the 1990s, were arrested. The men remained
in detention at year's end.
On March 22, HRAAP appealed to the President for the release of 55
Egyptians and Palestinians arrested in 2000 for participating in pro-
Palestinian/Intifada demonstrations. The 55 detainees remain in
Gharbaniyat Prison in Alexandria. HRAAP claimed that many suffered
serious health problems.
On May 9, the leftist Al Arabi newspaper reported that the MOI
``secretly'' released 100 detained members of Gama' al-Islami who had
served their terms or whose administrative detention orders had
expired.
On June 18, in an interview with Al-Wafd newspaper, General Mahmoud
Wagdy, Assistant to the Minister of Interior and Director of the Prison
Authority, stated that 500 detainees had been released in April. In the
past, these types of releases often included a mix of two groups:
prisoners detained for political or security reasons; and ordinary
convicts who have completed their sentences. The Government has not
normally provided details on categories of prisoners released.
On June 10, the Minister of Interior established a permanent
``probation board'' to review cases of inmates eligible for early
releases. The board planned to tour one prison each month. On August
16, a first group of 164 inmates--including 8 political detainees--was
released.
On July 5, HRAAP issued a statement claiming that police arrested
51 relatives of escaped convict Mohamed Saleh Abdel Mohsen in order to
pressure him to surrender to police. The MOI admitted that the arrests
occurred, but denied that any of the detainees were tortured. Mohsen
was a drug kingpin who escaped from Mansoura prison along with seven
other prisoners.
In mid-November, HRAAP and EOHR issued press releases calling on
the Government to release detainees, estimated to number 3,000, whom
government security forces arrested in the Sinai, mostly around the
town of Al-Arish, after the October 7 terrorist bombings in Taba and
Nuweiba that killed 34 people. On November 29, Amnesty International
(AI) also condemned the detentions and called on the Government to
release the detainees. Government officials acknowledged that they made
an unspecified number of arrests in connection with the investigation,
but insisted that the reports by human rights groups were exaggerated.
In mid-November, on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the
end of Ramadan, the local and international media reported that the
Government released approximately 700 Islamist detainees.
During the year, security forces arrested approximately 90 persons
allegedly associated with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which has been
an illegal organization since 1954. Charges leveled against members
included membership in and revival of a banned organization;
obstructing the laws and Constitution of the country; inciting the
masses against the Government; organizing demonstrations critical of
the Government's policies; and attempting to infiltrate student bodies
to spread the ideology of a banned organization.
On January 8, security forces arrested 13 MB members in Giza. On
May 15, security forces arrested 59 MB members, mainly from Alexandria.
On September 17, security forces arrested 11 MB members, mostly Zaqaziq
University students. On or about October 11, security forces arrested
eight MB members in separate incidents at Cairo airport, Minya, and
Beni Suef. Among those detained was Ahmed Ezz Iddine of the suspended
Al-Shaab newspaper. On December 31, he was released after public calls
for his release by the Arab Press Federation. Also during the year, the
Government released at least 31 other MB members.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the President may invoke the Emergency
Law to refer any criminal case to the Emergency Courts, in which the
accused does not receive most of the constitutional protections of the
civilian judicial system. 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, which was established to combat
terrorism and grave threats to national security, to try cases outside
of this scope.
In May 2003, the Government formally abolished State Security
Courts. The courts had been criticized for restricting the rights of
defendants, particularly the right to appeal. A number of cases
referred to the State Security Courts were transferred to regular
criminal courts. However, skeptical observers of the legal system
argued that as long as the Government retained and used Emergency
Courts, the abolition of State Security Courts did not constitute a
fundamental improvement.
The Constitution provides for the independence and immunity of
judges and forbids interference by other authorities in the exercise of
their judicial functions. This provision generally was observed in
practice. The President appoints all judges upon recommendation of the
Higher Judicial Council, a constitutional body composed of senior
judges. Judges are appointed for life, with 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 a 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.
A lawyer is appointed at the state's expense if the defendant does
not have counsel. Appointed lawyers are drawn from a roster chosen by
the Bar Association. Defendants can appeal if denied this right;
however, 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
that of a man's in court. There is no legal prohibition against a woman
serving as a judge; however, there has only been one female judge (see
Section 5).
In 1992, following a rise in extremist violence, the Government
began using military tribunals to adjudicate cases involving persons
accused of terrorist activity or membership in terrorist groups. In
1993, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the President may
invoke the Emergency Law to refer any crime to a military court. The
1993 ruling in effect removed hundreds of civilian defendants from the
normal process of trial by a civilian judge. The Government defended
the use of military courts as necessary to try terrorism cases,
maintaining that trials in the civilian courts were protracted and that
civilian judges and their families were vulnerable to terrorist
threats. One case involving civilian defendant Ahmed Hussain Agiza was
referred to a military court during the year.
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.
Diplomats attended some military trials during the year. Human rights
activists have attended, but only when acting as lawyers for one of the
defendants.
On April 27, the Supreme Military Court convicted Ahmad Hussein
Agiza, rendered from Sweden in 2001, of crimes in connection with his
membership in Islamic Jihad. Agiza was sentenced to 25 years in prison,
although in June his sentence was commuted to 15 years. The Swedish
Embassy in Cairo closely monitored Agiza's detention conditions in an
apparent effort to ensure that he was not mistreated.
The Emergency Courts share jurisdiction with military courts over
crimes affecting national security. The President can appoint civilian
judges to these 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.
During the year, Emergency Courts handed down verdicts in three
cases. On March 25, the Supreme Emergency Court issued a guilty verdict
in the case of 12 members of the Islamic Liberation Party (Hizb al-
Tahrir al-Islami). Several of the defendants, including three Britons,
alleged they had been tortured to compel them to sign confessions.
Sentences for the group ranged from 1 to 3 years.
On March 11, an Emergency Court acquitted Ashraf Ibrahim and four
co-defendants who had been accused of sharing information about human
rights abuses with foreign groups and of belonging to the
``Revolutionary Socialists'' group, alleged to be seeking to overthrow
the Government. The co-defendants had been listed as fugitives and
remained at large. Ibrahim was arrested in March 2003 following
demonstrations against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Human rights
advocates had argued that the Government was persecuting Ibrahim for
peaceful political activities (see Section 1.d.).
On March 31, the Supreme Emergency Court sentenced a law student to
15 years of ``strict imprisonment'' for communicating with a foreign
country and offering to provide it with sensitive information.
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.).
According to local human rights organizations, there were
approximately 13,000 to 16,000 persons detained without charge on
suspicion of illegal terrorist or political activity (see Section
1.d.). In addition, several thousand others were serving sentences
after being convicted on similar charges.
The Government did not permit international humanitarian
organizations access to political prisoners (see Section 1.c.). In
2002, an AI delegation was permitted to visit the country, but
authorities denied the group's request to visit detainees. There were
no prison visits by international organizations during the year,
although the National Council for Human Rights did conduct a series of
prison visits during the second half of the year.
On August 1, the Public Prosecutor Maher Abdel Wahed told the press
that the State intended to limit trials in Emergency Courts only to
cases that touch upon security of the State. As an example, Abdel Wahed
said that a case where two jewelry store robbers had used a bomb was
referred to a regular criminal court. Nothwithstanding this assertion,
the Government initiated Emergency Court proceedings against a self-
proclaimed prophet and his followers in December (see Section 2.c.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution provides for the sanctity and secrecy
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 warrants were issued 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 and Internet wiretaps
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 targeted homosexuals using Internet-based ``sting''
operations leading to arrests on charges of ``debauchery.'' There were
no reports of new internet entrapment cases during the year (see
Sections 1.c, 1.e., and 2.a.).
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. There were no reports that it had exercised
this authority during the year (see Section 2.a.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government partially
restricted these rights in practice. The Government used the Emergency
Law to infringe on citizens' civil liberties. Citizens openly expressed
their views on a wide range of political and social issues, including
vigorous criticism of government officials and policies, but generally
avoided certain topics, such as direct criticism of the President.
Journalists and writers practiced self-censorship.
In March 2003, the Court of Cassation, ending a long-standing legal
case that had broad implications for freedom of expression and human
rights advocacy, acquitted Saad Eddin Ibrahim and his codefendants on
charges of defaming the State and illegally accepting foreign funds.
During the year, Ibrahim and his colleagues resumed their publishing
and advocacy operations.
The Constitution restricts ownership of newspapers to public or
private legal entities, corporate bodies, and political parties. There
are numerous restrictions on legal entities that seek to establish
their own newspapers, including a limit of 10 percent ownership by any
individual; however, this limit appeared to have been enforced
sporadically.
On July 13, the Shura Council's Higher Council for the Press
approved the publication of 16 new newspapers; and on December 29, it
approved an additional 9 newspapers, including ``Al-Ghad,'' the new
publication of the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party.
The Government owned stock in the three largest daily newspapers,
and the President appointed their top editors. These papers generally
followed the government line. The Government also held a monopoly over
the printing and distribution of newspapers, including those of the
opposition parties. The Government used its monopoly on newsprint to
limit opposition publications.
Opposition political parties published their own newspapers but
received a subsidy from the Government and, in some cases, subsidies
from foreign interests. Most opposition newspapers were weeklies, with
the exception of the dailies Al-Wafd and Al Ahrar, both of which had
small circulation. Opposition newspapers frequently published criticism
of the Government. They also gave greater prominence to human rights
abuses than did state-run newspapers.
According to a 2003 announcement by the Shura Council, the total
number of licensed periodicals in the country was 534, including 64
national papers, 40 opposition party papers, 7 private newspapers, 252
``specialized'' publications, 142 scientific journals, and 67 local
publications.
In March, the Government lifted its ban on the London-based Arabic
newspaper al-Quds al-Araby, and the paper is now back in circulation.
Because of the difficulties in obtaining a license from the Higher
Council for the Press, several publishers of newspapers and magazines
obtained foreign licenses. The Supreme Constitutional Court still had
not reached a decision by year's end on a 1999 legal challenge to the
constitutionality of the Information Ministry's practice of censoring
offshore publications.
On February 20, then-Minister of Information Safwat El Sherif
announced a cabinet decision to limit print runs for foreign-licensed
publications to between 5,000 and 25,000 copies, ordered that the
papers must pay 36 percent tax on advertising revenues, and prohibited
foreign funding.
According to press reports, on June 14 the Administrative Court
overturned a decision by the Ministry of Information to prevent a
foreign publication from entering the country. The Court clarified that
only the Cabinet can place a long-term ban on a foreign publication.
The Ministry of Information is empowered only to ban particular issues/
editions in the interest of public order.
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 within limits articles
critical of the President and foreign heads of state without being
charged or harassed. However, the Government continued to charge
journalists with libel. An editor-in-chief found to be negligent could
be considered criminally responsible for libel contained in any portion
of the newspaper.
On November 1, unknown assailants detained and beat Abdul Halim
Qandil, editor of Al-Araby, the Nasserist opposition party newspaper.
Qandil and many others in the media attributed the attack to elements
of the State Security apparatus who were angered by Qandil's editorial
calls for public opposition to the Government. Qandil had also publicly
cast doubt on the MOI's claims to have solved the October 7 bombings
that targeted tourist sites in the Sinai.
During the year, the courts tried a number of prominent cases of
libel, filed both by government officials and private citizens. On
January 28, the Qasr El Nil Court of Misdemeanors sentenced writers
Etemad Khorshid and Anis El Degheidy, along with publisher Hassan
Ghazal, each to 1 year of imprisonment and LE 1,000 ($160) fine. The
Court ruled that the trio had insulted Egyptian actress Sherihan in
their book ``Witness to the Transgressions of Art and Politics.''
On March 14, the Cairo Criminal Court fined Mahmoud El Askalany, a
journalist with al-Araby newspaper, LE 20,000 ($3,225) for libel
against Minister of Housing Mohammed Ibrahim Soliman. On May 15,
lawyers appealed the fine to the Court of Cassation on the grounds that
the law does permit criticism of public figures so long as the
criticism is limited to public matters of job performance and does not
delve into personal issues. By year's end, the Court had still not
issued a judgment.
On June 16, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced tabloid daily al-
Osbu'a journalist Ahmed Ezz Eddine to 2 years in prison (with labor)
and a fine of LE 20,000 ($3,225) for libel of former Agriculture
Minister Wally. Ezz Eddine had written an article accusing Wally of
perjury in a corruption case. The former minister contended that the
accusation was against his person and not against his capacity as a
minister.
On June 27, the Bulaq Aboul Ela Court of Misdemeanors sentenced
Mohammed Abu Liwaya of the banned al-Shaab newspaper and Fayez Abdel
Hamid of the Parliament News to 6 months' imprisonment, fines of LE
7,500 ($1,209) each, and damages of LE 20,000 ($3,225) for libeling Al-
Ahram Chairman Ibrahim Nafei through articles and leaflets.
On July 27, the Cairo Criminal Court fined an editor and journalist
of al-Haqiqa newspaper LE 10,000 ($1,612) for libeling the head of the
Qussiya City Council.
On September 14, the Cairo Criminal Court began to hear another
case of libel filed by Minister of Housing Soliman against three
journalists with al-Masri al-Youm. Following questioning by the
prosecutor, the three journalists were released on September 21. The
case was ongoing at year's end.
In December 2003, Mustafa Bakry, Chief Editor of al-Osbu'a, filed a
lawsuit with the office of the Public Prosecutor accusing activist Saad
Eddin Ibrahim of working for a foreign government in exchange for
financial support. One week later, Ibrahim filed a libel suit against
Bakry. The Public Prosecutor's investigation was ongoing at year's end,
and the case had still not been referred to trial.
In March and April, four separate courts acquitted or ordered
retrials for four unrelated lawsuits against journalists working for
al-Osbu'a.
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.
In December 2003, the Public Prosecutor issued a press ban on a
corruption investigation of the director of the National Heart
Institute. The ban continued to limit reporting on the case throughout
the year.
The law provides penalties for individuals who disclose information
about the State during emergencies, including war and natural
disasters. The penalties include fines of up to LE 6,000 ($1,000) and
prison sentences of up to 3 years. There were no reports that the law
was applied during the year.
The law prohibits current or former members of the police from
publishing work related information without prior permission from the
MOI.
The law authorizes various ministries to ban or confiscate books
and other works of art upon obtaining a court order. There were no
court-ordered book confiscations during the year, but the Government
permitted greater confiscatory authority to al-Azhar University.
On May 26, the Islamic Research Center (IRC) at al-Azhar University
formally recommended banning four books: Nawal El Sadawi's ``The Fall
of the Imam''; Iskander Shaheen's ``Freemasonry: Religion or Fraud'';
Ali Youssef's ``The Call of Consciousness''; and Hisham El Bahrani's
``City of Miracles.'' Sadawi's book was first published 20 years ago
and has been translated into 14 languages. Although the IRC's
recommended bans led to widespread criticism from writers and human
rights activists, the Ministry of Justice decided on June 1 to
authorize al-Azhar's ``inspectors'' to seize publications, tapes,
speeches, and artistic material that deviated from the IRC's
interpretation of Shari'a. Prior to June 1, the IRC could not
confiscate books it disapproved without first seeking a court order.
On August 18, the IRC banned ``The Responsibility for the Failure
of the Islamic State,'' by Gamal El Banna, a liberal Islamist thinker.
The IRC ruled that Gamal El Banna's book deviated from Islamic
orthodoxy, and began efforts to confiscate the book from the
marketplace.
On October 24, EOHR issued a report which criticized IRC's book
confiscations, terming them ``a hammer blow to freedom of thought.''
In September, the Alexandria Administrative Court heard a lawsuit
filed by lawyer Nabih al-Wahsh demanding the confiscation of a book,
``The Hijab: A Modernist Approach,'' by writer Ikbal Baraka. The suit
also sought the dismissal of Baraka as chief editor of Hawwa Magazine
and her dismissal from the Press Syndicate. The suit alleged that
Baraka's book denied the religious sanction for the veiling of women.
The suit also charged the ministers of culture, aviation, education,
and information, as well as the Grand Imam of al-Azhar University, with
having failed to block Baraka's book. A wide cross-section of writers
and intellectuals, including Islamist writers, have criticized the
effort to ban Baraka's book.
The MOI regularly confiscated leaflets and other works by Islamists
and other critics of the State. Members of the illegal Muslim
Brotherhood 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.
Although the MOI has in previous years sporadically prevented
specific issues of foreign published newspapers from entering the
country on the grounds of protecting public order, there were no
reports of such actions during the year (see Section 1.f.). The
Ministry of Defense may ban works about sensitive security issues. The
Council of Ministers may order the banning of works that it deems
offensive to public morals, detrimental to religion, or likely to cause
a breach of the peace.
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, began broadcasting in 2001 and have operated
without direct government interference. The Government has a 20 percent
financial stake in al-Mihwar and a 10 percent stake in Dream TV. The
Government did not block reception of foreign channels via satellite.
The percentage of citizens who received satellite television broadcasts
has grown steadily but remained small, while many coffee shops and
other public places offered satellite television.
Plays and films must pass Ministry of Culture censorship tests as
scripts and final productions. The Ministry of Culture censored foreign
films to be shown in theaters, but was more lenient regarding the same
films in videocassette format. Government censors ensured that foreign
films made in the country portrayed the country in a favorable light.
On April 20, the Censorship Department refused to permit public
viewing of an American film, ``The Code,'' on grounds that it depicted
a gang of outlaws with Arabic names.
Also in June, the Censorship Department formed a committee of
cultural figures (both Muslim and Christian) to review a new film (``I
Love the Cinema'' / ``Bahebb El-Cinma'') which told the story of
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox minority during the Nasser era. After initial
screenings, Muslim and Christian lawyers filed a complaint with the
Public Prosecutor, seeking to have the film removed from distribution
and the film producers tried for ``contempt for religion.'' There was
no final decision by year's end. Audiences were able to see the film at
a number of theaters during the year. It was also well received at
international film festivals.
In August, the Censorship Department rejected a screenplay by
writer Wahid Hamed on the subject of government corruption and
influence of the media. Without the Censorship Department's approval,
Hamed was unable to proceed with making his film.
Government and private industry experts estimated that
approximately 3.8 million persons in the country used the Internet. The
Government did not restrict Internet use, but selectively monitored
Internet use (see Section 1.f.).
On May 15 and again on September 1, the Muslim Brotherhood website
became temporarily unavailable to Egyptian Internet users. Since the
May outage corresponded to the arrest of 59 MB members, there was
widespread belief that the security services shut down the website.
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. Unlike in
the past, the Government did not ban books for use on campuses during
the year.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, the
Government significantly restricted freedom of assembly. Citizens must
obtain approval from the MOI before holding public meetings, rallies,
and protest marches. Many demonstrations were not approved, and the
Government tightly controlled public demonstrations that did occur.
However, on December 12, 300 activists from the Kifaya (Enough)
movement staged a protest against President Mubarak running for a fifth
term in office. There was little direct government interference in the
December 12 demonstration, although security personnel significantly
outnumbered demonstrators (see Section 3). The MOI selectively
obstructed some meetings scheduled to be held on private property and
university campuses (see Section 4).
On a number of occasions, worshippers at the Al-Azhar mosque in
Central Cairo held mainly impromptu demonstrations at the conclusion of
Friday prayers. These were tolerated but carefully watched by the
Government.
Some smaller anti-Iraq war demonstrations were held with and
without permission. In both cases, the Government deployed large
numbers of security personnel to contain the demonstrations. 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 Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the
Government significantly restricted it in practice. 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 government
officials, funds from foreign government donors 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 were allowed to register and
thus became officially recognized. However, several other groups,
including the Egyptian Association Against Torture, the Center for
Housing Rights, and the Word Center, continued to be denied
registration as NGOs. On October 25, the Governor of Aswan issued an
administrative decree dissolving the board of directors of the Aswan-
based Association for Health Development and the Environment and
appointed a new board. The association's leadership countered with a
lawsuit against the Governor, charging that his act was in direct
contradiction to the NGO law (Act 84 of 2002). In at least two cases,
obscure ``security objections'' were cited in their rejection letters.
These groups were challenging these decisions at year's end.
On January 29, the Ministry denied the application for registration
of a human rights NGO in Qena Governorate. In January, a MB member,
Mukhtar Nouh, who had spent 3 years in prison, sought to register a NGO
called ``The Association for the Protection of Constitutional Values.''
The 18-member board consisted exclusively of lawyers. The Association's
plan was to be limited to lawyers and to work, independently of the Bar
Syndicate, to improve the profession and promote liberal ideas, and to
improve the status of women and Coptic Christians. On July 7, the
Association's lawyers appealed to the courts after the Ministry of
Social Affairs rejected the application. The case was still pending at
year's end.
On February 8, an Administrative court ordered the Ministry to
approve and register the ``Sons of the Land Association for Human
Rights.'' The Court ruled that the new organization had met all
registration requirements and did not pose a security threat. The
Ministry registered the organization, and it was functioning at year's
end.
In June, the ``Sawasiya Center for Human Rights and Anti-
Discrimination'' registered as a regional NGO with a board of 15
prominent Arab personalities from the region and Europe. The center's
Executive Director, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud, is a leading member of
the MB, as well as its lawyer. Abdel Maksoud told the press that
Sawasiya included various political thinkers from around the world and
that it was not directly or indirectly affiliated with the MB.
In May, 18 human rights organizations signed an agreement
establishing the Egyptian Human Rights Organization collective. On July
3, 14 human rights groups announced the formation of a national
federation of human rights NGOs. In October, three leading NGOs (HRAAP,
the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary, and the Group
for Democratic Development) established the ``Alliance for Democracy
and Reform.''
In September 2003, the ``New Woman Center for Research,'' a human
rights group previously denied registration by the Ministry of Social
Affairs, won a court judgment ordering the Ministry to allow it to
register as an NGO. The Ministry implemented the judgment 1 year later
in September (see Section 4).
Under legislation governing professional syndicates, at least 50
percent of the general membership of an association must elect the
governing board. Failing a quorum, a second election must be held in
which at least 30 percent of the membership votes for the board. If
such a quorum is unattainable, the judiciary may appoint a caretaker
board until new elections can be scheduled. The law was adopted to
prevent well organized minorities, specifically Islamists, from
capturing or retaining the leadership of professional syndicates.
Members of the syndicates have reported that Islamists have used
irregular electoral techniques, such as physically blocking polling
places and limiting or changing the location of polling sites.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
belief and the practice of religious rites; however, in practice the
Government placed restrictions on these rights. The Constitution
provides that Islam is the official state religion and the primary
source of legislation. Religious practices that conflict with Islamic
law (Shari'a) are prohibited. However, significant numbers of the
Christian and Jewish minorities worshipped without harassment and
maintained links with coreligionists in other countries.
Most citizens (approximately 90 percent) are Sunni Muslims. There
is a very small number (a fraction of 1 percent) of Shi'a Muslims.
Approximately 10 percent of the population are Christian, the majority
of whom belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church. There are other small
Christian denominations, a small Baha'i community, and a Jewish
community of approximately 200 persons.
All mosques must be licensed, and the Government was engaged in an
effort to control them. The Government appointed and paid the salaries
of the imams who led prayers in mosques, proposed themes for them, and
monitored their sermons. In 2003, Dr. Hamdy Zaqzouq, Minister of
Religious Endowments, said there were 30,000 imams in the country, who
preached at 82,000 mosques and zawaya (smaller prayer halls in private
buildings). He said that his ministry annexed approximately 6,000
unregistered mosques and zawaya every year.
Neither the Constitution nor the Civil and Penal Codes prohibit
proselytizing or conversion; however, the Government discouraged
proselytizing by non-Muslims, and those who did so risked prosecution
under the Penal Code, which prohibits citizens from ridiculing or
insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife.
There were no restrictions in practice on the conversion of non-
Muslims to Islam; however, in cases involving conversion of Muslims to
Christianity, the Government generally denied requests by converts to
amend civil records to reflect their new religious status. The law
prescribes steps to register the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam,
but does not recognize the conversion of Muslims to other religions.
Some converts resorted to changing their documents themselves, or
bribing a civil servant to do so. Authorities have charged several
converts with violating laws prohibiting the falsification of
documents. In such instances, converts have themselves altered their
identification cards and other official documents to reflect their new
religious affiliation because of fear of government harassment if they
officially registered the change from Islam to Christianity. For
example, in 2002, Malak Fahmi, a Christian, and his wife Sarah, a
Christian convert from Islam, were arrested while attempting to leave
the country with their two children. The couple was charged with
falsification of documents. Sarah, who changed her name and religious
affiliation on her marriage certificate only, reportedly stated that
she did so without her husband's assistance. The couple was released
from prison in February, but was awaiting trial on charges of document
fraud. At year's end, there had been no developments in the case.
Converts to Islam are not permitted to revert to their original
religion. The minor children of converts to Islam, and in some cases
adult children, may automatically become classified as Muslims in the
eyes of the state regardless of the status of the other spouse. This
automatic classification is in accordance with established Shari'a
rules, which dictate ``no jurisdiction of a non-Muslim over a Muslim.''
In some cases, converts reported being subjected to harassment from
the Government, including regular questioning and restriction of travel
abroad. Converts from Islam to Christianity continued to report
societal discrimination.
Hisham Samir Abdel Lateef Ibrahim, a convert to Christianity first
detained in 2002 and believed to have been charged with ``forging
identity documents'' and ``contempt of religion,'' was reportedly
released during the year but remained on probation.
Repairs to all places of worship are subject to a 1976 civil
construction code which governs church repairs. The decree was
significant symbolically because it made churches and mosques equal
under the law. Christians reported that local permits still were
subject to approval by security authorities.
Although the Official Gazette only publicized government issuance
of less than a dozen church construction and repair permits during the
year, government officials asserted that most permits were not
published in the Official Gazette, and said that they issued 254
permits for building and repair of churches between January 1 and June
15.
The approval process for church construction suffered from delays
and was considered to be insufficiently responsive to the Christian
community, although the President reportedly approved all requests for
permits that were presented to him. The incidence of blocked or delayed
orders varied, often depending on the church's relationship with local
security officials and the level of support of the local governor.
Christian activists, including church officials, consistently remarked
that regardless of the formal approval process and the stated support
of senior government officials for church construction, local officials
in some governorates opted to take an uncooperative and obstructionist
approach to church construction and repair.
The Constitution requires schools to offer religious instruction.
Public and private schools provided 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 January 28,
a State Security Emergency Court reduced the sentences of Sayed Tolba
and 20 of his associates to time served. They were convicted 2002 on
the charge of insulting heavenly religions, as a result of Tolba's
claim that he was a prophet and could cure illnesses.
On December 1, the Public Prosecutor referred 13 individuals to
trial by a State Security Emergency Court on charges of insulting
heavenly religions. The leader of the 13, who were arrested in August
in Qaloubiya, was Ahmed Ibrahim Abou Shousha, who had asserted that he
was a prophet on par with the Prophet Mohammad. Shousha had called for
various innovations on orthodox Islamic practice.
In December 2003, State Security Court forces arrested and detained
without charge 20 suspected Shi'a Muslim citizens, reportedly due to
concerns that they were a threat to petroleum facilities and were
engaging in anti-State activity. A leading Egyptian civil rights group
reported that the authorities tortured several in the group before
releasing 16 of them. The four remaining detainees were held at Wadi
Natroun prison. Three detainees were released in August, although
Mohammad Ramadan El Dereiny remained in custody at year's end.
The Islamic Research Center of Al-Azhar University has authority to
recommend that the Government censor books on religious grounds (see
Section 2.a.).
The Constitution provides for equal public rights and duties
without discrimination based on religion or creed; however,
discrimination against minority religions, including Christians and
Baha'is, existed. There were no Christians serving as governors, police
commissioners, city mayors, public university presidents, or deans.
There were few Christians in the upper ranks of the security services
and armed forces. Discrimination against Christians also continued in
public sector employment; in staff appointments to public universities;
in failure (with the exception of one case in 2002) to admit Christians
into public university training programs for Arabic language teachers
that involved study of the Koran; and in payment of Muslim imams
through public funds (Christian clergy are paid with private church
funds).
There were no new reports of violent assaults by Gama' al-Islami
(Islamic Group, IG) or other suspected terrorists against the
approximately 7 million Coptic Christians. In a number of cases where
victims alleged violence to be driven by sectarian tensions,
particularly regarding murder, it was difficult to determine whether
religion was a factor.
The prosecution failed to bring a successful case against those
alleged to be responsible for the killing of 21 Christians during
sectarian strife in early 2000 in the town of al-Kush, in Sohag
Governate, Upper Egypt. On June 14, the Court of Cassation, the
country's highest appellate court, upheld the acquittal of 94 of 96
suspects who were charged with various offenses committed in this
incident. The Court's decision left no further legal options.
In the investigation of an earlier incident in al-Kush in 1998
involving the killing of two Coptic Christians, police detained
hundreds of citizens that same year, including relatives of suspects,
women, and children. Local observers reported that many of these
detainees were subjected to torture and mistreatment. An investigation
of police torture of the mostly Christian detainees made little
progress and has appeared effectively closed since 2001. Shayboub
William Arsal, a Coptic Christian, was convicted and sentenced for the
two murders and his appeal, which has been pending for 4 years, has not
been heard. The local Christian community believes that Shayboub was
accused and convicted of the crime because of his religion.
In January, Christian workers at the Patmos Center, a Coptic
Orthodox social service facility on the Suez road east of Cairo,
confronted soldiers and an army bulldozer dispatched from a military
base adjacent to the facility. During the confrontation, one of the
Christian workers was fatally struck by a private bus attempting to
drive around the crowd. This incident was the latest in a series
involving Patmos and the neighboring military base. The army's reported
motive for bulldozing the gate was that the Patmos Center's wall stands
50 meters from the highway, while local zoning regulations require a
distance of 100 meters. Christian sources noted that the army base's
perimeter wall also is only 50 meters from the road, and they charged
that the army's intent was to harass the Christians until they left the
site so that it could be annexed by the military. Other observers
believed the military's enmity was engendered by the ``stealthy'' way
the church developed a Christian service facility on a site originally
billed as an agricultural ``desert reclamation project.'' The
controversy subsided, and the Patmos gate remained in its original
location.
There were reports of forced conversions of Coptic girls to Islam.
Reports of such cases were disputed and often included inflammatory
allegations and categorical 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
girl who converted to Islam when she married a Muslim man. According to
the Government, in such cases the girl must meet with her family, with
her priest, and with the head of her church before she is allowed to
convert.
However, there were credible reports of government harassment of
Christian families that attempted to regain custody of their daughters.
The law states that a marriage of a girl under the age of 16 is
prohibited. Between the ages of 16 and 21, marriage is illegal without
the approval and presence of her guardian. The authorities also
sometimes failed to uphold the law in cases of marriage between
underage Christian girls and Muslim boys.
There is no legal requirement for a Christian girl or woman to
convert to Islam in order to marry a Muslim man. However, if a
Christian woman marries a Muslim man, the Coptic Orthodox Church
excommunicates her. Ignorance of the law and societal pressure,
including the centrality of marriage to a woman's identity, often
affect her decision. Family conflict and financial pressure also are
cited as factors. Conversion is regarded as a disgrace to the convert's
family, so most Christian families would object strongly to a
daughter's wish to marry a Muslim. If a Christian girl converts to
Islam, her family loses guardianship, which transfers to a Muslim
custodian, who is likely to grant approval.
Anti-Semitism is found in both the pro-government and opposition
press; however, there have been no violent anti Semitic incidents in
recent years.
Anti-Semitic articles and opinion pieces in the print media and
editorial cartoons appeared in the press and electronic media. For
example, on March 18, Abdelwahab Ads, deputy editor of Al Jumhuriya,
accused the Jews of the terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11 as well
as of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S.
On June 24 and July 1, the National Democratic Party (NDP)
newspaper al-Lewa al-Islami published articles by Professor Refaat
Sayed Ahmed in which he denied the Holocaust. On August 25, the NDP
announced that it had banned Professor Ahmed from future publishing,
that the editor who approved his article had been fired, and that the
NDP and the Government rejected anti-Semitism and acknowledged the
reality of the Holocaust.
The Government reportedly advised journalists and cartoonists to
avoid anti-Semitism. Government officials insisted that anti-Semitic
statements in the media were a reaction to Israeli government actions
against Palestinians and did not reflect historical anti-Semitism;
however, there were relatively few public attempts to distinguish
between anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli sentiment.
On January 5, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld a 2001 lower
court decision to recommend the cancellation of the Abu Hasira festival
(for Jewish pilgrims) in the Beheira Governorate. In 2003, the Ministry
of Culture designated Abu Hasira's tomb as a ``historic site'' and
ruled that an annual festival could be held. Villagers around the
shrine protested, claiming that the Jewish visitors aggravated the
locals with their drinking. There were reports in December, however,
that Jewish pilgrims were again welcome to celebrate the Abu Hasira
festival, scheduled for early January 2005.
In December 2003, following international expressions of concern,
the special collections section of the Alexandria Library removed a
copy of ``The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' from a display of
religious manuscripts. In a statement, the director of the library
denied allegations that the book had been displayed next to the Torah,
but nonetheless stated that its inclusion was a ``bad judgment'' and
regretted any offense the incident might have caused.
Law 263 of 1960, which is still in force, bans Baha'i institutions
and community activities. During the Nasser era, the Government
confiscated all Baha'i community properties, including Baha'i centers,
libraries, and cemeteries. The problems of Baha'is, who number fewer
than 2,000 persons in the country, have been compounded since the MOI
began to upgrade its automation of civil records, including national
identity cards. The Government asserted that its new software requires
all citizens to be categorized as Muslims, Christians, or Jews,
although some Baha'is initially received identity cards which listed
their religion as ``other.'' During the year, Baha'is and other
religious groups who did not choose to describe themselves as Muslim,
Christian, or Jewish, were compelled either to misrepresent themselves
as members of one of these three religions, or to go without valid
identity documents, passports, birth and death certificates, and
marriage licenses. Most Baha'is have chosen the latter course. The
Government's unwillingness to issue Baha'is identity cards and other
necessary documents made it increasingly difficult for Baha'is to
register their children in school, to open bank accounts, and to
register businesses. At year's end, some Baha'is reported that
government representatives had offered them passports, but no other
documents. The Baha'i leadership noted that while this would enable
them to leave the country, it would not facilitate their continued
residence in the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 military areas. 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 leave the
country had the right to return.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it during the year.
The Constitution includes provisions for the granting of refugee
status or asylum to persons who meet the definition in the 1951 U.N.
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol;
however, the Government limited the ease with which the refugee
population could integrate locally. 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, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) assumed full responsibility for the determination of
refugee status on behalf of the Government. The Government generally
cooperated with the UNHCR and treated refugees in accordance with
minimum standards and agreed arrangements. 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 9,000 recognized refugees, the
majority of whom were Sudanese, resided in the country. In addition,
70,000 Palestinian refugees are registered with government authorities.
There were also approximately 16,000 asylum seekers awaiting status
determination. Although there was no pattern of abuse of refugees,
during random security sweeps the Government temporarily detained some
refugees who were not carrying proper identification. Following
intervention by the UNHCR, the refugees were released.
There were occasional reports that human rights activists were
briefly detained for questioning at international ports of entry/
departure. On May 19, Cairo airport security personnel prohibited four
members of a delegation from the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights
from traveling to Thailand to attend a workshop. The delegation
canceled its trip and complained to the Ministry of Interior, but it
never learned the reason for the ban.
Also during the year, the security services prevented three members
of the MB (Essam El Erian, Abdel Hamid El Ghazaly, and Mohsen Radi), as
well as MB-affiliated journalist Ahmed Ezz Eddine, from traveling to
meetings outside the country (see Section 4).
The disappearance of Yemeni dissident Ahmed Salem Ebeid, who EOHR
alleged was sent by the Government to Yemen, may have involved the
forced return of a person to a country where he feared prosecution (see
Section 1.b.).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
Citizens did not have the meaningful right to change their
government. The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) dominated the
454 seat People's Assembly, 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 to such an extent that, as a practical matter,
citizens did not have a meaningful ability to change their government.
In 1999, President Hosni Mubarak was elected unopposed to a fourth
6-year term in a national referendum. According to official results, he
received 94 percent of the vote. Mubarak had been previously nominated
by the People's Assembly. Under the Constitution, the electorate is not
presented with a choice among competing presidential candidates. In
October, political activists and opposition political party members
called for constitutional revisions to change from referendum to
multiple-candidate presidential elections and term limits. On December
12, 300 activists from the Kifaya (Enough) movement staged a protest
against President Mubarak running for a fifth term in office. There was
little government interference (see Section 2.b.).
Despite the overall improvement in the 2000 electoral process (as
compared to the 1995 parliamentary elections), there still were
problems affecting the fairness of the 2000 parliamentary elections.
Preceding the elections, the Government arrested thousands of MB
members on charges of belonging to an illegal organization. Most
observers believed that the Government was seeking to undermine the
MB's participation in the People's Assembly and professional syndicate
elections through intimidation.
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 MOI'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.
Two-thirds of the members were elected and one-third were appointed by
the President. In 2001, President Mubarak appointed 45 members to the
Shura Council, including 8 women and 4 Christians.
In May and June, Shura Council elections resulted in the NDP
winning 70 of 88 open seats. Independents won 17 seats. One of the
independents, from Giza, is widely known to be a member of the
officially banned MB. The opposition Tagammu (Grouping) Party won a
solitary Shura seat.
There were 18 recognized opposition parties, not all of which were
active.
The Political Parties Committee (PPC) approves applications by
prospective parties and may withdraw recognition from existing parties.
The Labor Party, which lost recognition in 2000, remained suspended at
year's end (see Section 2.a.). During the September National Democratic
Party Conference, the party leadership announced a plan to seek
People's Assembly approval in November to relax the political party
registration process. By year's end, the PPC had approved two new
parties, including the Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) Party.
In addition, during the year, a variety of other aspirant political
parties sought legal recognition from the courts or the PPC. The PPC
rejected the Wasat (Middle) Party on the grounds that it illegally
sought to establish a party with an Islamic basis. The PPC rejected the
Karama (Dignity) Party on the grounds that its platform was not
sufficiently different from other existing parties. By year's end, the
International Peace Party and the Nationalist Party had also been
denied. The Egypt Motherland, the Democratic Wafd, and the Progressive
Arab parties' applications remained pending.
On June 2, the Abdeen Appeals Court placed the Ahrar (Liberal)
Party and its 18 publications under judicial sequestration and
appointed a custodian to oversee the financial and administrative
functions of the party. Since 1998, 13 members have competed for the
chairmanship, with 6 holding general conferences and claiming to have
been legitimately elected. The PPC did not recognize any of the
results. An appeal against the sequestration was pending at year's end.
The law prohibits political parties based on religion, and the MB
remained an illegal organization; however, MB members openly and
publicly spoke their views, although they did not explicitly identify
themselves as members of the organization. They remained subject to
government pressure (see Section 1.d.). Seventeen candidates affiliated
with the MB were elected to the People's Assembly as independents in
2000. One of the 17 was unseated in 2003, when Gamal Heshmat lost a by-
election. There were reports of heavy-handed police interference on
polling day in favor of his opponent.
There were 11 women in the 454-seat People's Assembly. Two women
served among the 32 ministers in the Cabinet. In 2003, the Government
appointed a female jurist to serve on the Supreme Constitutional Court.
She became the first female citizen to serve on the bench.
There were 7 Christians in the 454-seat People's Assembly and 2
Christians in the 32-member Cabinet.
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. Some human rights activists
were briefly detained for questioning at international ports of entry
(see Section 2.d.).
In 2002, the Government passed a law governing the regulation and
operation of all NGOs operating in the country. The law and its
subsequent implementing regulations drew criticism from local NGOs and
international activists. Some charged that the law and regulations
placed unduly burdensome restrictions on NGO operations. Of particular
concern was a new provision in the law that granted the Minister of
Social Affairs the authority to dissolve an NGO by decree, rather than
requiring a court order.
In 2003, the Parliament passed legislation establishing the
National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), which became operational
early in the year. The Council is composed of 25 members and headed by
a chairman and a deputy, who serve 3-year terms. The Council's mandate
is to receive human rights complaints and request competent government
authorities to investigate them, to consult with the Government on the
development of legislation that promotes good human rights practices,
to increase public awareness on human rights, to issue an annual report
on human rights in the country, and coordinate and network with other
entities focused on human rights.
Observers have complained about the Council's slow start and modest
results achieved to date. At year's end, the Council had received
budgetary support from the Government as well as the European Union.
Reliable reports indicated that the NCHR received over 4,000
complaints. NCHR reported that it referred an unspecified number of the
complaints that it deemed credible to relevant authorities, but by
year's end had received replies on only 50 cases.
Public visibility of the NCHR's activities was generally low, but
increased over the course of the year. In October, for example, Council
Vice Chairman Dr. Kamal Abul Magd, after visiting Tora and Abu Zaabal
prisons, suggested there had been some improvement in prison
conditions, but stressed the Council's determination to seek guarantees
against preventive detention. In December, NCHR publicly announced that
it would urge the Government, in its annual report to be issued in
early 2005, to abolish the Emergency Law, on the grounds that ordinary
constitutional law is sufficient to meet the country's security
requirements.
In June 2003, years after it first applied, the EOHR was officially
registered. HRAAP, another established and credible human rights group,
also successfully registered. At least three human rights groups
remained unable to operate during the year due to 2003 government
decisions to deny their registration for obscure ``security reasons.''
The status of some others was pending at year's end (see Section 2.b.).
In November 2003, the Arab Program for Human Rights Activists and
the Word Center for Human Rights announced the rejection by the
Ministry of Social Affairs of the Word Center's application for NGO
status, citing ``security objections.'' The Ministry also contended
that the Center is a group based on religion and therefore not eligible
for NGO status under the NGO Law (Law 84/02). The Word Center
previously had applied for recognition as a ``social company'' by the
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry. This option, which has been the
resort of other NGO-like groups denied registration under the NGO law,
can afford basic legal recognition. The Word Center's ``social
company'' application was accepted in 1996; and the Center operated
without restriction. The Word Center has filed suit against the
Ministry of Social Affairs for recognition as an NGO and its case was
pending at year's end.
EOHR 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. They received funding from foreign
human rights organizations.
During the year, the Government permitted the Cairo Institute for
Human Rights Studies (CIHR) and other human rights organizations,
including HRAAP, EOHR, and the Arab Center for Independence of the
Judiciary, to hold and participate in international conferences.
The Government at times cooperated with international
organizations; however, according to the delegate to the 2003 session
of the U.N. Committee Against Torture, the Government had not agreed to
a requested visit by the UNCHR Special Rapporteur on Torture because of
an incompatibility of timetables (see Section 1.c.).
On July 25, inspectors from the Ministry of Health visited the
premises of the El Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims
of Torture. This inspection visit provoked domestic and international
concerns that the Government was harassing this human rights
organization. (The El Nadim Center was not registered as an NGO with
the Ministry of Social Affairs but was registered as a medical clinic,
and thus falls under Ministry of Health jurisdiction.) The inspectors
confiscated equipment and personal papers of doctors and well as
patients, and soon after the inspection, one volunteer doctor at the
Center was transferred from his position as the Director of the Airport
Hospital for Mental Health to a department at the Khanka Hospital. El
Nadim lodged a formal complaint with the Office of the Public
Prosecutor, and HRW addressed a letter to President Mubarak requesting
his immediate intervention to stop the harassment. By late September,
the Ministry of Health had halted its inquiry, and the Nadim Center was
proceeding with its work.
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. In 2003, the Center for Egyptian
Women's Legal Affairs conducted a survey of women, based in part on an
assessment of crime reports in the vernacular press over a 6-month
period, which estimated that 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. 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
eyewitnesses, a difficult condition to meet. Several NGOs offered
counseling, legal aid, and other services to women who were victims of
domestic violence. Activists believed that in general the police and
the judiciary considered the ``integrity of the family'' more important
than the well being of the woman. The Ministry of Insurance and Social
Affairs operated more than 150 family counseling bureaus nationwide,
which provided legal and medical services.
The National Council for Women (NCW) proposed and advocated
policies that promoted women's empowerment and also designed
development programs that benefit 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; however, spousal rape is not
illegal. The Government prosecuted rapists, and punishment for rape
ranges from 3 years to life imprisonment. Although reliable statistics
regarding rape were not available, activists believed that it was not
uncommon, despite strong social disapproval. If a rapist is convicted
of abducting his victim, he is subject to execution.
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, it was
believed that they were not common.
FGM remained a serious, widespread problem, despite the
Government's attempts to eliminate the practice and NGO efforts to
combat it. Traditional and family pressures remained strong. A study
conducted in 2000 estimated 97 percent of women who have ever been
married had undergone 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, and the practice was supported by
some Muslim religious authorities and Islamist political activists. FGM
was equally prevalent among Muslims and Christians.
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.
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 sometimes did not apply the law
consistently. A woman's testimony is equal to that of a man's in court.
There is no legal prohibition against a woman serving as a judge.
In February, Counselor Tahany al-Gabbani was appointed to the Supreme
Constitutional Court, the first, and only, female citizen to be
appointed to the bench. At year's end, the Court of Cassation still was
examining the cases of two female attorneys, Fatma Lashin and Amany
Talaat, who challenged the Government's refusal to appoint them as
public prosecutors. As of October, their challenge was still pending.
On September 5, the Minister of Awqaf (Religious Endowments) for
the first time appointed a woman to the position of General Manager at
the Waqf Authority.
Laws affecting marriage and personal status generally corresponded
to an individual's religion. Article 20 of the Procedural Personal
Status Law of 2000 provides for khul' divorce, which 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', the required child alimony is not paid.
The Coptic Orthodox Church permits divorce only in specific
circumstances, such as adultery or conversion of one spouse to another
religion.
Under Islamic law, non-Muslim males must convert to Islam to marry
Muslim women, but non-Muslim women need not convert to marry Muslim
men. 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; however, in practice, the Government made little
progress in eliminating FGM, affording rights to children with foreign
fathers, and helping street children.
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 Education Minister asserted that 98 percent of citizen children
were enrolled in compulsory education through grade nine. Approximately
30 percent of citizen students pursued studies at the post-secondary
level.
The Government provided medical care for all children, regardless
of gender.
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.).
In May 2003, the Suggestions and Complaints Committee of the
People's Assembly approved a draft law that would allocate special
holding cells for minors at police stations. The proposal had not been
adopted by the entire Parliament at year's end.
Children with foreign fathers were not considered citizens and
therefore could not attend public school or state universities. They
were also barred from certain professional schools and could not work
without meeting foreign residency requirements and obtaining work
permits. There were an estimated 400,000 such children in the country.
FGM remained a serious problem and was widely performed (see
Section 5, Women).
During the year, the country's National Council of Childhood and
Motherhood (NCCM), a government organ, developed a national plan to
increase educational opportunities for girls, to combat the worst forms
of child labor (in collaboration with the ILO), and to implement a
reproductive health awareness program for public schools. At year's
end, implementation was underway.
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. There were anecdotal and press
reports of trafficking of persons from sub Saharan Africa and Eastern
Europe through the country to Europe and Israel. There have been press
reports about foreigners trying to cross over to Israel seeking
employment there. It is difficult to determine with precision how many
of the aliens smuggled through 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 resource limitations precluded total
success. Government officials participated in international conferences
on combating trafficking in persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws specifically
prohibiting discrimination against persons with physical or mental
disabilities, but the Government made serious efforts to address their
rights. It worked closely with U.N. agencies and other international
aid donors to design job-training programs for persons with
disabilities. The Government also sought to increase the public's
awareness of the capabilities of persons with disabilities in
television programming, the print media, and educational material in
public schools. There were approximately 5.7 million persons with
disabilities, of whom 1.5 million were disabled severely.
The law provides that all businesses must designate 5 percent of
their jobs for persons with disabilities who are exempt from normal
literacy requirements. Although there was no legislation mandating
access to public accommodations and transportation, persons with
disabilities may ride government-owned mass transit buses free of
charge, are given priority in obtaining telephones, and receive
reductions on customs duties for private vehicles. A number of NGOs
were active in efforts to train and assist persons with disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In February 2003, a
court rejected the appeal of foreign national Wissam Toufic Abyad, who
had been convicted of ``habitual debauchery'' after arranging to meet a
police informant posing as a homosexual man on an internet site. Abyad,
serving a 15-month sentence, was unable to get his case heard by the
Court of Cassation. He was released in May.
In February 2003, a Court of Appeal in Agouza, Cairo upheld the 3-
year sentences of 11 allegedly homosexual men convicted of ``habitual
debauchery.'' A twelfth defendant was tried in juvenile court and later
sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment. Lawyers for the 12 appealed the
case to the Court of Cassation, but no court hearing date had been set,
and the 12 remained in prison during the year.
Individuals suspected of homosexual activity and arrested on
``debauchery'' charges regularly reported being subjected to
humiliation and abuse while in custody.
In March, the HRW Executive Director visited the country to unveil
the new report ``In a Time of Torture,'' which focused on harassment
and abuse of alleged homosexuals.
During the year, there were no reports of wide scale Internet
entrapment of homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--There are no legal obstacles to
establishing private sector unions, although such unions were uncommon.
Workers may join trade unions, but were not required to do so. A union
local 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 decreased
in the past several years as a result of early retirement plans in
public sector enterprises and the privatization of many of these
enterprises.
There were 23 trade unions, all required to belong to the Egyptian
Trade Union Federation (ETUF), the sole legally recognized labor
federation; however, requiring all trade unions to belong to a single
federation infringes on freedom of association. The ETUF controlled the
nomination and election procedures for trade union officers and
permitted public authorities to intervene in union financial
activities. The Government showed no sign that it intended to accept
the establishment of more than one federation. 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.
Some unions within the 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 (Law 12) calls for the establishment of a labor consultative
council, including representatives from the Government, employers, and
workers associations. The council, in working with other labor experts,
addresses tripartite issues and problems and reviews 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. During the
year, the Pentagonal Committees issued more than 200 verdicts in labor
disputes.
The MOMM established a unit in 2003 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
compensations 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 at least 15 strikes during the year.
Wildcat strikes are prohibited. Peaceful strikes are allowed, provided
they are 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. This advance notification
requirement effectively eliminates wildcat strikes. 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.
Firms, apart from large ones in the private sector, generally did
not adhere to government-mandated standards. Although they are 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 are the same in the six existing export-
processing zones (EPZs) as in the rest of the country. A Special
Economic Zones (SEZ) law was issued in 2002 laying the legal foundation
for the establishment of SEZs that will be export-oriented. According
to the SEZ law, rules governing labor in the SEZs will be more
flexible, since the authority regulating the SEZ can tailor contracts
in accordance with business needs while adhering to the general
requirements of the labor law. At year's end, the Ministry of
Investment was proceeding to establish an SEZ in East Port Said.
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.--
Local trade unions reported that the Ministry of Labor adequately
enforced labor laws in state-owned enterprises, but enforcement in the
private sector, especially in the informal sector, was lax. Employers
continued to abuse, overwork, and generally endanger many working
children. 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 (e.g., 20 LE, or $3.25)
and thus had questionable deterrent effect. Regulations proposed in
2003 under the revised labor law sharply increased the minimum fines in
child labor cases to LE 500 ($81). The Government has developed
programs that emphasize prevention and include employer, parent, and
child counseling.
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 6 hours
per day, and one or more breaks totaling at least 1 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 4 hours continuously.
Statistical information regarding the number of working children
was difficult to obtain and often outdated. NGOs estimated that up to
1.5 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.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year, 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 25 percent extra for daylight hours and 50
percent extra for nighttime hours. 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 new 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.
Starting on June 11, employees at the Ora-Egypt asbestos products
firm engaged in strike actions. The strikers said that 46 employees had
suffered from cancer as a result of unsafe working conditions. On
September 21, the Government closed Ora-Egypt.
In 2003, the Minister of Manpower said that the total number of
foreign workers holding work and residence permits was 18,177, not
including Sudanese, Palestinians, and foreigners married to citizens.
Unofficial estimates of undocumented workers were as high as 116,000.
Foreign workers with the required permits enjoyed legal protections.
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
The Islamic Republic of Iran\1\ 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 (Article Five). The
unelected Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali
Khamene'i, dominates a tricameral division of power among legislative,
executive, and judicial branches. Khamene'i directly controls the armed
forces and exercises indirect control over the internal security
forces, the judiciary, and other key institutions. The executive branch
was headed by President Mohammad Khatami, who won a second 4-year term
in June 2001, with 77 percent of the popular vote in a multiparty
election. The legislative branch featured a popularly elected 290-seat
Islamic Consultative Assembly, Majlis, which develops and passes
legislation, and an unelected 12-member Council of Guardians, which
reviews all legislation passed by the Majlis for adherence to Islamic
and constitutional principles and also has the duty of screening Majlis
candidates for eligibility. Conservative candidates won a majority of
seats in the February Seventh Majlis election that was widely perceived
as neither free nor fair, due to the Council of Guardians' exclusion of
thousands of qualified candidates. The 34-member Expediency Council is
empowered to resolve legislative impasses between the Council of
Guardians and the Majlis. The Constitution provides that ``the
judiciary is an independent power''; however, the judicial branch is
widely perceived as both corrupt and heavily biased towards
conservative elements within the society and against reformist forces.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The United States does not have an embassy in Iran. This report
draws heavily on non-U.S. Government sources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several agencies share responsibility for law enforcement and
maintenance of order, including the Ministry of Intelligence and
Security, the Law Enforcement Forces under the Ministry of Interior,
and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a military force
established after the revolution. A paramilitary volunteer force known
as the Basiji, and various gangs of men known as the Ansar-e Hezbollah
(Helpers of the Party of God), or ``plain clothes,'' aligned with
extreme conservative members of the leadership, acted as vigilantes.
Civilian authorities did not fully maintain effective control of the
security forces, and there were instances in which elements of the
security forces acted independently of government authority. The
regular and the paramilitary security forces both committed numerous,
serious human rights abuses.
The mixed economy depends on oil and gas for 80 percent of its
export earnings. The population was more than 69 million. All large-
scale industry is publicly owned and state-administered. Large
parastatal charitable foundations (``bonyads''), with strong
connections to the clerical regime, controlled as much as a third of
the country's economy and exercised considerable influence. The
Government heavily subsidized basic foodstuffs and energy costs.
Government mismanagement and corruption negatively affected economic
performance. The official unemployment rate was approximately 11
percent, although other estimates were higher. Estimated inflation was
15 percent with economic growth approximately 6.5 percent during the
year.
The Government's poor human rights record worsened, and it
continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. The right of citizens to
change their government was restricted significantly. Continuing
serious abuses included: summary executions; disappearances; torture
and other degrading treatment, reportedly including severe punishments
such as amputations and flogging; poor prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention; lack of habeas corpus or access to counsel; and
prolonged and incommunicado detention. Citizens often did not receive
due process or fair trials. The Government infringed on citizens'
privacy rights and restricted freedom of speech, press, assembly,
association, and religion.
An intense political struggle continued during the early part of
the year between a broad popular movement favoring greater
liberalization in government policies, particularly in the area of
human rights, and certain hard-line elements within the Government and
society that viewed such reforms as a threat to the survival of the
Islamic Republic. In many cases, this struggle was played out within
the Government, with reformists and hard-liners squaring off in
divisive internal debates. As in the past, reformist members of Majlis
were harassed, prosecuted, and threatened with jail for statements made
under parliamentary immunity. In screening for the February Seventh
Majlis elections, the Guardian Council ruled approximately 2,500 of the
over 8,000 prospective candidates ineligible to run, including 85
sitting reformist deputies; this was one factor leading to
conservatives winning a majority of seats.
The Government restricted the work of human rights groups. Violence
and legal and societal discrimination against women were problems. The
Government discriminated against minorities and severely restricted
workers' rights, including freedom of association and the right to
organize and bargain collectively. Child labor persisted. Vigilante
groups, with strong ties to certain members of the Government, enforced
their interpretation of appropriate social behavior through
intimidation and violence. There were reports of trafficking in
persons.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were reports
of political killings. The Government was responsible for numerous
killings during the year, including executions following trials that
lacked due process.
The law criminalized dissent and applied the death penalty to
offenses such as ``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.''
Citizens continued to be tried and sentenced to death in the absence of
sufficient procedural safeguards.
Exiles and human rights monitors alleged that many of those
supposedly executed for criminal offenses in the past, such as
narcotics trafficking, actually were political dissidents. Supporters
of outlawed political groups, or in the case of the Mujahedin-e Khalq,
a terrorist organization, were believed to constitute a number of those
executed each year.
In January, security forces killed four persons and injured many
others when they attacked striking copper factory workers in the
Khatunabad village near Shahr-i Babak (see Section 6.b.).
In February, security forces killed seven persons in post-Majlis
election violence in the towns of Andimeshk and Izeh in Khuzestan
Province and the town of Firuzabad in the Fars Province.
In August, Iranian media reported that 16-year-old Ateqeh Rajabi
was hanged in public for charges reportedly involving her ``acts
incompatible with chastity.'' Rajabi was not believed to be mentally
competent; she had no access to a lawyer. Her sentence was reviewed and
upheld by the Supreme Court. An unnamed man arrested with her was given
100 lashes and released.
In July 2003, an Iranian-Canadian photographer, Zahra Kazemi, died
in custody after being arrested for taking photographs at Evin prison
in Tehran. After initially claiming that she had died as a result of a
stroke, the Government subsequently admitted that she died as a result
of a blow to the head and charged individuals involved in her
detention. The Government denied Canada's request, based on her son's
statement, that Kazemi's remains be sent to Canada for further autopsy
and burial. In July, a court acquitted an Intelligence Ministry
official accused of her death, and the Government has taken no
subsequent investigative or legal action to resolve ambiguities
surrounding her death (see Section 4).
Two political activists associated with the outlawed Komala party,
Sassan al-Kanaan and Mohammad Golabi, were executed in February and
March 2003. Golabi reportedly was tortured while in detention. The
opposition Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) alleged that
the Government executed party member Jalil Zewal in December 2003,
after 9 years in prison during which he reportedly was tortured. KDPI
member Ramin Sharifi was also executed in December 2003 after his
arrest in July 2003. KDPI reported that hard-line vigilante groups
killed at least seven other Kurdish civilians during 2003.
The 1998 murders of prominent political activists Darioush and
Parvaneh Forouhar, writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Pouyandeh,
and the disappearance of political activist Pirouz Davani continued to
cause controversy about what is perceived to be the Government's cover-
up of involvement by high-level officials. Prominent investigative
journalist Akbar Ganji, who was arrested in 2000 and sentenced to 6
years in prison for his reporting on the case, remained in prison (see
Sections 1.d. and 1.e.). In 2001, the Special Representative for Iran
of the Commission on Human Rights (UNSR) also reported claims that
there were more than 80 killings or disappearances over a 10-year
period as part of a wider campaign to silence dissent. Members of
religious minority groups, including the Baha'is, evangelical
Christians, and Sunni clerics were killed in recent years, allegedly by
government agents or directly at the hands of authorities.
b. Disappearance.--Little reliable information was available
regarding the number of disappearances during the year.
The Government announced that approximately 4,000 persons--both
protesters and vigilantes--were arrested in connection with pro-reform
protests in June 2003. As of December, approximately 130 still were
detained.
No further information was known regarding the disappearances of
Baha'i, Kurdish, and Jewish Iranian prisoners cited in previous Human
Rights Reports dating from as early as the fall of the Shah in 1979.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution forbids the use of torture, as does the
Law on Respect of Lawful Liberties and Protection of Citizenship Rights
adopted in May; however, there were numerous credible reports that
security forces and prison personnel continued to torture detainees and
prisoners. Some prison facilities, including Tehran's Evin prison, were
notorious for the cruel and prolonged acts of torture inflicted upon
political opponents of the Government. Additionally, in recent years,
government officials have inflicted severe prisoner abuse and torture
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, and punching in the eyes, leading to partial or complete
blindness.
On February 28, Judiciary Head Ayatollah Shahroudi issued a
directive protecting the rights of the accused and, among other points,
instructing police, judicial officials, and security agents to refrain
from physical abuse when interrogating suspects. On May 2, the Majlis
passed a law based on this 15-point directive in the form of the Bill
on Legitimate Liberties and Civil Rights, which the Council of
Guardians approved shortly thereafter. However, there is much anecdotal
evidence that this law was ignored routinely in practice.
In August, credible international and local NGOs reported the case
of a prisoner in the province of Khuzistan who had to have his hands
amputated because prison officials had left him hanging by the wrists
and then forgot about him.
In August 2003, the Council of Guardians rejected a bill on
accession to the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Majlis amended the
bill in late December 2003, reportedly addressing Council of Guardians
concerns over the monetary costs of joining the convention, but the
council still rejected the revised bill. The Council of Guardians also
rejected in mid-2002 a bill passed by the Majlis to end torture and
forced confessions.
In July 2002, in an effort to combat ``un-Islamic behavior'' and
social corruption among the young, the Government formed a new
``morality'' force, referred to merely as ``special units'' (yegan ha-
ye vizhe), to complement the existing morality police, ``Enjoining the
Good and Prohibiting the Forbidden'' (Amr be Ma'ruf va Nahi az Monkar).
The new force was to assist in enforcing the Islamic Republic's strict
rules of moral behavior. Credible press reports indicated that members
of this 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 (see Section 1.f.). While
not uniformly enforced, in July, morality police made several raids in
shopping centers and shops in northern Tehran, rounding up young women
who they determined to be violating the Islamic dress code and
confiscating articles of clothing considered immodest.
In February, Mohsen Mofidi reportedly received 80 lashes following
a 4-month prison sentence having been convicted of consuming alcohol,
owning a satellite dish, and aiding his sister's ``corruption'' in
associating with male companions. He died in a hospital in Tehran
shortly after his release.
In March 2003, activist Siamak Pourzand was re-imprisoned after his
provisional release in November 2002. After his arrest in 2001,
Pourzand was tried in March 2002 behind closed doors and sentenced to
11 years in prison for ``undermining state security through his links
with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries.'' Press reports said that
he had confessed to his crimes at his trial, but his family claimed
that the confession was extracted under duress. Pourzand suffered
severe health problems while held incommunicado, reportedly including a
heart attack, and was allegedly denied proper medical treatment. As of
December, Siamak Pourzand was on leave from prison for medical
treatment, his condition a direct result of physical, emotional, and
mental abuse during 2 years of imprisonment (over 12 months of which
was in solitary confinement). Despite critical health problems, the
Government did not allow him to leave the country for treatment.
In April 2003, Former Deputy Prime Minister and longtime political
dissident, Abbas Amir-Entezam was re-imprisoned, after his release in
2002 for medical reasons. Amir-Entezam was reportedly incarcerated for
calling for a referendum on whether the country should remain under
clerical rule during a speech at Tehran University. He was reportedly a
frequent victim of torture in prison resulting in numerous medical
problems. He reported having been taken on numerous occasions before a
firing squad (see Section 1.e.). During the year, he was released on
medical leave until late November, due to the Government's inability to
treat his medical conditions in prison. As of December, he was
receiving medical treatment at his home while recovering from back
surgery, and his medical leave was extended until early January 2005.
In July 2003, an Iranian-Canadian photographer, Zahra Kazemi, died
in custody as a result of a blow to the head (see Section 1.a.).
In November 2003, four men were reportedly sentenced to death by
stoning for involvement in kidnapping and rape. In December 2002, the
Government officially suspended the practices of amputation and
lapidation or stoning--a form of capital punishment for adultery and
other crimes, although the law has not been rescinded. Amnesty
International (AI) reported at least nine cases of amputation since
2002 and four cases of execution of children.
In mid-September, the Public Relations head of Hamedan Province's
Department of Prisons announced that the fingers of a robber were cut
off on the order of the public prosecutor's office. In mid-October, an
Ahvaz judge upheld the sentence to amputate a young man's right hand,
with the sentence subsequently implemented. On November 11, in
Sanandaj, a 14-year-old Kurdish boy died after having received 85
lashes based on a judge's ruling finding him guilty of breaking his
fast during the month of Ramadan.
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 February 2003 visit, the U.N. 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.''
The 2001 report by the UNSR noted a significant increase in the
prison population and reports of overcrowding and unrest. In July, the
UK-based International Center for Prison Studies reported that 133,658
prisoners occupied facilities constructed to hold a maximum of 65,000
persons. In November, the Iran Prison Organization reported a prison
population of 134,103.
The UNSR reported that much of the prisoner abuse occurred in
unofficial detention centers run by unofficial intelligence services
and the military. The UNSR further reported that the unofficial
detention centers were to be brought under the control of the National
Prison Organization (NPO) during 2001; however, November 2003 press
reports indicated that a number of unofficial detention centers
continued to operate outside NPO control. The U.N. Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention raised this issue with the country's Article 90
Parliamentary Commission during its February 2003 visit, generating a
commission inquiry that reportedly confirmed the existence of numerous
unofficial prisons.
In a June study, Human Rights Watch (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, and physically
abused and tortured during the process.
The Government generally has only granted prison access to the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); however, it did permit
visits to imprisoned dissidents by U.N. human rights officials during
2003 (see Section 4). U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
officials visited Evin prison in Tehran--including sector 209, in which
many political prisoners were believed held--as well as Esfahan and
Shiraz prisons, the Shiraz military prison, and police stations in each
city. The Working Group interviewed approximately 140 ``ordinary''
prisoners plus 14 out of a requested 45 inmates described as political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience. The Working Group described the
authorities' cooperation as ``on the whole positive,'' although it
noted problems with fulfillment of follow-up requests generated by the
visit and disappointment over arrests carried out after the Group's
departure. Following his November 2003 visit to the country, the UNSR
for the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and
Expression noted that his delegation met with almost 40 dissidents,
both in and out of prison.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these practices remained
common. In practice, there is no legal time limit for incommunicado
detention nor any judicial means to determine the legality of
detention. In the period immediately following detention or arrest,
many detainees were held incommunicado and denied access to lawyers and
family members. Suspects may be held for questioning in jails or in
local Revolutionary Guard offices. There also are numerous detention
centers not under the control of the NPO, reportedly run by
``plainclothes'' officers of various security and intelligence
agencies, elements of the judiciary, and state-sponsored vigilante
groups.
The 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. In addition, families of executed
prisoners did not always receive notification of the prisoners' deaths.
Those who received such information reportedly were forced on occasion
to pay the Government to retrieve the body of their relative.
Security forces often targeted family members of political
prisoners for harassment. In April, a court sentenced student activist
Payman Piran, detained since February on charges of acting against
national security, contacting foreigners, disturbing public opinion,
and behaving insultingly, to 10 years in prison. In July, security
forces forcibly evicted retired teacher Mostafa Piran, father of Peyman
Piran, and his family from their apartment, confiscated their goods,
and sealed the apartment. They beat Mostafa Piran and then detained him
in Evin Prison. He was not informed of any charges against him nor
allowed to see a lawyer. Subsequently, family members who saw him said
that he had been mistreated during lengthy interrogation sessions and
badly bruised. Also in July, Simin Mohammadi and her father Mohammad
Mohammadi, sister and father respectively of jailed student activists
Manuchehr and Akbar Mohammadi, were arrested, reportedly for ``acts
against state security.'' Simin was released after posting bail
following 2 weeks' imprisonment in solitary confinement; her father
also was released on bail after having had a heart attack in solitary
confinement.
According to the media, in November, Mohammad Reza Aghapour, former
editor-in-chief of the banned magazine, Asan, was arrested upon his
return from London where he reportedly attended seminars on the
circumstances of the country's Turkish population. At year's end, there
was no information on whether Aghapour was imprisoned or if charges
were brought against him.
According to the media, in September, authorities arrested and held
for 11 days Soeed Matalebi, the father of Sinn Motalebi, a political
opponent of the regime who helped to operate an Internet opposition
website.
In January 2003, the Government released Ayatollah Hossein Ali
Montazeri, amid reports of health problems after 5 years of house
arrest. Montazeri was formerly the designated successor of the late
Spiritual Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, who subsequently became an
outspoken critic of the Supreme Leader (see Section 2.a.). In recent
years, the Government has used the practice of 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 was no information
on current practice.
In July 2003, the press credibly reported that Iranian-American
academic Dariush Zahedi was detained during a private visit to the
country and reportedly held in solitary confinement in Evin prison.
Majlis officials noted that Zahedi was held on suspicion of espionage
but, after a 40-day investigation, was cleared by the Ministry of
Intelligence. However, Zahedi remained in detention after the case was
transferred to the judiciary, reportedly at the intervention of
Tehran's chief prosecutor. Zahedi was released on approximately
$250,000 (200 million Tomans) bail in November 2003 and, although
technically free to leave the country, is still subject to criminal
prosecution. As of February, Zahedi had left the country; the charges
against him were still pending.
In November 2003, security agents briefly arrested two sons of
Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the dissident cleric released from
house arrest in January (see Section 1.d. above). The arrests
reportedly were in response to the sons' attempts to refurbish a
building purchased by the family for use as a teaching facility. The
Qom mosque and Koranic school at which Montazeri formerly taught has
remained closed since 1997, when comments by the cleric questioning the
authority of the Supreme Leader sparked attacks on the school and his
home by Ansar-e Hezbollah mobs.
In November 2003, student activist Ahmed Batebi met with the UNSR
for the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and
Expression, while on medical leave from prison where he is serving a
15-year sentence for participating in the 1999 student demonstrations.
He was re-arrested shortly afterward; however, he was temporarily
released in late April, but he was re-incarcerated and, again,
temporarily released on May 3. Subsequently, he was returned to prison,
and his 10-year sentence remained in place.
AI reported that in October 2003, Arzhang Davoodi was arrested for
assisting in making a television documentary criticizing the
authorities. Reportedly, he was kept in solitary confinement for over 3
months and extensively beaten during the period. According to AI, he
has not been charged and, although having paid bail in March, has not
been released.
In July 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 4 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 ordered to pay
fines up to more than approximately $6,000 (currently 48 million
tomans) (see Sections 2.b. and 3).
Numerous publishers, editors, and journalists (including those
working on Internet sites) were either detained, jailed, and fined, or
they were prohibited from publishing their writings during the year
(see Section 2.a.).
Adherents of the Baha'i faith continued to face arbitrary arrest
and detention. According to Baha'i sources, four Baha'is remained in
prison for practicing their faith at year's end, one facing a life
sentence, two facing sentences of 15 years, and the fourth a 4-year
sentence. A small number of Baha'is were detained at any given time.
Sources claimed that such arrests were carried out to ``terrorize'' the
community and to disrupt the lives of its members. Others were
arrested, charged, and then quickly released. However, the charges
against them often were not dropped (see Section 2.c.).
During 2003, the Government continued to exchange with Iraq
prisoners of war (POWs) and the remains of deceased fighters from the
1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. In March 2003, the Government said it released
888 Iraqi POWs in exchange for 351 Iranian prisoners that the
Government claimed were not POWs, but religious pilgrims, university
students, tour guides, farmers and villagers from the border regions,
and border guards). In April and August, the Government claimed that it
held no more Iraqi POWs.
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. It served as
the principal vehicle of the Government to restrict freedom and reform
in the society. U.N. representatives, including the UNSR, the U.N.
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and independent human rights
organizations noted the absence of procedural safeguards in criminal
trials. Trials are supposed to be open to the public; however,
frequently they are held in closed sessions without access to a lawyer;
the right to appeal often is not honored.
There are several different 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 committed in connection with military or security
duties by members of the army, police, and the Revolutionary Guards. A
press court hears complaints against publishers, editors, and writers
in the media. The Supreme Court has limited review authority.
After the revolution, the judicial system was revised to conform to
an Islamic canon based on the Koran, Sunna, and other Islamic sources.
Article 157 provides that the Head of the Judiciary, currently
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, 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 judges.
Many aspects of the pre-revolutionary judicial system survived in
the civil and criminal courts. For example, defendants have the right
to a public trial, may choose their own lawyer, and have the right of
appeal. Panels of judges adjudicate trials. There is no jury system in
the civil and criminal courts. If post-revolutionary statutes did not
address a situation, the Government advised judges to give precedence
to their own knowledge and interpretation of Islamic law.
In its 2003 report, the U.N. 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 decides
cases. The Working Group called for active involvement of counsel in
cases, from the custody and investigation phase through the trial and
appeals phases. The Working Group welcomed the December 2002
reinstatement of prosecution services, after a 7-year suspension, but
noted that this reform had thus far had been applied unevenly, with the
judge still having major investigative responsibilities in many
jurisdictions.
Trials in the Revolutionary Courts, in which crimes against
national security and other principal offenses are heard, were
notorious for their disregard of international standards of fairness.
Revolutionary Court judges were chosen in part based on their
ideological commitment to the system. Pretrial detention often was
prolonged, and defendants lacked access to attorneys. Indictments often
lacked clarity and included undefined offenses 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 5 minutes' duration occurred.
Others were show trials that were intended merely to highlight a
coerced public confession.
The legitimacy of the Special Clerical Court system continued to be
a subject of debate. The clerical courts, which investigate offenses
and crimes committed by clerics and which are overseen directly by the
Supreme Leader, are not provided for in the Constitution and operated
outside the domain of the judiciary. In particular, critics alleged
that the clerical courts were used to prosecute clerics for expressing
controversial ideas and for participating in activities outside the
sphere of religion, such as journalism. The recommendations of the U.N.
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention included a call to abolish both
the Special Clerical Courts and the Revolutionary Courts, which were
described as ``responsible for many of the cases of arbitrary detention
for crimes of opinion.''
The President stated on April 28 that, ``absolutely, we do have
political prisoners and people who are in prison for their beliefs.''
No accurate estimates were available regarding the number of citizens
imprisoned for their political beliefs. In November 2003, the UNSR for
the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Expression and
Opinion estimated the number to be in the hundreds. The Government has
arrested, convicted, and sentenced 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.
In December, a Tehran justice department official alleged that the
Government tried and sentenced fugitive al-Qaeda members detained in
the country. The Government did not identify those convicted, the
verdicts, or their sentences.
In March 2002, after a trial behind closed doors but with his
lawyer present, Nasser Zarafshan, the attorney representing the
families of the victims of the 1998 extrajudicial killings of
dissidents by intelligence ministry officials, was sentenced to 5 years
in prison (2 years for disseminating state secrets and 3 years for the
possession of firearms) and 70 lashes for the possession of alcohol. He
was charged with leaking confidential information pertaining to the
trial. HRW reported that he was also charged with ``having weapons and
alcohol at his law firm.'' Zarafshan was originally arrested in 2000
but released after a month pending trial. An appeals court upheld his
conviction in July 2002; he was arrested and taken to Evin Prison in
August 2002. In November 2003, the Supreme Court reportedly dismissed
his appeal. According to the NGO PenCanada, in September, a group of
prisoners in collusion with prison authorities reportedly attempted to
kill Zarafshan. Opposition websites reported that Zarafshan
participated in a July hunger strike to protest mistreatment of
prisoners' families by government officials. Reportedly, since
September 2003, prison authorities have given Zarafshan only one leave
of 48 hours.
Several other human rights lawyers also reportedly were abused,
among them Mohammad Dadkhah, who participated in the defense of members
of the Iran Freedom Movement and is a founding member of the Iranian
Center for Protection of Human Rights, and Abdol Fattah Soltani, who
was reportedly charged for raising accusations of torture during the
2002 defense of a number of political prisoners. In 2002, Dadkhah was
sentenced to 5 months in jail and banned from practicing law for 10
years; however, in November, he remained free and was practicing law.
However, in October, the Government refused to issue him a passport. In
2002, Soltani was sentenced to 4 months in prison and barred from
practicing law for 5 years. At year's end, he was not in jail but still
precluded from practicing law. The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention included among its recommendations the need for guaranteeing
the immunity of counsel in pleading cases as an essential element of
the right to due process.
In November 2002, academic Hashem Aghajari was sentenced to death
at a closed trial for blaspheming against Islam during a speech in
Hamedan. In addition to the death sentence, he was sentenced to 74
lashes, exile to a remote desert location, 8 years in jail, and a ban
on teaching for 10 years. In February 2003, the Supreme Court revoked
his death sentence, but the case was sent back to the lower court for
retrial. In June, the Government announced that the Supreme Court
overturned his death sentence. As a result of a retrial in July, the
sentence was reduced to 3 years in prison and 2 years suspended
sentence in prison, in addition to 5 years ``deprivation of social
rights.'' Aghajari was released on bail on July 31 and has announced
that he will challenge the court's decision to bar him from publishing
articles and speaking in public.
Former Deputy Prime Minister, Abbas Amir-Entezam, was re-imprisoned
in April 2003, after his release in 2002 for medical reasons. A
longtime political dissident, Amir-Entezam has spent much of the past
24 years in prison. He reportedly was incarcerated for calling for a
referendum on whether the country should remain under clerical rule
(see Section 1.c.). During the year, he was freed on medical leave due
to the Government's inability to treat his medical conditions in
prison. As of December, he was receiving medical treatment at his home
recovering from back surgery, and his medical leave was extended until
early January 2005.
The trials in 2000 and 2001 of 13 Jewish citizens on charges
related to espionage for Israel were marked by a lack of due process.
Ten of the original 13 were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 4 to
13 years. The last five in prison were released in April 2003 (see
Section 2.c.).
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.
Vigilante violence included attacking young persons considered too
``un-Islamic'' in their dress or activities, invading private homes,
abusing unmarried couples, and disrupting concerts or other forms of
popular entertainment. Attackers targeted women whose clothing did not
cover their hair and all parts of their body except the hands and face
or those who wore makeup or nail polish. In October, in Rasht, Unit 110
of the Law Enforcement Forces, another police unit charged with
maintaining Islamic propriety, arrested 8 girls and 12 boys dancing at
a party. In Shiraz, in late October, over a 2-day period at least 150
people were arrested. Eyewitnesses said that dozens of individuals,
mostly youths, were arrested on the streets for their ``un-Islamic
attire.'' A large number of persons reportedly were arrested for
``acting as a nuisance.'' A young man was arrested for ``eating in
public'' in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan according to friends
accompanying him.
Authorities entered homes to remove television satellite dishes, or
to disrupt private gatherings in which unmarried men and women
socialized or where alcohol, mixed dancing, or other forbidden
activities were offered or took place. There were also widespread
reports that the homes and offices of reformist journalists were
entered, searched, or ransacked by government agents in an attempt to
intimidate. The government campaign against satellite dishes continued,
although enforcement appeared to be arbitrary and sporadic, varying
widely with the political climate and the individuals involved. Press
reports from late 2003 noted that security authorities restarted
periodic efforts to remove satellite dishes from Tehran homes, and in 1
day confiscated 450 dishes in a single neighborhood. Early in the year,
western media reported that Islamist militia confiscated approximately
40,000 satellite dishes from 4 factories secretly manufacturing
satellite equipment in eastern Tehran; however, the vast majority of
satellite dishes in individual homes continued to operate.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of the press, except when published ideas are ``contrary to
Islamic principles, or are detrimental to public rights''; it makes no
mention of freedom of speech. In practice, the Government severely
restricted freedom of speech and of the press. Since the election of
President Khatami, the independent press, especially newspapers and
magazines, played an increasingly important role in providing a forum
for an intense debate regarding reform in the society. However, basic
legal safeguards for freedom of expression did not exist, and since
approximately 2000, the independent press has been subjected to
arbitrary enforcement measures by elements of the Government, notably
the judiciary, which treated such debates as a threat.
In October, security forces prevented dissident intellectual
Emaddedin Baghi from leaving the country to accept an award for civil
courage, informing him he was on a list of those forbidden to leave the
country (see Section 2.d.). Later that month, a court revoked a
December 2003 ruling that had suspended a 1-year prison sentence for
``propagating against the regime,'' giving him 20 days to appeal the
ruling. At year's end, Baghi was still free; however, he was not
permitted to leave the country.
In November, local press reported that after an early October
trial, a Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Ebrahim Yazdi, leader of
the Iranian liberal nationalist Freedom Movement opposition party, to
an unspecified but long-term imprisonment, based on charges of actions
against national security, possessing unauthorized weapons, insulting
the supreme leader and government officials, and propagating against
the system through actions benefiting opposition groups.
The Government continued to harass senior Shi'a religious and
political leaders and their followers who dissent from the ruling
conservative establishment. In May, the Special Court for the Clergy in
Qom arrested Hojatoleslam Mujtaba Lotfi, an aide to Ayatollah Hussein
Ali Montazeri-Najafabadi, for publishing a book that detailed the
ayatollah's 5 years under house arrest. The book also covered the
attacks on Montazeri's home and theological school and described the
various charges and accusations against Ayatollah Montazeri. The court
confiscated all copies of the book. More generally, there were reports
that the Government maintained a broad network of student informants in
Qom's major seminaries, who reported teachings that are counter to
official government positions.
According to HRW, following a meeting in November 2003 with the UN
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, a student
(Ahmed Batebi), who was out of prison on medical leave, was returned to
prison by government officials (see Section 1.d.).
In October 2003, media reported that reformist parliamentarian and
outspoken critic Mohsen Armin was sentenced to 6 months in prison for
insulting a conservative Majlis member. The judge reportedly also
stripped Armin of his ``social rights'' for 1 year for not appearing in
court. Armin ascribed his absence from court to his assumption that he
held parliamentary immunity. In August, Armin appeared in court in
response to a complaint relating to speeches he made in 1999-2002 and
an accusation of spreading lies. At year's end, Armin had not been
imprisoned.
In spring 2001, security forces arrested then Majlis member Fatima
Haqiqatju for inciting public opinion and insulting the judiciary for
criticizing the arrest of a female journalist and claiming that the
Government tortured prisoners. She was the first sitting Majlis member
to face prosecution for statements made under cover of immunity.
Haqiqatju was sentenced to 17 months in prison, although at year's end,
she had not been imprisoned for this offense. Separately, in June, the
public prosecutor summoned her to court and charged her with
``propaganda against the system,'' ``spreading lies with the intent of
disturbing public opinion,'' and ``insulting the Council of Guardians,
the judiciary, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.'' She was
released on bail, but she was forbidden to leave the country. On
November 29, Haqiqatju was summoned to a Tehran Penal Court due to a
complaint by the Public Prosecutor based on her February 23, 2003,
resignation speech from the Majlis. She was charged with spreading lies
to disturb public opinion, insulting officials, and propaganda against
the Government.
Newspapers and magazines represented a wide variety of political
and social perspectives, many allied with members of the Government.
Many subjects were tolerated, including criticism of certain government
policies. However, the Press Law prohibits the publishing of a broad
and ill-defined category of subjects, including material ``insulting
Islam and its sanctities'' or ``promoting subjects that might damage
the foundation of the Islamic Republic.'' Prohibited topics include
fault-finding comments regarding the personality and achievements of
the late Leader of the Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini; direct criticism
of the Supreme Leader; assailing the principle of velayat-e faqih, or
rule by a supreme religious leader; questioning the tenets of certain
Islamic legal principles; publishing sensitive or classified material
affecting national security; promotion of the views of certain
dissident clerics, including Ayatollah Montazeri; and advocating rights
or autonomy for ethnic minorities. Organs of the Government, such as
the judiciary or the National Security Council, often issued written
orders to newspapers instructing them to avoid covering controversial
topics, or directing them as to how to cover these topics.
The Press Law established the Press Supervisory Board, which is
responsible for issuing press licenses and for examining complaints
filed against publications or individual journalists, editors, or
publishers. In certain cases, the Press Supervisory 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 jury was empowered to recommend to the presiding judge the guilt or
innocence of defendants and the severity of any penalty to be imposed,
although these recommendations were not legally binding.
Since 2000, approximately 100 newspapers and magazines have been
closed for varying lengths of time. In the last few years, 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 met with success, although in October 2003,
Parliament passed a law limiting the duration of temporary press
closures to a maximum of 10 days for newspapers, 4 weeks for weeklies
or bi-weeklies, 2 months for monthlies, and 3 months for other
publications. The importance of the legislation was to stop the
practice of extending ``temporary'' bans indefinitely.
The Press Law allows government entities to act as complainants
against newspapers, and often members of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps, the Intelligence Ministry, the Law Enforcement Forces,
the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, or other public officials
lodged criminal complaints against reformist newspapers that led to
their closures. Offending writers were subjected to lawsuits and fines.
Suspension from journalistic activities and imprisonment were common
punishments for guilty verdicts for offenses ranging from
``fabrication'' to ``propaganda against the State'' to ``insulting the
leadership of the Islamic Republic.''
Freedom of the press continued to deteriorate during the year. Many
reformist newspapers and magazines were closed, and many of their
managers were sentenced to jail and, sometimes, lashings.
In January, legal authorities threatened eight reformist dailies
for their coverage of the sit-in by reformist deputies in front of the
Parliament. The weekly Hadith-e Kerman, in Kerman Province, was closed
in February for coverage in 2003 of serial killings committed by armed
militia. In February, prior to the Parliament elections, the newspapers
Sharq and Yas-e Nau were shut for publishing extracts from a letter by
reformist parliamentarians to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Republic, Ali Khamenei. The letter blamed Khamenei for the electoral
``coup d'etat'' and the current political crisis. In July, Jumhuriyat,
a morning newspaper started by reformist and human rights activist
Emadeddin Baqi, was closed after publishing only one issue. Also in
July, the court for offenses committed by government employees and the
media issued a temporary ban against the Vaqa-yi Itifaqi-yi daily
newspaper. Complaints against the newspaper included propaganda against
the state, ``insulting officials,'' and ``publishing lies.'' At year's
end, the paper remained closed. A handful of pro-reform newspapers
continued to publish, most with heavy self-censorship. In contrast to
the past when new reformist newspapers often opened to replace those
that had been closed, this was no longer the case.
Dozens of individual editors and journalists have been charged and
tried by the Press Court in recent years, and several prominent
journalists were jailed for long periods without trial. Others have
been sentenced to prison terms or exorbitant fines. As of October, at
least 14 journalists, editors, and publishers remained in prison,
according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the most prominent being
Akbar Ganji, sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2000 for his reporting
on the ``serial murder'' of prominent reformists by elements within the
Intelligence Ministry. Ganji has been allowed short furloughs from
prison for treatment of a serious medical condition. Ali Reza Jabari
was jailed in March 2003 after being sentenced to 4 years of
imprisonment, 253 lashes, and an approximately $750 (600,000 Tomans)
fine for ``relations with enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and
propaganda against the Government.'' Appeals subsequently reduced his
term to 2 years, and he was released in October, 4 months before the
end of his 2-year sentence. Other journalists imprisoned during the
year included: Iraj Jamshidi, imprisoned without trial and held in
isolation for long periods; Taghi Rahmani, held in solitary confinement
for long periods and reportedly sentenced in a separate case to 13
years in jail; and Reza Alijani and Hoda Saber, both held since June
2003 and reportedly sentenced in separate cases to 6 and 10 years,
respectively. In November, the head of Tehran's Islamic Revolution's
Court Branch 26 ordered Alijani, Saber, and Rahmani released on bail of
approximately $63,000 (50 million Tomans) each. In October 2003,
journalist Mohsen Sazgara was released from jail amid rumors of ill
health, after 4 months in prison on charges of inciting protest.
In January, freelance journalist Ensafali Hedayat was arrested
after returning to the country after attending a conference in Germany
organized by a group advocating a democratic and secular state. He
reportedly faced charges relating to national security in connection
with his participation in this conference and with a visit to Turkey in
2003, as well as defamation charges relating to an article he wrote
which appeared on a website. Reportedly he was held in solitary
confinement. In May, the Tabriz Appeals Court confirmed an 18-month
prison sentence against him; reportedly he planned to appeal. However,
in early December, according to his lawyer, Hedayat was returned to
prison and his application to extend his leave from prison denied, due
to ``political activities'' while on leave.
In January, a criminal court found Abdul Rasul Vesal, managing
director of the daily newspaper Iran, guilty of press offenses and
barred him from working in public service (journalism) for 3 years.
In May, an Iranian cleric serving as a member of the Press
Supervisory Council, physically attacked and bit reformist journalist
Issa Saharkhiz during a council meeting. At year's end, no charges had
been brought against the cleric.
In August, a court summoned former Majlis Deputy Mohsen Mirdamadi
in response to a complaint from an Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
member concerning published remarks by Mirdamadi that military
personnel's interference in political affairs weakens the armed forces.
At year's end, there was no further information on legal action;
however, he had not been incarcerated.
In August, dissident intellectual reformist and journalist
Emaddedin Baqi and attorney Saleh Nikbakht appeared in court because of
a complaint filed by the Intelligence and Security Ministry, relating
to Baqi's banned book ``Tragedy of Democracy in Iran.'' Later in
August, a public court fined Baqi approximately $115 (100 thousand
Tomans) for insulting the Council of Guardians and other officials.
In September, government officials arrested Hanif Mazroui, the son
of a former member of Parliament, Rajabali Mazroui. Mazroui was a
computer technician who worked for the daily newspaper Vaghayeh
Etefaghieh, which was shut by the Government. He was freed on November
11 after paying approximately $19,000 (15 million Tomans) bail.
On December 27, the press reported that the Revolutionary Court
sentenced prominent political activist Heshmat Tabarzadi, jailed since
June 2003, to 16 years in prison.
On December 25, a Tehran judge ruled, based on a complaint by the
State-run ``Voice and Vision'' media, that former Tehran Majlis
Representative Abol Fazl Shakuri Rad must pay approximately $500
(400,000 Tomans) for comments made while he was a Majlis
representative, despite constitutional protection according
representatives the right to ``express their views on all internal and
external affairs of the country.''
The Government censored and banned access to Internet sites, many
of them with political content, such as the Amir Kabir University news
website. During the year, the Government launched a crackdown on sites
based in the country, to include ``weblogs.'' Reportedly during the
year, the Government blocked hundreds of Internet sites. According to
HRW, since September, more than 20 Internet journalists and civil
society activists have been arrested and held in a secret detention
center in Tehran. By year's end, most were released on bail. On
December 10, in a public letter to President Mohammed Khatami, the
father of one of those detained, Ali Mazrui, who is also president of
the Association of Iranian Journalists and a former Majlis member,
implicated the judiciary in the torture and secret detention of these
individuals. On December 11, the chief prosecutor of Tehran, Judge
Saeed Mortazavi, filed charges against Mazrui for libel. On December
14, four of these ``weblog'' detainees were presented at a televised
``press conference'' arranged by Judge Mortazavi and denied that they
had been subjected to solitary confinement, torture, or ill-treatment
during their earlier detention. However, widespread and credible
reports indicated that threats and coercions were used to induce their
statements and, while in secret detention, threats, torture, and
physical abuse were employed to obtain false confessions and letters of
repentance from many of those detained.
On November 1, according to media information, Mahboubeh Abbas-
Gholizadeh, editor of the magazine Farzaneh, was arrested after
returning from London where she attended the European Social Forum. She
was released on bail of approximately $38,000 (30 million Tomans) in
late November.
On October 28, Fereshteh Ghazi, a journalist addressing women's
issues for the daily newspaper Etemad, was arrested after being
summoned to court to answer questions. She was released in mid-December
after 40 days of detention and paying bail of approximately $62,000 (50
million Tomans). She was detained on a variety of charges including
``acting against state security, spreading lies, membership in internal
opposition groups, and defense of murders in order to stir up public
opinion against the judiciary.'' For 23 of the 40 days of detention,
Gazhi was on a hunger strike. According to press accounts, at least
part of the time she was held in an undisclosed location and was
repeatedly beaten by her interrogators for refusing to cooperate with
her interrogators, including refusal to sign a ``confession.'' Her
interrogators reportedly inflicted multiple, severe injuries, and, upon
release in mid-December, she was immediately hospitalized.
On October 18, Javad Gholam Tamayomi, a journalist with the daily
Mardomsalari was arrested after responding to a summons from the Tehran
prosecutor's office. On October 10, authorities arrested journalist and
Internet writer Omid Memarian and detained him on charges of espionage.
In early December, four of the seven detained ``weblog journalists''
were released on bail, with Omid Memarian and Shahram Rafizadeh
released on bail of approximately $62,000 dollars (50 million Tomans).
On September 27, Rozbeh Mir Ebrahimi, former political editor of the
daily Etemad was arrested at his home for contributing to reformist
Internet websites. On November 26, he was released on a bail of
approximately $4,000 (3 million Tomans).
Other weblog journalists detained as part of this repression
included Shahram Rafizadeh, Babak Ghafouri-Azar, and Mehdi Derayati.
The judiciary announced that they would be tried for ``acting against
national security, disturbing the public mind, and insulting
sanctities.'' On November 11, Mehdi Derayati, Masoud Ghoreishi, and
Asghar Vatanikhah were released on bail. According to Derayati's
father, these detainees spent up to 3 months in detention, much of it
in solitary confinement at an undisclosed location. A number of
Internet news sites continued to operate from outside the country.
There is little information on the extent of readership inside the
country; however, media suggested that there were upwards of 4.8
million Internet users and as many as 100,000 weblogs.
In January 2003, the judiciary halted efforts by deputy speaker of
the Majlis, Mohammad-Reza Khatami, to re-open the banned newspaper
Norouz under the new name Rouz-e No, by extending the 6-month ban on
the original publication. Khatami was slated to replace former Norouz
editor and parliament member Mohsen Mirdamadi, who, despite
parliamentary immunity, was sentenced in May 2002 to 6 months in jail
and banned from practicing journalism for 4 years for ``insulting the
state, publishing lies, and insulting Islamic institutions.'' At year's
end, there were no reports that Mirdamadi had been imprisoned; however,
the newspaper has never re-opened.
In January 2003, the newspaper Hayat-e No was banned and editor
Alireza Eshraghi arrested after the paper reprinted a 1937 U.S. cartoon
about President Franklin Roosevelt's battle with the Supreme Court. The
authorities deemed that the judge portrayed too closely resembled the
late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Eshraghi was released on bail for
$31,400 (25 million Tomans) in March 2003, after spending all his jail
time in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. The daily Hamshahri was
also temporarily suspended in January 2003 after refusing to print an
article from the chief of a state-run trade union. Hamshahri was
apparently shut for 5 days; however, Hayat-e No remained closed at
year's end.
In January 2003, the Press Court also closed the reformist daily
Bahar after the newspaper ran an article about a company whose
shareholders include former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, former
judiciary head Ayatollah Yazdi, and Ahmad Jannati, head of the
Legislative Branch's Guardians Council. Bahar was first closed in 2000
and had only re-opened in December 2002. The newspaper remained closed
throughout the year.
In February 2003, according to AI, Abbas Abdi and Hussein Qazian
were sentenced to 8 and 9 years, respectively, in the National
Institute for Research Studies and Opinion Polls case. In April 2003,
an appeals court reduced the sentences to 4 years and 6 months for
each. The third defendant in the case, Behrouz Geranpayeh, was
reportedly released on bail in January 2003, pending a final ruling.
The case originated in October 2002, when the judicial authorities
closed the Institute, which had found in a poll commissioned by the
Majlis that a majority of citizens supported dialogue with the United
States. The defendants were charged with spying for the United States,
illegal contacts with foreign embassies, working with anti-regime
groups, and carrying out research on the order of a foreign polling
organization. Government intelligence officials publicly stated that
the accused were not spies. According to press reports, President
Khatami also rejected the charges, stating that the Intelligence and
Foreign Ministries had cleared the pollsters' work. Reformist
parliamentarians were reportedly barred from the court, and the
defendants were not allowed to see their families or their attorneys.
At year's end, the defendants remained in jail.
In May 2003, a government spokesman acknowledged state attempts to
block access to ``immoral'' websites. The judiciary also 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; opposing the Constitution;
insulting the Supreme Leader or making false accusations about
officials; undermining national unity and solidarity; creating
pessimism among the population regarding the Islamic system; and
propagating prostitution and drugs.
In October 2003, RSF reported that the Government closed the
newspaper Avay-e Kordestan, marking the first time a Kurdish language
newspaper was banned in the country.
The Government directly controlled and maintained a monopoly over
all television and radio broadcasting facilities; programming reflected
the Government's political and socio-religious 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, particularly the
wealthy, owned them. In December 2002, the Majlis passed a bill
legalizing private ownership of satellite receiving equipment. However,
the Council of Guardians rejected the legislation in January 2003 on
constitutional and religious grounds. The Government reportedly acted
to block foreign satellite transmissions during the year using powerful
jamming signals (see Section 1.f.).
The Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance was in charge of
screening books prior to publication to ensure that they did not
contain offensive material. However, some books and pamphlets critical
of the Government were published without reprisal. The Ministry
inspected foreign printed materials prior to their release on the
market. In August 2003, author of ``Iran's Women Musicians,'' Toka
Maleki, its publisher Jaafar Homai, and cultural critic Banafsheh
Samgis received prison terms for publishing and publicly commenting on
the book, which was deemed to contain ``lies'' about Islamic history.
The translator of the book, ``Women behind Veil and Well-Dressed Men,''
Maliheh Moghazei and Ministry of Culture and the Islamic Guidance
Director General Majid Sayyad also received prison terms in connection
with the book's publication.
The Government effectively censored domestic films, since it
remained the main source of production funding. Producers must submit
scripts and film proposals to government officials in advance of
funding approval. In April, ``Lizard,'' a film indirectly satirizing
the clerical class, was released. It was withdrawn from circulation in
May, and the screenwriter, director, producer, and star were banned
briefly from travel abroad. Since the release and subsequent banning of
this film, government restrictions over film have intensified.
The Government restricted academic freedom. Government informers
were common on university campuses. Admission to universities was
politicized; all applicants had to pass ``character tests'' in which
officials screened out applicants critical of the Government's
ideology. To obtain tenure, professors had to refrain from criticism of
the authorities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--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 anti-
government protest. Such gatherings included public entertainment and
lectures, student gatherings, labor protests, funeral processions, and
Friday prayer gatherings.
During a wave of student protests in June 2003, government-
supported vigilantes beat many protestors, and police arrested
approximately 4,000 persons according to government figures shortly
after the protests. Although the police arrested both protestors and
vigilantes, the overwhelming majority of those arrested were
protestors. Approximately 130 of those arrested during these protests
were still in detention as of December. The Government banned
demonstrations planned for July 9 to commemorate the killing of several
students by security forces in the 1999 demonstrations in both 2003 and
2004 (see Sections 1.b. and 1.f.). An unknown number of the students
were still imprisoned, in addition to Ahmed Batebi, Manuchehr
Mohammadi, Abbas Fakhravar, Akbar Mohammadi, and Mehrdad Lahrasbi. AI
reported in March that Abbas Fakhravar had been given 19 days leave
from prison and that prior to temporary release, he had been confined
in ``Band 325'' military detention center run by the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps and subjected to sensory deprivation. As of
November, International PEN reported that Fakhravar Fakhravar had been
returned to Evin Prison.
In December, according to local media, imprisoned student activist
Manuchehr Mohamadi was found guilty of disturbing order in prison and
acting against officials, and fined approximately $375 (300,000
Tomans), which converted to additional imprisonment.
Paramilitary organizations such as the Ansar-e Hezbollah, a group
of vigilantes who seek to enforce their vision of appropriate
revolutionary comportment upon the society, harassed, beat, and
intimidated those who demonstrated publicly for reform. Ansar-e
Hezbollah gangs were used to harass journalists, intimidate dissident
clerics, and disrupt peaceful gatherings. Ansar-e Hezbollah cells were
organized throughout the country, and some were reportedly linked to
individual members of the country's leadership. In the period prior to
the February Majlis elections, Ansar-e Hezbollah and other government-
supported vigilantes repeatedly attacked political gatherings of
reformist candidates and vandalized their offices.
In January, approximately 200 members of the Ansar-e Hezbullah
vigilante group attacked a political meeting of disqualified
prospective parliamentary candidates and their supporters in Hamedan.
The vigilantes entered the meeting hall, heckled the speakers, and
rushed the speakers' platform. No legal action was taken against the
vigilantes.
In May, government security officers reportedly attacked workers
and their families during a Labor Day march in Saqez; 40 workers,
including labor leader Mahmoud Salehi, reportedly were arrested (see
Section 6.b.).
In June, security forces reportedly arrested more than 100 ethnic
Azeris for ``spreading secessionist propaganda'' during a holiday
gathering of thousands of Azeri-Iranians in East Azerbaijan Province.
In September, approximately 100 vigilantes disrupted a speech by
prominent Islamic scholar Abdolkarim Soroush at a private home;
security forces present at the scene failed to stop them. There was no
subsequent legal action against the vigilantes.
In June 2003, during a wave of pro-reform protests, members of
vigilante groups, such as Ansar-e Hezbollah, attacked protestors,
according to press reports. Ansar-e Hezbollah members reportedly
stormed a university dormitory in Tehran, destroyed student property,
and injured more than 50 students. Some vigilantes were reportedly
included among those arrested by authorities during the clashes.
Vigilantes who attacked a demonstration in Shiraz reportedly killed a
protestor. Before being transferred to government custody, vigilantes
reportedly seized and beat journalist Ensafali Hedayat. Vigilante
groups were also reported to have attacked protesters during pro-reform
demonstrations near Tehran University in December 2003.
In December 2003, vigilantes beat reformist parliamentarian, Mohsen
Mirdamadi, as he began a speech in Yazd. President Khatami ordered a
crackdown on vigilantes after the attack; five individuals subsequently
were arrested. At year's end, there was no further information on the
status of their detention.
In November 2002, the Aghajari verdict sparked large and ongoing
protests at universities throughout the country (see Section 1.e.).
Students boycotted classes for almost 2 weeks and staged the largest
pro-reform demonstrations in 3 years, with crowds of up to 5,000 at any
given location. In late December 2002, two students were given jail
terms for their protests against the Aghajari sentence. Hojatollah
Rahimi was sentenced to 2 years in prison and 70 lashes for ``insulting
religious sanctities and issuing an insulting declaration.'' Co-
defendant Parviz Torkashvand was sentenced to 4 months in jail and 40
lashes. At year's end, there was no further information on their
status.
Government restrictions using Basiji and other forces restored
quiet for 2 weeks, until a large demonstration occurred at the
University of Tehran in December 2002, attended by over 2,000 within
the walls of the campus, and with a larger crowd outside. Law
enforcement officials and ``plainclothes'' forces wielding batons,
whips, and belts suppressed the protest. Basiji violently dispersed
subsequent demonstrations.
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.
In July 2002, the Government permanently dissolved the Freedom
Movement, the country's oldest opposition party, jailing some members
and baring others from political activity for up to 10 years (see
Sections 1.d. and 3).
In 2001, the Government provisionally closed the 50-year-old Iran
Freedom Movement political party for ``attempting to overthrow the
Islamic regime,'' and the Government permanently banned it in 2002. In
response to the permanent dissolution of the movement, President
Khatami warned against the banning of political groups, saying that
suppression did not eliminate ideas; they were simply forced
underground and continue to grow (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
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 Zoroastrians, Christians, and Jews, the country's pre-
Islamic religions, as ``protected'' religious minorities; however, in
practice, the Government restricted freedom of religion.
Religions not specifically protected under the Constitution did not
enjoy freedom of religion. This situation most directly affected the
approximately 300,000 followers of the Baha'i faith, who were not
recognized by the Government as a community and were considered to
belong to an outlawed political organization.
The central feature of the country's Islamic republican system is
rule by a ``religious jurisconsult.'' Its senior leadership, including
the Supreme Leader of the Revolution, the President, the Head of the
Judiciary, and the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly
(Parliament) was composed principally of Shi'a clergymen.
The Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) closely monitored
religious activity. Adherents of recognized religious minorities were
not required to register individually with the Government. However,
their community, religious, and cultural organizations, as well as
schools and public events, were monitored closely. The population was
approximately 99 percent Muslim, of which 89 percent were Shi'a and 10
percent Sunni. Minorities (mostly Turkomen, Arabs, Baluchs, and Kurds)
lived in the southwest, southeast, and northwest sections of the
country. Baha'i, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Jewish communities
constituted less than 1 percent of the population.
Sunni Muslims are the largest religious minority in the country.
The Constitution provides Sunni Muslims a large degree of religious
freedom, although, for example, it forbids a Sunni Muslim from becoming
President. In practice, Sunni Muslims claimed that the Government
discriminated against Sunnis, although it was hard to distinguish
whether the cause for discrimination was religious or ethnic, since
most Sunnis are also ethnic minorities. Sunnis cited the lack of a
Sunni mosque in the nation's capital, Tehran, despite the presence of
over a million Sunnis living there, as a prominent example of this
discrimination. Sunnis also have cited as proof of discrimination the
lack of Sunni representation in appointed offices in provinces where
Sunnis form a majority, such as Kordestan Province, and also the
reported inability of Sunnis to obtain senior governmental positions.
Sunnis also have charged that the state broadcasting company, Voice and
Vision, aired programs insulting to Sunnis.
In April, Sunni Majlis representatives sent a letter to Supreme
Leader Khameneni, decrying the lack of Sunni presence in the executive
and judiciary branch of government, especially in higher-ranking
positions in embassies, universities, and other institutions. They
called on Khamenei to halt anti-Sunni propaganda in the mass media,
books, publications, and the state-run media; they also requested
adherence to the constitutional articles ensuring equal treatment of
all ethnic groups.
Members of the country's religious minorities, particularly
Bahai's, reported imprisonment, harassment, and intimidation based on
their religious beliefs. All religious minorities suffered varying
degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the
areas of employment, education, and housing. The Government generally
allowed recognized religious minorities to conduct religious education
of their adherents, although it restricted this right considerably in
some cases. Religious minorities, by law and practice, are barred from
election to a representative body, except to the five Majlis seats
reserved for minorities, and from holding senior government or military
positions. Members of religious minorities were allowed to vote, but
they could not run for President. Although the Constitution mandates an
Islamic Army, members of religious minority communities sometimes
served in the military.
The Government allowed recognized religious minorities to establish
community centers and certain privately financed cultural, social,
sports, or charitable associations. However, since 1983, the Government
has denied the Baha'i community the right to assemble officially or to
maintain administrative institutions.
The legal system discriminated against religious minorities,
awarding lower monetary compensation in injury and death lawsuits for
non-Muslims than for Muslims and imposing heavier punishments on non-
Muslims than on Muslims. However, in January, the Expediency Council
approved appending a Note to Article 297 of the 1991 Islamic
Punishments Act, authorizing collection of equal blood money for the
death of Muslims and non-Muslims.
Proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims is illegal and the
Government was harsh in its response, in particular against Baha'is and
evangelical Christians. The Government did not ensure the right of
citizens to change or recant their religion. Apostasy, specifically
conversion from Islam, is punishable by death.
Baha'is were 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, therefore, as counterrevolutionary.
Historically at risk, Baha'is often have suffered increased levels of
mistreatment during times of political unrest. There have been reports
in the past that historic Baha'i shrines were destroyed. Baha'is may
not teach or practice their faith or maintain links with co-
religionists abroad. The Government continued to imprison and detain
Baha'is based on their religious beliefs. A 2001 Ministry of Justice
report indicated that government policy aimed at the eventual
elimination of the Baha'is as a community.
In February, two members of the Baha'i faith, Bihnam Mithaqi and
Kayvan Khalajabadi, were released from prison after serving almost 15
years on charges related to their religious beliefs. According to a
Baha'i organization, the only Baha'i still known to be imprisoned in
the country because of his adherence to the Baha'i faith is Zabihullah
Mahrami, who was arrested in September 1995 and is serving a life
sentence.
In July, for the first time, Baha'i applicants were permitted to
take part in the nationwide exam for entrance into state-run colleges.
However, the word ``Islam'' was pre-printed in a slot listing a
prospective student's religious affiliation. This action precluded
Baha'i matriculation, since as a matter of faith, Baha'is do not deny
their faith.
According to Baha'i sources outside the country, since 2002, 23
Baha'is from 18 different localities were arbitrarily arrested and
detained for a short time because of their Baha'i faith. None of these
persons was in prison at the end of the period covered by this report.
In 2001, the UNSR 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. In May and June,
several Christians in the northern part of the country reportedly were
arrested, and in September, officials raided the Protestant Assemblies
of God Church, imprisoning its minister, Hamid Pourmand. Since his
arrest, Pourmand has been imprisoned at an undisclosed location, and,
under local law, he can be executed for ``apostasy against Islam.''
In May, there were reports of the arrest of evangelical Christians
in the northern part of the country, including a Christian pastor and
his family in Mazandaran Province. The pastor's family and two other
church leaders who had been arrested earlier were reportedly released
on May 30. Although the pastor reportedly was a convert from the Baha'i
Faith, a number of those arrested in raids on house churches were
converts from Islam. The pastor and another Christian leader reportedly
were released from custody in early July.
Estimates of the size of the Jewish community varied from 20,000 to
30,000, a substantial reduction from the estimated 75,000 to 80,000
Jews in the country prior to the 1979 revolution. While Jews were a
recognized religious minority, allegations of official discrimination
were frequent. The Government's anti-Israel stance, and the perception
among many citizens that Jewish citizens supported Zionism and the
State of Israel, created a threatening atmosphere for the small
community. Jews limited their contact with and did not openly express
support for Israel out of fear of reprisal. Jewish leaders reportedly
were reluctant to draw attention to official mistreatment of their
community due to fear of government reprisal.
The Government carefully monitored the statements and views of the
country's senior Muslim religious leaders. It has restricted the
movement of several who have been under house arrest for years. All
ranking clerics were under pressure to ensure that their teachings
confirm or at least do not contradict government policy and positions.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 may travel within the country and change
their place of residence without obtaining official permission. The
Government required exit permits (a validation stamp in the passport)
for foreign travel for draft-age men and citizens who were politically
suspect. Some citizens, particularly those whose skills were in short
supply and who were educated at government expense, must 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.).
In October, AI reported that the Government confiscated the
passport of a senior member of the Society for the Defense of the
Rights of Prisoners, preventing him from attending human rights
conferences (see Section 4).
In May, the Government temporarily prohibited the screenwriter,
director, producer, and star of the satirical film, ``Lizard,'' from
leaving the country (see Section 2.a.).
Citizens returning from abroad sometimes were subjected to searches
and extensive questioning by government authorities for evidence of
anti-government activities abroad. Recorded and printed material,
personal correspondence, and photographs were subject to confiscation.
The Government permitted Jews to travel abroad, but it often denied
them multiple-exit permits issued to other citizens. Baha'is often
experienced difficulty in obtaining passports.
Women must obtain the permission of their husband, father, or
another male relative to obtain a passport. Married women must receive
written permission from their husbands before being allowed to leave
the country.
The Government did not use forced exile, and no information was
available regarding whether the law prohibits forced exile; however,
the Government used internal exile as a punishment. Many dissidents and
ethnic and religious minorities left and continue to leave the country
due to a perception of threat from the Government.
The law provides for granting asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. The Government has established a system
for providing protection to refugees. There were no reports of the
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 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and refugee seekers.
There was no information on the policy of the Government regarding
temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees
under the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol.
The country hosted a large refugee population, mostly Afghans, as
well as a significant number of Iraqis. After the September 2001
terrorist attacks, the Government sealed its border in anticipation of
a war in Afghanistan and a resulting wave of refugees. The Government
set up several refugee camps just inside Afghanistan to deal with the
crisis. In September, UNHCR estimated that approximately 1 million
refugees from Afghanistan remained in the country, with up to 1 million
having returned to Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in
December 2001. The Government denied UNHCR concerns that it was
pressing Afghan refugees to leave. Most refugees subsisted on itinerant
labor. The Government accused many Afghans of involvement in drug
trafficking.
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. Iraq expelled many of these Iraqi
refugees at the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war because of their
suspected Iranian origin. In numerous instances, both the Iraqi and
Iranian Governments disputed their citizenship, rendering many of them
stateless. Other Iraqi refugees arrived following Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait in 1990.
During 2003, the Government took substantial steps to prepare for
the possibility of new Iraqi refugees, but significant outflows never
appeared. In November 2003, the UNHCR initiated a pilot repatriation of
refugees from the country and had repatriated a few hundred to Iraq by
early December 2003. According to press reports, refugee officials
speculated that up to 120,000 of the 200,000 refugees in the country
may have crossed back into Iraq without formal assistance since April
2003. As of September, according to the UNHCR, approximately 9,000
Iraqi refugees in the country had been repatriated into Iraq, as part
of a UNHCR program.
Although the Government has claimed to host more than 30,000
refugees of other nationalities, including Tajiks, Bosnians, Azeris,
Eritreans, Somalis, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis, it did not provide
information about them or allow the UNHCR or other organizations access
to them. There was no further information during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The right of citizens to change their government is 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 same Assembly. The Assembly is restricted to clerics, who serve an
8-year term and are chosen by popular vote from a list approved by the
Government. There is no separation of state and religion, and clerical
influence pervades the Government, especially in appointed, rather than
elected, positions. The Government effectively controlled the selection
of candidates for elections. The Council of Guardians, which reviews
all laws for consistency with Islamic law and the Constitution, also
screens candidates for election for ideological, political, and
religious suitability. It accepts only candidates who support a
theocratic state; clerics who disagree with government policies or with
a conservative view of the Islamic state also have been disqualified.
Regularly scheduled elections are held for the Presidency, the
Majlis, and the Assembly of Experts.
Elections that were widely perceived as neither free nor fair were
held for the 290-seat Majlis in February. The Council of Guardians,
taking an expansive interpretation of its responsibility to screen
candidates, barred over a third of the over 8,000 prospective
candidates, mostly reformists, to include over 85 sitting Majlis
members seeking re-election. Reasons cited included not showing
``demonstrated obedience'' to the current system of government.
Reformers were reduced to a small minority of the Majlis.
Subsequently, there has been tension between the new Majlis and
President Khatami's Government. On October 4, the Vice President for
Majlis and Legal Affairs resigned, stating that he was unable to
facilitate good relations between the Government and the Majlis.
Mohammad Khatami, a former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
who was impeached in 1992 by the Majlis for ``liberalism'' and
``negligence,'' was elected President in 1997 and reelected in 2001
with 77 percent of the vote. The UNSR reported that the Council of
Guardians significantly limited the number of candidates permitted to
run in elections and noted that the Interior Minister denounced the
``unprincipled disqualification'' of candidates.
Elections were last held in the fall of 1998 for the 86-member
Assembly of Experts. The Council of Guardians disqualified numerous
candidates, which led to criticism from many observers that the
Government improperly predetermined the election results.
In March, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told reporters
that, ``any action that weakens the sacred Islamic republican state is
not permissible.''
In 1999, elections for nationwide local councils were held for the
first time since the 1979 revolution. A second round of nationwide
local council elections was held in February 2003; substantial numbers
of the pro-Khatami reformist forces elected to these councils in 1999
were defeated, and candidates aligned with conservative factions were
elected.
In July 2002, the Government permanently dissolved the Freedom
Movement, the country's oldest opposition party, jailing some members,
fining others and barring them from political activity for up to 10
years (see Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
There was widespread public perception of extensive corruption in
all three branches of government, to include the judiciary (where many
lawyers have said, ``a judge's verdict is sold by the kilo''). This
perception augmented by anecdotal information includes extensive
corruption in the ``bonyards'' (foundations). In October, the NGO
Transparency International released its annual Corruption Perception
Index, noted that the country had an extremely low score (2.9 on a 10
point scale) and commented that, ``corruption robs countries of their
potential.'' In September 2003, the CEO and other top executives of the
Norwegian oil company ``Statoil'' were dismissed after revelations of
bribes paid an Iranian consulting company with direct links to the son
of former President and current Expediency Council Chairman Ayatollah
Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.
The country apparently has no laws providing for public access to
government information.
Women held 12 out of 290 Majlis seats. There were no female cabinet
members, although several held high-level positions, such as Vice-
President. A woman served as Presidential Advisor for Women's Affairs,
and another was head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Majlis seats were reserved for elected Christian (three), Jewish
(one) and Zoroastrian (one) deputies. Religious minorities were barred
from being elected to any other seats on a representative body and from
holding senior government or military positions.
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 July, the Government granted permission to operate to an
independent nonpolitical NGO, the Society for the Defense of the Rights
of Prisoners. It 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.
Various professional groups representing writers, journalists,
photographers, and others attempted to monitor government restrictions
in their fields, as well as harassment and intimidation against
individual members of their professions. However, the Government
severely curtailed their ability to meet, organize, and effect change.
There were domestic NGOs working in areas such as health and
population, women and development, youth, environmental protection,
human rights, and sustainable development. Some reports estimated a few
thousand local NGOs currently in operation.
International human rights NGOs such as HRW and AI were not
permitted to establish offices in or conduct regular investigative
visits to the country. In June, AI officials, visited the country as
part of the European Union's (EU's) Human Rights Dialogue, joining
academics and NGOs to discuss the country's implementation of
international human rights standards. However, authorities barred HRW
and AI representatives from attending the EU's late 2002 human rights
talks in Tehran, despite the EU's invitation. An October 2003 EU-Iran
human rights dialogue was held in Brussels to facilitate the
participation of NGO representatives. The Government also opened a
human rights dialogue with Australia in 2002 and with Switzerland in
October 2003, however, without tangible progress.
The ICRC and the UNHCR both operated in the country. However, the
Government did not allow the UNSR to visit the country from 1997 to
2001, the last year his mandate to monitor human rights in the country
was in effect. The Government allowed two visits by U.N. human rights
representatives during 2003, one by the UNSR for the Promotion and
Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and one by
a U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; there were no comparable
visits during the year. In December, the Plenary of the U.N. 59th
General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the country for human
rights abuses, including public executions, floggings, arbitrary
sentences, torture, and discrimination against women and minorities.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) 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 Majlis, the Article 90 Commission, which receives and
considers complaints regarding violations of constitutional rights;
however, when the Seventh Majlis formed its new Article 90 Commission,
the commission announced that it was dropping all cases pending from
the Sixth Majlis. During the year, the commission took no effective
action.
In October, AI reported that the Government confiscated the
passport of Emaddedin Baqi, a senior member of the Society for the
Defense of the Rights of Prisoners, preventing him from attending a
ceremony outside the country where he was to receive an award for civil
courage (see Section 2.d.). Baqi reportedly also was required to appear
in court in August relating to complaints associated with his writings
on human rights issues. At year's end, Baqi was still forbidden to
leave the country.
In October 2003, the Article 90 Commission issued a report on the
death in custody of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. The
report identified Tehran's Chief Prosecutor and other members of the
judiciary as being directly involved in subjecting Kazemi to violent
interrogations in Evin Prison, and later attempting to cover up the
cause of her death. The Article 90 Commission findings reportedly
dismissed allegations of MOIS involvement in Kazemi's death, although
an MOIS officer was charged with but later acquitted of her murder (see
Section 1.a.).
In October 2003, lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in advancing human rights
both in the country and internationally. Ebadi, who served as one of
the first female judges in the country before being forced to resign
after the revolution, has campaigned on behalf of women, children, and
victims of government repression. She represented the family of Darius
and Parvaneh Forouhar, killed in 1998, and of a student killed during
the 1999 student protests, which exposed links between vigilante groups
and government officials and led to her arrest in 2000. Ebadi is a
founder of the Center for the Defense of Human Rights, which represents
defendants in political cases. She also agreed to represent the family
of Zahra Kazemi during the investigation of her death and subsequent
trial, and continued to press for justice in the case.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
In general, the Government did not discriminate on the basis of
race, disability, language, or social status; however, it discriminated
on the basis of religion, sex, and ethnicity. The poorest areas of the
country are those inhabited by ethnic minorities, such as by the
Baluchis in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, and by Arabs in the
southwest. Much of the damage suffered by Khuzistan Province during the
8-year Iran-Iraq war has not been repaired; consequently, the quality
of life of the largely Arab local population was degraded. Kurds,
Azeris, and Ahvazi Arabs were not allowed to study their languages.
In October 2003, lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in advancing human rights
both in the country and internationally.
Women.--Although spousal abuse and violence against women occurred,
statistics were not available. Abuse in the family was considered a
private matter and seldom was discussed publicly. Rape is illegal, and
subject to strict penalties, but remained a widespread problem. The
UNSR published statistics provided by the IHRC indicating that, at the
end of 2001, an estimated 1,000 of approximately 3,000 active files
were related to women's issues.
In July, the Supreme Court voided the death sentence against
Afsaneh Noroozi and ordered the case re-investigated by the original
court. Noroozi has been jailed since 1997, having been accused of
killing a police chief on Kish Island in the southern part of the
country. Noroozi's lawyers claimed the act was legally permitted
(``mashru''), as the official had tried to rape her, and the country's
Islamic penal code allows citizens to take proportionate action to
defend ``life, honor, chastity, property, or freedom.'' In November
2003, after lobbying by female Majlis representatives and international
attention, judiciary head Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahrudi lifted her
death sentence and returned the case to the Supreme Court. On December
21, the Kish Island court began a new trial of Nooroozi.
Prostitution was illegal. Accurate information regarding the extent
of the problem was not widely available, although the issue received
greater attention as a result of the public's growing interest in
social problems. Press reports described prostitution as a widespread
problem, and government statistics showed the average age of
prostitutes to be dropping.
In December, human rights groups reported that ``Leyla M,'' an 18-
year-old with a mental age of 8 years, faced imminent execution for
``morality-related'' offences arising from her being forced into
prostitution by her parents as a child. In late November, she was
sentenced to death by a court in Arak, and the sentence was
subsequently passed to the Supreme Court for confirmation. According to
November press reports, social workers tested her mental capacities
repeatedly, and each time they have found her to have a mental age of 8
years. However, she has apparently never been examined by the court-
appointed doctors and was sentenced to death solely on the basis of her
explicit confessions, without consideration of her background or mental
health.
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 Family Protection Law, a hallmark bill adopted in 1967
that had given women increased rights in the home and workplace, and
replaced it with a legal system based largely on Shari'a practices. In
1998, the Majlis passed legislation that mandated segregation of the
sexes in the provision of medical care. In August 2003, the Council of
Guardians rejected a bill that would require the country to adopt U.N.
conventions on eliminating torture and ending discrimination against
women.
Although the law permits it, marriage at the minimum age of 9 was
rare. In mid-2002, authorities approved a law that requires court
approval for the marriage of girls below the age of 13 and boys younger
than 15. Although a male can marry at age 15 and above without parental
consent, the 1991 Civil Law states that a virgin female, even over 18
years of age, needs the consent of her father or grandfather to wed,
unless she is willing to go to court to get a ruling allowing her to
marry without this consent. The country's Islamic law permits a man to
have up to four wives. The law also allowed for the practice of
temporary marriages based on a Shi'a custom in which a woman or a girl
may become the wife of a married or single Muslim male after a simple
and brief religious ceremony. The temporary marriage may last any
length of time. According to Shi'a Islamic law, men may have as many
temporary wives as they wish. Such wives are not granted rights
associated with traditional marriage.
The Penal Code includes provisions for the stoning of women and men
convicted of adultery, although judges were instructed at the end of
2002 to cease imposing such sentences (see Section 1.c.). Women may
receive disproportionate punishment for crimes, including death
sentences (see Section 1.a.). Women have the right to divorce if their
husband has signed a contract granting that right or if the husband
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. In December 2002, a new law made the adjudication of cases in
which women demand divorces less arbitrary and less costly.
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. 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 is proven
unfit to care for the child. In November 2003, the Government amended
the existing child custody law, which in the case of divorce gave a
mother custody of a son up to 2 years of age and a daughter up to age 7
years, with custody reverting to the father thereafter. The new law
gives a mother preference in custody for children up to 7 years of age;
thereafter, the father has custody. After the age of 7 years, in
disputed cases, custody of the child is to be determined by the court,
taking into consideration the well being of the child.
The testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man in court. 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 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, and the Government has
not prevented women from entering many traditionally male-dominated
fields; however, their unemployment rate reportedly was significantly
higher than for men. Women can own property in their own name, own
businesses, and obtain credit at a bank. Women are barred from seeking
the presidency and from appointment to the judiciary. The law provides
maternity, child care, and pension benefits.
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. Women were prohibited from attending male sporting events,
although this restriction did not appear to be enforced universally.
While the enforcement of conservative Islamic dress codes varied, what
women wore in public was not entirely a matter of personal choice. The
authorities sometimes harassed women if their dress or behavior was
considered inappropriate, and women may be sentenced to flogging or
imprisonment for such violations (see Section 1.c.). The law prohibits
the publication of pictures of uncovered women in the print media,
including pictures of foreign women. There are penalties for failure to
observe Islamic dress codes at work.
Children.--There is little current information available to assess
Government efforts to promote the welfare of children. Except in
isolated areas of the country, children had access to free education
through the 12th grade (compulsory to age 11) and to some form of
health care. Health care generally is regarded as affordable and
comprehensive with competent physicians.
In December 2003, the Government enacted the Law on Protection of
Children and Youth. This law prohibited abuse or harassment of children
or youth in any manner and outlawed buying, selling, exploiting, or
employing children to engage in illegal acts such as smuggling.
There was not enough information available to reflect how the
Government dealt with child abuse (see Sections 6.c. and 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--In August, the Government enacted the Law
on Combating Human Trafficking, defining and setting punishments for
trafficking in persons. However, there were widespread reports that
persons were trafficked to, through, and from the country during the
year. It was difficult to measure the extent of the Government's
efforts to curb human trafficking, but national and international press
reporting indicated that the Government has taken action against
bandits involved in abducting women and children and pursued agreements
with neighboring states to curb human trafficking. The Government also
reportedly has arrested, convicted, and executed numerous human
trafficking offenders. During the year, police reportedly arrested
numerous members of prostitution rings and closed brothels.
In April 2003, a court in Mashhad reportedly sentenced 53
individuals to 281 years in prison and 222 lashes on charges of
abduction and slavery for trafficking scores of young girls to
Pakistan.
Persons With Disabilities.--In May, the Majlis passed a
Comprehensive Law on the Rights of the Disabled; however, subsequent
media reports indicate that there has been no implementing regulation.
There was no current information available regarding whether the
Government has legislated or otherwise mandated accessibility for
persons with disabilities, or whether discrimination against persons
with disabilities is prohibited; nor is there any information available
on which government agencies are responsible for protecting the rights
of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Kurds continued to suffer
from government discrimination. Suspicions of Kurdish separatist or
foreign sympathies have led to sporadic outbreaks of fighting between
government forces and Kurdish groups. In recent years, greater Kurdish
cultural expression has been allowed and Kurdish publications and
broadcasting have expanded. However, there was still no public school
education in the Kurdish language.
The KDPI claimed that the Government executed at least three
Kurdish party members and activists during the year and four during
2003. According to KDPI, plainclothes vigilantes in five separate
attacks killed seven more Kurds in 2003 (see Section 1.a.). Other
activists reportedly were imprisoned.
Azeris comprise approximately one-quarter of the country's
population and are well integrated into the Government and society.
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.''
Foreign representatives of the Ahwazi Arabs of Khuzistan, whose
numbers could range as high as 4 million or more, claimed that their
community in the southwest of the country suffered from discrimination,
including the right to study and speak Arabic. In July 2003,
authorities reportedly closed two bilingual Arabic/Farsi newspapers and
imprisoned scores of political activists. They asserted that the
Government ignored their appeals to de-mine the vast stretches of
Khuzistan, mined during the Iran-Iraq War. They further stated that
many Arabs, both Shi'a and Sunni, have been imprisoned and tortured for
criticizing government policies. According to Ahwazi sources, a
political activist with the Islamic Wafagh Party, Kazem Mojaddam, was
sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment in November 2003 after his initial
arrest in June 2003 on charges of secession and endangering internal
security.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits and
punishes homosexuality. The punishment of a non-Muslim homosexual is
harsher if the homosexual's partner is Muslim.
According to late 2003 estimates by a prominent local physician,
there are approximately 25,000 to 30,000 HIV positive citizens; a 2001
estimate suggested an adult prevalence rate of less than 0.1 percent.
There is a free anonymous testing clinic in Tehran. The Government
supported the creation of an HIV awareness film to show in schools and
has not interfered with private HIV-related NGOs. Nevertheless, persons
infected with HIV were discriminated against in schools and workplaces.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Labor Code provides workers the
right to establish unions; however, the Government did not allow
independent unions to exist. A national organization known as the
Workers' House was the sole authorized national labor organization. It
served primarily as a conduit for the Government to exert control over
workers. The leadership of the Workers' House coordinated activities
with Islamic labor councils, which were made up 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,
although they frequently were able to block layoffs and dismissals.
The Labor Code 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.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers did not
have the right to organize independently and negotiate collective
bargaining agreements. The International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU) noted that 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 Ministry of Labor must
register the organization within 30 days.
In January 2003, the Supreme Council of Labour, composed of
representatives of Islamic labor councils, employers, and the
government, exempted workshops of 10 employees or less from labor
legislation. According to the ICFTU, this decision affected over
400,000 workshops of the total of 450,000 in the country.
The law prohibits public sector strikes, and the Government did not
tolerate any strike deemed to be at odds with its economic and labor
policies; however, strikes occurred. There are no mechanisms to protect
workers rights in the public sector, such as mediation or arbitration.
In addition to strikes, there were also work stoppages and protests by
oil, textile, electrical manufacturing, and metal workers, as well as
protests by the unemployed. There were strikes, such as that by copper
factory workers (see Section 1.a.), and other labor stoppages in
protest of issues such as nonpayment of salaries.
In December, textile workers in the city of Sanandaj struck to seek
the re-hiring of laid off workers, a healthier work environment,
cancellation of the practice of hiring temporary workers, and revising
the regulations concerning factories' discipline committees.
In May, the ICFTU reportedly placed a formal complaint with the
U.N. International Labor Office regarding the arrest of 40 workers
during a Labor Day march in Saqez (see Section 2.b.).
In May 2003, textile workers in Behshar staged a hunger strike to
protest nonpayment of overdue wages. Teachers staged demonstrations and
sit-ins in several cities during the year for improved working
conditions and wage benefits.
It is not known whether labor legislation and practice in the
export processing zones (EPZs) differ from the law and practice in the
rest of the country. According to the ICFTU, labor legislation did not
apply in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Penal Code
provides that the Government may require any person who does not have
work to take suitable employment; however, this did not appear to be
enforced regularly. The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by
children; however, this 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
appears to be a serious problem with child labor (see Section 5). The
Labor Law prohibits employment of minors less than 15 years of age and
places restrictions on the employment of minors under age 18; however,
laws pertaining to child labor were not enforced adequately. The law
permits children to work in agriculture, domestic service, and some
small businesses. The law prohibits the employment of women and minors
in hard labor or night work. Information regarding the extent to which
these regulations were enforced was not available.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Code empowers the
Supreme Labor Council to establish annual minimum wage levels for each
industrial sector and region; however, no information was available
regarding mechanisms used to set wages. It was not known if the minimum
wages were adjusted annually or enforced. The Labor Code stipulates
that the minimum wage should be sufficient to meet the living expenses
of a family and should take inflation into account. However, under poor
economic conditions, many middle-class citizens must work at two or
three jobs to support their families.
The Labor Code establishes a maximum 6-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 Labor Code, a Supreme Safety Council, chaired by
the Labor Minister or his representative, is responsible for promoting
workplace safety and health. Labor organizations outside the country
have alleged that hazardous work environments were common in the
country and have resulted in thousands of worker deaths per year. It
was not known how well the Ministry's inspectors enforced regulations.
It was not known whether workers could remove themselves from hazardous
situations without risking the loss of employment.
__________
IRAQ
Coalition-led forces overthrew the Ba'athist regime of Saddam
Hussein in April 2003.\1\ As recognized in U.N. Security Council
Resolutions (UNSCR) 1483, 1511, and 1546, an Interim Administration--
the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)--administered the country
until an internationally recognized, representative government was
established. The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), recognized by UNSCR
1500 as the principal body of the Iraqi interim administration during
the period of the CPA, adopted the Law for the Administration of the
State of Iraq for the Transitional Period--the Transitional
Administrative Law (TAL)--on March 8, and the new Iraqi Interim
Government (IIG), consistent with UNSCR 1546, assumed full governmental
authority on June 28. The TAL set forth a transitional period, to end
upon the formation of an elected government pursuant to a permanent
constitution. On August 15-18, the National Conference convened and
elected a 100-member Interim National Council. Elections for the
Transitional National Assembly, the country's legislative authority and
the first step in the formation of the Iraqi Transitional Government,
were scheduled to take place on January 30, 2005.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The 2004 report covers the human rights record of the Interim
Government from June 28 to December 31, 2004.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The TAL established a republican, federal, democratic, and
pluralistic system with powers shared among the federal and regional
governments, including 18 governorates, as well as municipalities and
local administrations. The Kurdistan Regional Government was recognized
in the TAL as the official government of those territories that were
administered by the Kurdish Regional Government on March 19, 2003 in
the governorates of Dohuk, Arbil, Sulaimaniya, Kirkuk, Diyala, and
Ninewah. Islam is the official religion of the State and, according to
the TAL, is to be considered a source of legislation. The TAL also
mandates the separation and independence of the legislative, executive,
and judicial branches of the Government. Some aspects of the judicial
system were dysfunctional and, at times, subject to external influence.
Domestic security responsibilities are shared within the IIG
between the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and the Ministry of Defense. As
set forth in the TAL, certain elements of the Iraqi Armed Forces are
under the operational control of the Multi National Coalition Force
(MNF-I) operating in the country under unified command pursuant to
UNSCR 1546, and some also have domestic security responsibilities. MOI
forces also partner with MNF-I to ensure a coordinated approach to
security within the country. The MOI's responsibilities extend only to
internal security. The MOI commands a number of uniformed forces,
including the Iraqi Police Service, the Department of Border
Enforcement, and the Bureau of Dignitary Protection, as well as the MOI
Intelligence Service. Among its other responsibilities, the MOI also
regulates private domestic and foreign security companies. While
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of security
forces under their authority, there were instances in which security
force elements acted without government authority. There were reports
that members of the MOI's security forces committed numerous, serious
human rights abuses.
The country has an estimated population of 25 million, although no
reliable census has been undertaken for several years. The former
regime owned all major industries and controlled most of the highly
centralized economy. The economy is likely to remain heavily dependent
on revenues from oil exports and international assistance for the
foreseeable future. Reforms under the CPA introduced many market
concepts; however, state-owned enterprises still played a significant
role in the economy. The Iran-Iraq and Gulf wars, combined with gross
mismanagement and corruption, damaged the economy, and the country was
subject to U.N. sanctions from its 1990 invasion of Kuwait until the
suspension of sanctions following the fall of the Ba'ath regime.
Serious security problems significantly slowed reconstruction
activities. During the year, official estimates of unemployment ranged
between 20 and 30 percent. Government officials estimated that the rate
of underemployment was roughly equivalent to joblessness. Anecdotal
reports suggested that approximately half the working-age population
was unemployed.
The Interim Government, reversing a long legacy of serious human
rights abuses under the previous regime, generally respected human
rights, but serious problems remained. During the period of the report,
the Government's human rights performance was handicapped by a serious
insurgency in which a terrorist campaign of violence impacted every
aspect of life with executions, kidnappings, torture, and intimidation
waged against civilians, the Government and Coalition Forces. Although
this insurgency may have had popular support in some areas, its core
was former regime elements, foreign and domestic terrorists, and
organized criminal gangs. On November 7, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
declared a 60-day state of emergency limited to Ramadi and Fallujah, in
accordance with the July 6 IIG ``Order of Safeguarding National
Security.'' The state of emergency provides broad powers to impose
curfews, close off entire towns and cities, take command of
intelligence and security forces, and restrict assembly and movement.
It remained in effect at year's end.
With the ongoing insurgency limiting access to information, a
number of instances in the Report have been difficult to verify.
However, there were reports of arbitrary deprivation of life, torture,
impunity, poor prison conditions--particularly in pretrial detention
facilities--and arbitrary arrest and detention. There remained
unresolved problems relating to the large number of Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs). Corruption at all levels of the Government
remained a problem. Some aspects of the judicial system were
dysfunctional, and there were reports that the judiciary was subject to
external influence. The exercise of labor rights remained limited,
largely due to violence, unemployment, and maladapted organizational
structures and laws; however, with international assistance, some
progress was underway at year's end.
Civic life and the social fabric remained under intense strain from
the insurgency, as well as from a continuing shortage of basic services
and staples. Despite this pressure, the IIG in 6 months set and kept to
a legal and electoral course based on respect for political rights.
This included most importantly the right of citizens to change
peacefully their government through nationwide, free, and fair
elections. The development of a Human Rights Ministry, the ongoing
empowerment of women, and the explosive growth of nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and civic associations reflected a governmental
commitment to human rights. The Government's success in building an
accommodating structure for the exercise of civil liberties, although
burdened by the heritage of dictatorship and disregard for law, was
shown clearly in the citizens' embrace of freedoms of speech and press,
peaceful assembly, and association and religion. While major problems
still remained, they were of a far different magnitude and nature than
previously.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--With the ongoing
insurgency, there was a climate of extreme violence in which persons
were killed for political and other reasons. There were occasional
reports of killings particularly at the local level by the Government
or its agents, which may have been politically motivated. In early
December, Basrah police reported that officers in the Internal Affairs
Unit were involved in the killings of 10 members of the Ba'ath Party.
Basrah police also reported that the same Internal Affairs Unit
officers were involved in the killings of a mother and daughter accused
of engaging in prostitution. The Basrah Chief of Intelligence was
removed from his position as a result of the accusations; however, he
retained command of the Internal Affairs Unit. An MOI investigation
into the Basrah allegations was ongoing at year's end. Other instances
reflected arbitrary actions by government agents. For example, on
October 16, Baghdad police arrested, interrogated, and killed 12
kidnappers of 3 police officers.
Insurgents killed thousands of citizens (see Section 1.g.). In a
terrorist campaign of violence and intimidation, they targeted,
kidnapped and killed foreigners, government officials and workers,
security forces, members of the armed forces, and civilians suspected
of collaborating with the Coalition.
Insurgent and terrorist groups also claimed responsibility for the
bombings of churches, government facilities, public gathering spots,
and businesses. These actions resulted in a massive loss of life and
grave injuries. There were no indications of government involvement in
these acts.
Until its fall in 2003, the former regime was responsible for the
disappearance, murder, and torture of persons suspected of or related
to persons suspected of oppositionist politics, economic crimes,
military desertion, and a variety of other activities. The discovery of
mass graves (considered to be unmarked sites containing at least six
bodies) provided evidence of the vast dimension of these practices.
Immediately following the fall of the regime and throughout the
remainder of 2003, mass graves were reported from sources throughout
the country. During this reporting period, 189 mass graves were
confirmed, and investigators continued to review evidence on additional
mass graves.
Grid coordinates were obtained on at least 10 mass graves in Al
Hatra in Ninewah Province. On September 1, authorities began to dig a
site near Al-Hatra. Two gravesites were excavated; one site contained
the remains of women and children and the other contained remains of
men. Approximately 275 bodies--thought to be Kurds who were killed by
the former regime--were found in each site.
Sites were discovered in all regions and contained remains of
members of every major religious and ethnic group in the country, as
well as of foreign citizens. Graves contained forensic evidence of
atrocities, including signs of torture, decapitated or mutilated
corpses, or evidence that some victims were shot in the head at close
range.
During the year, the Ministry of Human Rights strengthened efforts
to help relatives learn the fate of their family members under the
regime, including those found in mass graves, and created its national
bureau of missing persons, the National Center for Missing and
Disappeared Persons.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances associated with the Government.
Due to the ongoing insurgency and the opportunities for common
crime, as well as politically motivated kidnapping (see Section 1.g.),
kidnapping and disappearances remained an ongoing problem. Many
hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals disappeared without a trace.
The widespread and ongoing nature of these disappearances precluded the
availability of reliable statistics.
There were many reports of disappearances dating from the former
regime of a large number of citizens. In 2003, human rights
organizations widely believed that the former regime had executed as
many as 300,000 civilians and probably more. Several of these
organizations held the view that as many as 1.3 million persons were
missing from the country as a result of wars, executions, and
defection.
To date, the authorities, assisted by various Coalition officials,
have identified through DNA analysis the remains of 322 missing
Kuwaitis whose corpses were found in mass graves.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The TAL expressly prohibits torture in all its forms under
all circumstances, well as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), during this reporting
period, torture and ill treatment of detainees by police was
commonplace. In interviews with 90 prisoners conducted from August to
October, 72 claimed that they had been tortured or mistreated. The
reported abuses included some instances of beatings with cables and
hosepipes, electric shocks to their earlobes and genitals, food and
water deprivation, and overcrowding in standing room only cells.
Additionally, HRW reported that specialized agencies, including the
Major Crimes Unit, Criminal Intelligence, Internal Affairs and possibly
the Intelligence Service, were responsible for pretrial irregularities,
such as arrest without warrant, lengthy periods of detention before
referral to an investigative judge, and the denial of contact with
family and legal counsel. Although detainees were primarily criminal
suspects, they also included others, such as members of the Mahdi
Militia and juveniles, who sometimes were caught in arrest sweeps.
There were instances of illegal treatment of detainees. For
example, on November 1, Baghdad police arrested two Coalition Force
citizen interpreters on charges involving the illegal use of small
arms. After their arrest, police bound the detainees' arms behind them,
pulling them upward with a rope and cutting off their circulation. This
treatment was followed by beatings over a 48-hour period with a steel
cable, in an effort to make the detainees confess. Both interpreters
required medical treatment after their release to Coalition Forces. No
further information on the incident was available at year's end. In
another case, the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) gathered enough
evidence to prosecute police officers in Baghdad who were
systematically raping and torturing female detainees. Two of the
officers received prison sentences; four others were demoted and
reassigned.
There were also allegations that local police sometimes used
excessive force against both citizens and foreigners. On November 28, a
foreign national reported that police beat him at a police station in
Kufa. According to the victim, he witnessed police beating detainees at
a police station while he was filing a claim on another matter. When he
questioned the treatment of the detainees, he was beaten and detained
for 4 hours.
A number of complaints about Iraqi National Guard (ING) abuses
surfaced during the year. For example, in November, the ING raided a
house in southern Baghdad and arrested four alleged insurgents. The
family was evicted and the ING burnt the house. In another incident, a
doctor at the al-Kindi hospital in Baghdad said that the ING had tried
to force him to treat one of their colleagues before other more serious
cases. When he refused, they beat him. There also were many reported
instances of ING looting and burning houses in Fallujah in November.
According to an ING official, disciplinary procedures were in place
to deal with the mistreatment of citizens and a number of members of
the ING were fired during the year for violations.
There were numerous reports and direct evidence that insurgents
employed multiple forms of torture and inhumane treatment against their
victims (see Section 1.g.).
Although there was significant improvement in Iraqi Corrections
Service (ICS) prison conditions following the fall of the former
regime, in many instances the facilities did not meet international
penal standards. According to the Government, it generally permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. In August, the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited ICS facilities.
The Ministry of Human Rights established a permanent office at the Abu
Ghraib prison. HRW visited some ICS facilities.
After the fall of the former regime, prison functions were
consolidated into the Ministry of Justice, and the ICS was transferred
from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to the Ministry of
Justice. According to the Government, ICS confined civilians under the
rule of law, and a valid confinement order from a judge was required.
Confinement was not connected with military intelligence operations nor
was there any contact with military confinement functions.
Allegations of inmate abuse by ICS Officers continued, although
fewer than in the previous year. The ICS Internal Affairs Division
claimed it conducted investigations of all detected or reported cases
and that appropriate corrective action was taken if an allegation was
verified. Although fewer than 10 cases were investigated between July
and December, an individual with access to human rights complaints
alleged that hundreds of cases were pending accusing ICS officers of
abuse and torture of detainees and prisoners, including women. No
further information was available at year's end.
At year's end, ICS was investigating eight cases in which inmates
alleged police predetention abuse and torture.
Overcrowding was a problem. Inmate disturbances and riots reduced
available prison beds by approximately one-third, and pretrial
detention facilities were often overcrowded. The insurrections in Sadr
City and later in Najaf created additional overcrowding in detention
facilities.
ICS operated 17 facilities, totaling 8,500 beds. Renovation and
construction on an additional 6 facilities, totaling 6,000 beds, was
underway at year's end. No inmates died during the period under review
due to poor conditions of confinement or lack of medical care, although
the quality of care was low.
ICS operated both pretrial detention facilities and post-trial
prisons across the country. The law provides that police, may detain
prisoners for 24 hours during which time a magistrate must review the
case. If the magistrate orders continued confinement, the prisoner is
transported to an ICS detention facility to await trial.
The law provides that women and juveniles be held separately from
men; according to HRW interviews, juveniles were confined with adults
in some cases.
All of the ICS personnel were required to undergo training. An 8-
week course including instruction in basic human rights, rights of
women and children, trafficking in persons, prohibition against
torture, international corrections standards, integrity issues,
professional ethics, and code of conduct was mandatory for the 4,000
ICS correctional officers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Under the 1971 Code of Criminal
Procedure, as amended by the CPA, an individual suspected of a crime
may be arrested only on a judicial warrant, except when the police
observe a crime taking place or have reasonable grounds to suspect such
acts. The law provides that, in any case, detainees must see an
investigating judge within 24 hours.
Detainees were generally retained in custody pending the outcome of
a criminal investigation. Individuals were generally arrested openly
and warrants were issued only with sufficient evidence, although, there
were numerous reports of arbitrary arrest and detention
There were no publicized cases of criminal proceedings brought
against members of the security forces in connection with alleged
violations of these rights, nor were there publicly known measures
adopted to prevent recurrence.
Due to the insurgency, high-crime rates, and limited police
training, innocent persons were sometimes arrested and detained
erroneously.
The MOI's responsibilities extended only to internal security. MOI
commands a number of uniformed forces, including the Iraqi Police
Service (IPS) and Department of Border Enforcement. The MOI also has
criminal and domestic intelligence capabilities and regulates all
domestic and foreign private security companies operating in the
country. The MOI also has authority over the Civil Defense Directorate,
the firefighters and emergency response organization, and the
Facilities Protection Service shielding strategic infrastructure,
government buildings, and cultural and educational assets.
In the aftermath of the fall of the former regime, a police
presence temporarily vanished, except in the Kurdish North. Police
equipment was stolen. After April 2003, a large recruitment and
training program was established, including hiring former police
officers.
During the year, various specialized units were created, including
an Emergency Response Unit (with capabilities similar to a SWAT team)
and Public Order Battalions that perform riot control functions, as
well as specialized counterinsurgency units.
More than any other group, the police have been a target of
terrorist attacks. Over 1,500 IPS personnel have been killed between
April 2003 and year's end. Additionally, pervasive lawlessness has led
to an increase in violent and organized crime, particularly related to
kidnappings (see Section 1.g.).
Detainees generally were informed of the charges against them,
although sometimes with delay.
There was a widespread perception that police made false arrests to
extort money. Some police officers did not present defendants to
magistrates and held them in detention cells until their families paid
bribes for their release. In the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad, the
time between arrest and arraignment was often in excess of 30 days,
despite the 24-hour requirement.
There were organized police abuses. For example, on September 4,
approximately 150 police, none of whom had uniforms or badges,
surrounded the Iraqi Institute of Peace (IIP), which is associated with
the International Center for Reconciliation of the Coventry Cathedral,
in response to an alert that a prominent former regime figure might be
inside the Cathedral. Four individuals identified themselves as MOI
officials, but did not show badges. Armed men, some with heavy weapons,
broke down the doors and ransacked the IIP building, stealing phones
and money. The incident ended with no serious injuries but without
judicial follow-up.
On August 16, a ministry, reportedly wishing to occupy the real
property used by a political party, caused party members to be arrested
and detained for almost 60 days without charges. During their
detention, a habeas corpus writ from the Chief Investigative Judge of
the Central Criminal Court was ignored. The minister involved also
refused to appear before the judge to explain his ministry's actions.
The political party members were eventually released; however, the
property involved remained under the control of the ministry at year's
end.
Reportedly, coerced confessions and interrogation continued to be
the favored method of investigation by police. According to one
government official, hundreds of cases were pending at year's end
alleging torture. There have been several arrests, and both criminal
and administrative punishments were handed out to police in cases where
allegations of torture were substantiated.
Additionally, corruption continued to be a problem with the police.
The CPI was investigating cases of police abuse involving unlawful
arrests, beatings, and the theft of valuables from the homes of persons
who were detained; however, the police often continued to use the
methods employed by the previous regime. In addition to the CPI,
several other mechanisms were put into place to address this problem,
including an internal affairs capability, mentoring, and training
programs that focus on accountability.
Efforts to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the police
were ongoing; however, there was little indication that the IIG took
sufficient steps to address this problem adequately or to reinforce
publicly the message that there will be no climate of impunity.
Because of arbitrary arrest and detention practices, some prisoners
were held in incommunicado detention.
Pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the judge who issues an
arrest warrant sets the bond conditions. If no conditions of release
are specified, the accused is detained. The most common bond condition
is that an accused is released into the custody of a responsible
individual (such as family member or tribal leader), who will vouch
that the individual will appear at a future court hearing.
Judges are authorized to appoint counsel for those who cannot pay,
and did so, according to observers of proceedings in the Central
Criminal Court in Baghdad. Attorneys were provided with private
accommodations during official visits to their clients.
Lengthy pretrial detention continued to be a significant problem
due to backlogs in the judiciary and slow processing of criminal
investigations. Approximately 3,000 inmates were in pretrial detention,
and 1,000 were held post-trial.
In August, the IIG issued a national amnesty for insurgents who had
not committed any major crime, including murder, rape, robbery, or
abduction. Local amnesties continued to be offered in the context of
specific local security arrangements.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The TAL provides for an
independent judiciary; however, there has not been sufficient
experience to determine in practice its independence. Senior levels of
the Government expressed commitment to this provision.
According to the TAL, all persons are equal before the courts and
no individual may be deprived of life or liberty except in accordance
with legal procedures. No one may be unlawfully arrested or detained,
and no one may be detained by reason of political or religious beliefs.
The TAL provides for the right to a fair trial and the judiciary
generally sought to enforce this right. The accused is innocent until
proven guilty pursuant to the law, and has the right to engage
independent and competent counsel, remain silent in response to
questions, and to summon and examine witnesses or ask that a judge do
so.
The criminal justice system is based on the French or civil system.
It was modified under the Ottoman Turks and greatly influenced by
Egypt. The system is inquisitorial; cases are controlled and
investigated by the judiciary. Judges, not lawyers, direct the progress
of a case. After the fall of the former regime, parallel court systems
were abolished and all criminal and civil judicial functions were
consolidated into the Ministry of Justice-controlled courts.
Thereafter, the Ministry underwent numerous changes, banning judges and
administrators linked to the former regime's judicial practices in an
effort to strengthen the rule of law. The laws continued to be reviewed
to ensure that they meet international human rights standards. Tribal
leaders routinely applied Shari'a law in settling disputes.
The courts are geographically organized into 17 appellate
districts. There are two types of criminal courts--misdemeanor and
felony. Cases are presented to the court in the district where the
crime took place. Under the law, a criminal defendant must be presented
to an investigative judge within 24 hours of arrest. The investigative
judge controls the investigation and recommends charges if sufficient
evidence has been discovered. A trial and sentencing is generally a
very short process. Witnesses who are not present have their statements
read into the record.
There is no jury in the criminal justice system. A three-judge
panel decides if a defendant is guilty. Defendants who are found guilty
are sentenced immediately after the verdict. Prosecutors and defense
counsel are permitted to question witnesses during the proceeding. In
practice, they often asked few, if any, questions due to the
questioning that has already occurred by the investigative or trial
judges. The prosecutors and defense counsel routinely gave initial and
final statements to the court. Cases can be appealed to the appellate
court and then to the Court of Cassation.
The Council of Judges (COJ) is responsible for all matters relating
to the courts. The chief appellate judge of each district, along with
several judges from the Court of Cassation, comprises the COJ. The COJ
is responsible for the administration of the judiciary, and the Chief
Judge manages the day-to-day administrative responsibilities of the
COJ, specifically, court facilities, staff, and security. In the event
of misconduct involving judges, the COJ convenes a disciplinary hearing
to determine the merits of the allegations. During this reporting
period, the COJ convened a disciplinary hearing concerning the
allegation that a Baghdad judge dismissed criminal cases due to
external influence. Pending resolution of this allegation, the judge
was removed from office and an investigation was ongoing at year's end.
The COJ was very powerful and there were allegations that the Executive
Branch influenced the COJ.
The law provides for civilian judges to be designated to sit as a
separate military court for members of the military. Although 20 judges
were so designated, no military trials occurred during this reporting
period.
Corruption remained a problem in the criminal justice system. In
the fall, the MOI referred allegations of misconduct involving a judge
to the COJ. The allegations concerned professional misconduct,
including bribery. At year's end, this case was still pending (see
Section 3).
In 2003, the IGC created the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) to try
persons accused of committing certain specified crimes during the time
period from July 17, 1968 through May 1, 2003. The IST's jurisdiction
includes war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and specified
offenses under the country's law. The IST will try those accused of
these crimes. Investigative hearings were ongoing at year's end against
multiple defendants, however, indictments had not been issued, and
trials had not begun.
The Iraq Property Claims Commission (IPCC) was established on
January 14 as an independent governmental commission designed to
resolve claims for real property that was confiscated or otherwise
taken for less than fair value between July 17, 1968, and April 9,
2003. This included land and buildings (not personal property) seized
because the policies of the former regime did not include land reform
or lawfully applied eminent domain. The statute establishing the IPCC
was amended in June to extend the time limits for the filing of claims
until June 30, 2005, thus allowing claims from ``Arabization Arabs''
and Kurdish peoples whose property was forcibly taken between March 18,
2003, and June 30, 2005 (see Section 2.d.).
The IPCC comprised approximately 700 employees in offices located
in all 18 governorates. Regional commissions consider claims on the
basis of the documentation made available either by the claimant or
through the relevant government offices.
The IPCC accepted over 37,000 claims during this reporting period
more than 600 cases had been adjudicated and over 150 appeals filed as
of year's end.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The TAL prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice, although in some
instances, the security forces reportedly did not. The law provides for
the right to privacy, and police, investigators, or other governmental
authorities may not violate the sanctity of private residences without
a search warrant issued in accordance with the applicable law unless
reasonable suspicion exists that criminal activity is in progress or,
which rarely occurs, when such an action is deemed critical to national
security. Generally, police complied with legal warrant requirements;
however, there were reports that these rights were sometimes not
respected.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--During the period of the report,
insurgents and foreign terrorists continued their attacks. The core of
the insurgency, although it may have had some popular support in some
areas fueled by fears deriving from political grievances and ethnic and
religious tensions, was composed of former regime elements, foreign and
domestic terrorists, and organized criminal gangs. Their actions
resulted in killings, kidnappings, violence, torture, and a campaign of
intimidation. On November 7, Prime Minister Allawi declared a 60-day
state of emergency limited to Ramadi and Fallujah. The state of
emergency provided broad powers to impose curfews, close off entire
towns and cities, take command of intelligence and security forces, and
restrict assembly and movement. It remained in effect at year's end.
The insurgents targeted anyone whose death or disappearance would
profit their cause and, particularly, anyone suspected of being
connected to Coalition Forces.
Bombings, executions, killings of government officials,
kidnappings, shootings, and intimidation were a daily occurrence
throughout all regions and sectors of society. An illustrative list of
these attacks, even a highly selective one, scarcely could reflect the
broad dimension of the violence.
On September 30, an Islamist website, linked to the Unification and
Jihad Group, posted a message claiming responsibility for three suicide
attacks, one of which resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians--
most of them children--attending the opening of a sewage plant in
Baghdad. On October 25, ING recruits, returning home on a bus after
completing their training at the Kirkush military camp northeast of
Baghdad, were killed. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for
the killings. Thirty-seven bodies were found on the ground with their
hands behind their backs, killed execution-style. Another 12 bodies
were found in a burned bus. On November 1, unknown assailants gunned
down Hatem Kamel Abdul Fatah, the deputy governor of Baghdad, as he was
driving to work. The following day, a car bomb exploded near the
Ministry of Education, killing at least six persons and wounding eight
others. On November 20, women's rights activist Dr. Amal Ma'amalchi and
four of her colleagues were shot and killed in their vehicle on their
way to work at the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works. On
December 19, violence in 2 Shi'a holy cities killed at least 60 and
wounded more than 120. A suicide bomber set off a blast at Karbala's
main bus station, which was followed by a car bomb during a funeral
procession in Najaf an hour later.
According to the Ministry of Human Rights, at least 80 professors
and 50 physicians were assassinated during the year. Reporters Without
Borders noted that 31 journalists and media assistants were killed
during the year (see Section 2.a.). Universities also suffered from a
wave of kidnappings. Researchers, professors, administrators, and
students were all victims, including some who disappeared without a
trace. Since the beginning of the insurgency, more than 150 foreigners
have been kidnapped, and many were killed. In addition to the more
publicized cases, ordinary civilians were also wounded and killed.
Terrorists systematically damaged and destroyed the
infrastructure--oil, electricity, and transportation lines--reducing
the movement and availability of key services and goods to the
population. They attacked a Baghdad hospital on November 8, killing 7
and wounding 30.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The TAL protects the freedoms of
speech and the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. There are transparent licensing procedures for
broadcast media, and the written press does not require a license to
operate.
There were over 130 daily and weekly publications, and private
local television stations broadcast in Arabic, Kurdish, and Syriac. The
media represented a very wide range of viewpoints from across the
political spectrum. Foreign journalists generally operated without
legal or bureaucratic hindrance. However, on August 7, the IIG banned
the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news channel from working in the country for
30 days. Prime Minister Allawi, citing an Iraqi Communication and Media
Commission report as a basis for the ban, accused the station of
inciting violence and hatred. Nonetheless, during this unenforced
suspension, ministers and the Vice President appeared, on the station,
which continued to function in the country by using free-lance
journalists. They also bought reports and footage from other satellite
networks. The IIG extended the temporary suspension indefinitely on
September 7.
According to Reporters Without Borders, 31 journalists and media
assistants were killed during the year as a result of the ongoing
insurgency. The Al-Arabiya television network reported on November 1
that five of its citizen employees had been killed after a car bomb
exploded near its offices.
Canadian, French, British, American, and Iraqi journalists were
kidnapped and released during the period of the report. The Islamic
Army in Iraq and Muqtada al-Sadr's group were among the identified
kidnappers.
On August 15, police ordered all unembedded journalists to leave
the city of Najaf, where Coalition and Iraqi forces had been fighting
supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. The police cited concerns about the
journalists' safety for the order, but many journalists ignored it.
Police rounded up 60 foreign and Arab journalists at gunpoint on August
25 and brought them to police headquarters, where they were later
released.
Foreign news broadcasts, including Al-Jazeera, were not jammed.
There were no restrictions on content or access to books, periodicals,
mass media of any sort, satellite dishes, computers, modems, faxes, and
Internet services. The authorities formally respected academic freedom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The TAL provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Many demonstrations, which often proved to be a cover for insurgent
violence, took place countrywide. According to the Government, the MOI
did not break up any peaceful violations, except when a curfew was
violated.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The TAL provides for freedom of thought,
conscience, and religious belief and practice. The Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, there was substantial
politically and religiously driven violence between Sunni and Shi'a
(see Section 1.g.) and against Christians. Despite cases of religious
intolerance and terrorism against citizens of different faiths and
their places of worship, there were clerics and other religious leaders
who called for tolerance. On November 18, the IIG issued a statement
condemning violence against religious groups and calling for unity
among Christians and Muslims.
An estimated 97 percent of the population is Muslim, predominantly
Shi'a (60-65 percent) with a substantial Sunni minority (32-37
percent). The remaining approximately 3 percent consist of Christians--
Chaldeans (Roman Catholic), Assyrians (Church of the East), Syriac
(Eastern Orthodox), Armenian Orthodox, several denominations of
Protestant Christians--Yazidis, and a small number of Sabean Mandaeans
and Jews.
Sunni-Shi'a violence was widespread and often fueled by foreign
extremists. On December 4, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a
Shi'a mosque located in the Sunni Muslim district of Al-Adhamiya in
Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding over a dozen others. Zarqawi's
organization, Group of Jihad in the Country of Two Rivers, claimed
responsibility for the bombing.
On November 23, masked gunmen assassinated a Sunni cleric north of
Baghdad. Sheikh Ghalib Ali al-Zuhairi was a member of the Association
of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni clerics group. He was shot
while leaving a mosque in the town of Muqdadiyah and died in the local
hospital.
There were numerous incidents of violence against the Christian
community this year, ranging from individual killings to intimidation
and assaults on women for not wearing a headscarf (hijab). Most of
these incidences of violence were related to religion.
At the university in Mosul, Christian women boycotted classes
during Ramadan in response to Islamist pressure for all women to cover
their hair. The number of Christians leaving the country rose, after
bombings of 14 churches in Baghdad and Mosul and the Chaldean Bishop's
Palace in Mosul from August through December. The bombings left 43 dead
and 340 injured, as well as damaging the churches. In the immediate
aftermath of the August bombings, Grand Ayatollah Sistani condemned the
attacks and reaffirmed the rights of Iraqi Christians. Christian
leaders blamed foreign terrorists, including al-Qa'ida, for the
attacks.
The Government's Christian Endowment Office reported that there
were between 750,000 and 1 million Christians in the country, mostly in
the North and Baghdad; there were 1.4 million in 1987. The majority of
the country's Christians were Chaldeans. Christian religious leaders
estimated that approximately 700,000 Christian citizens lived abroad.
According to the Christian Endowment Office, more than 30,000
Christian families fled the country during the year. Many remained in
Jordan or Syria, hoping to return when the security situation improved.
In November, a leaflet circulated to churches and some individual
Christians in Baghdad ordered Christians to leave the country or
convert to Islam
After the promulgation of the TAL in February, the former Governing
Council addressed the question of whether Jewish expatriates would be
allowed to vote in the 2005 elections. It announced that they would be
treated like any other expatriate group. The Government also denied
unfounded rumors (sometimes spread in flyers distributed by
antigovernment extremist groups) that Jewish expatriates were buying up
real estate in an attempt to reassert their influence in the country.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The TAL provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
On November 7, the Government announced a 60-day state of emergency
starting November 8 in conjunction with the onset of major military
operations in Fallujah.
The state of emergency, which applied to Ramadi and Fallujah, was
based on the National Security Order adopted by the IIG on July 7 but
not immediately implemented. It could be invoked anywhere in the
country if citizens' lives were threatened by a persistent campaign of
violence aimed at hindering the political process. Its duration cannot
be more than 60 days, but it is renewable every 30 days if the threat
continues.
Under the law and subject to judicial review, the prime minister
has the power to restrict freedom of movement, assembly (pursuant to a
court order), and use of weapons. Suspects can be detained and
searched, and their homes and work places searched, but they must
appear before a judge within 24 hours of arrest. He can impose a
curfew, cordon off and search an area, freeze assets, monitor and seize
communications, and take necessary security and military measures (in
Kurdish areas, only in coordination with the Kurdish regional
government).
The TAL expressly prohibits forced exile, and there were no known
government restrictions on emigration, although exit permits were
required for citizens leaving the country. Despite current legislation
to the contrary, there were reports that some authorities continued to
require that women between the ages of 12 and 40 receive approval of
their husbands, fathers, or brothers before being issued a passport.
Government officials strongly denied that there was a policy to this
effect.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that
there were over 1.4 million IDPs in the country. The former regime was
responsible for the displacement of more than one million persons. More
than 225,000 persons, mostly Arabs displaced in Diyala and Salah El Din
governorates, were estimated to have been displaced after April 2003.
In November, the ongoing military conflict related to the insurgency
resulted in the displacement of approximately 200,000 persons from
Fallujah (see Section 4).
During the Saddam era, the vast majority of IDPs were non-Arabs
(Kurds, Chaldo-Assyrians, and Turkmen). In the 1980s and early 90ss,
these non-Arabs were forcibly relocated as part of the regime's
``Arabization'' process to make way for incoming Arab families around
oil-rich Kirkuk and other northern areas. After the fall of the regime,
displaced non-Arabs began returning to their former homes. In some
instances, these returns resulted in displacement of Arabs who had been
moved there by the regime.
Many Arabs, who were part of this Arabization process, either fled
their homes during the war or were forced out or prevented from
returning by Kurdish civilians and fighters who had returned to
villages from which they had originally been displaced. Many remained
in Kirkuk, in extremely poor conditions, to try to resolve their
property disputes.
The IPCC accepted more than 37,000 claims property disputes. By
year's end, some 600 cases had been adjudicated; however, successful
claimants had not received any financial compensation by year's end
(see Section 1.e.).
The Ministry for Displacement and Migration is responsible for all
issues related to refugees and displaced persons, as well as failed
asylum seekers and other irregular migrants. Due to poor security
conditions and inadequate social infrastructure, the Ministry did not
support the forced return of Iraqi citizens to the country. In addition
to the poor security situation, there was a housing shortage estimated
at between 1.4 and 2 million units. There were also inadequate
education and health care facilities for the current population. The
Ministry publicly stated its support to the principles of voluntary
repatriation and underscored the importance of safe and dignified
returns.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has not
established a system for providing protection to refugees. However, the
Government recognized a refugee population of an estimated 65,000
persons.
The Government cooperated with U.N. High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers.
During the year, refugees were targeted for attacks that were
allegedly carried out by insurgents. On November 21, UNHCR officials
reported that Syrian refugees in Baghdad were singled out for attack
and that protection for Palestinian and Syrian refugees had
deteriorated after the fall of the former regime. The physical safety
of refugees from various groups (Palestinians, Syrian Ba'athists, and
Ahwazis) was threatened by groups not affiliated with the Government;
they were suspected of having received privileged treatment under the
former regime. Landlords forcibly expelled some Palestinian refugees
(395 families) who were living in rented apartments. In some instances,
the expulsions were carried out with the use of firearms. Syrian
Ba'athists living in Baghdad also received threats, and some were
forced to relocate. UNHCR noted cases of Palestinian and Syrian
refugees who had been detained and faced severe treatment in prison.
UNHCR provided protection and assistance to both Syrian and
Palestinian refugees through rental subsidies, other forms of material
assistance, and legal representation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The TAL provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully through periodic, free, and fair elections based on
universal suffrage. Elections at the national level were scheduled for
January 30, 2005, to exercise this right.
The first step towards realizing the 2005 elections took place from
August 15 to 18, when the National Conference elected the 100-seat
Iraqi Interim National Council (IINC). Representative of the country's
ethnic and national diversity, it was comprised of Arabs, Turkmen,
Kurds, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and an Armenian, as well as a Mandean,
Sunni and Shi'a Muslims, and Christians. The TAL provides for the
election of women and minorities to the Transitional National Assembly,
with a goal of having no less than one quarter of the representatives
be women and of having fair representation of all communities. Some
women's leaders, representing a broad spectrum of political views,
expressed concern that some women were selected to participate in the
political process--at both the local and national level--only to meet
this quota and not necessarily based on their qualifications.
There were 25 women on the Interim National Council and 6 ministers
in the Government: The Minister of State for Women's Affairs and the
Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs, Agriculture, Displacement and
Migration, Environment, and Public Works.
On July 9, in the first elections after the fall of the former
regime, the municipal district of Al Zubair outside Basra city
peacefully chose members of its municipal council.
The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) was established
under CPA Order 92 and had sole responsibility for administering the
January 2005 Elections. The IECI's mandate as an independent,
autonomous, and nonpartisan government entity was to promulgate,
implement, and enforce regulations, rules, and procedures in connection
with elections during the transitional period.
During the year, the IECI continued to draft regulations to support
the conduct of a free, fair, and transparent electoral process.
As election preparations began, regional IECI staff faced
intimidation by rejectionists in areas of insurgent activity. IECI
representatives and food agents delivering voter registration forms in
Ninewah Province received death threats, many refused to participate in
election-related activity, and provincial IECI offices were closed. In
Anbar Province, violence and threats against election workers prevented
establishment of voter registration centers and distribution of
registration forms. The provincial IECI office in Diyala moved to a new
location following threats and violence. Intimidation forced the
temporary closure of seven registration centers in Baghdad. On December
19, three IECI workers were shot and killed on Baghdad's Haifa Street.
Political parties and candidates had the right freely to 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.
Political parties, both secular and nonsecular, that were active
during the year included the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in
Iraq, D'awa, the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Iraqi National Congress, the
Iraqi National Accord, the Iraqi Independent Democrats, Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Iraqi
Turkmen Front.
Large-scale corruption, systemic under the former regime, continued
in a lesser degree and kind (see Section 1.c.).
Many high-level government officials, including some heads of
ministries and regional units, continued to exercise the autocratic
authority permissible under the Ba'athist regime. Thus, officials at
MOI made arrests without first obtaining arrest warrants issued by a
judge (see Section 1.d.). Court orders requesting proof that an arrest
was lawful were sometimes ignored. Several heads of ministries
attempted to remove their inspectors general (IG) in violation of the
law that established those offices and which provided that IG may only
be removed for specified causes.
The CPI was formed on January 28 and was dedicated to preventing
and investigating cases of corruption in all ministries and other units
of the Government nationwide. CPI is an independent body headed by a
single Commissioner who reports publicly at least annually on the CPI's
activities to the country's Chief Executive and Legislature. CPI is
responsible for investigating allegations of corruption within the
Government and referring appropriate cases for criminal prosecution,
promoting standards of transparency and accountability in government
activities; and conducting community education and outreach programs to
stimulate public demand for open, honest, and accountable government.
Among other initiatives, CPI conducted ethics training for selected
ministry officials designed to instill respect for the rule of law and
curb abuses of power. CPI also investigated a number of cases involving
human rights violations. No results were public at year's end.
The CPA established a system of IGs for the various ministries in
January. A number of ministers failed to provide sufficient support for
the program and attempted to remove IGs without justification.
Consequently, the Prime Minister approved a plan that would transfer
oversight and financial responsibility for the IG program to CPI on a
de facto basis.
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 other than security
constraints, investigating and publishing their findings on human
rights cases. While NGO advocacy is still in its infancy, government
officials were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. The
Ministry of Human Rights met regularly with NGO leaders.
By CPA Order 45, the Ministry of Planning and Development (MoPD)
was accorded responsibility for the registration of foreign and
domestic NGOs. On October 24, the Office of the Prime Minister issued a
statement that the IIG had approved the transfer of the NGO Assistance
Office from MoPD to the Ministry for Civil Society Affairs. The
Minister of State for Civil Society has taken an active approach to
developing relations with, and assisting, human rights and elections-
related NGOs.
On May 16, MOI issued a letter instructing governorates to notify
MOI of NGO funding and to get approval for such funding. In order to
qualify, organizations had to sign an affidavit stating that their
group was nonpolitical, nonreligious, financially responsible, and
would work to build a democratic society. On August 24, although this
edict was not generally enforced, a National Democratic Institute (NDI)
employee in Nasiriya was arrested for failing to seek governorate
approval for conducting NDI activities. The employee was subsequently
released.
Terrorists throughout the country have systematically killed NGO
and civic leaders.
NGOs had serious security concerns that impaired their ability to
work in the country. On August 3, four citizen aid workers employed by
the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development were stabbed to
death near Najaf. On September 7, unknown assailants kidnapped two
Italian aid workers. Subsequently, a group claiming loyalty to al-
Qa'ida and calling itself Al Zawahiri Loyalists took responsibility for
the kidnappings. The women were held for 3 weeks before being released.
On October 19, the charity group Care International confirmed that its
head of operations had been kidnapped in Baghdad. After her presumed
death, Care International suspended its operations in the country (see
Section 1.g.).
The Ministry of Human Rights is responsible for the development and
implementation of a human rights policy. The Ministry employed 250
people and, in addition to its office in Baghdad, had an office in
Basra and planed to open offices in 5 other cities. There were also
independent ministers of human rights in Arbil and Sulaimaniya.
During the year, the Ministry focused on raising awareness and
knowledge of human rights throughout the country, building a viable
civil society, working with other ministries to ensure that human
rights were a mainstream priority within the Government, and assisting
with humanitarian exhumations. The Ministry attempted to draw the
Government's attention to human rights and abuses, pointing to the
recent past when the former regime tortured thousands of persons
perceived to be oppositionist.
In a July 13 online political publication (PolitInfo.com), the
Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin, expressed public concern that the
new security forces, as well as the public at large, were not
adequately educated regarding human rights. He noted that the battle
against human-rights abuses was difficult because these abuses were
``learned behavior,'' adding that the security forces were still not
well-educated in the principles of human rights, international
humanitarian law, conventions against torture, and the investigative
methodologies of countries that have well-ingrained democratic values
and rules. He has returned publicly to that theme, acknowledging that
abuses had occurred and that the legacy of the former regime would take
time to alter.
On November 18, the Ministry announced that it had earmarked $45
million (67.5 billion dinars) in aid for the city of Fallujah. Ministry
teams used the money to provide emergency aid to an estimated 200,000
Fallujans displaced due to insurgent and subsequent military
operations.
Security was a key issue for the Ministry of Human Rights during
the year. The Minister and members of his staff received death threats.
Additionally, experts judged the security situation too difficult to
provide in-country training.
The Ministry established relationships with the international human
rights and humanitarian communities in an effort to align the country's
institutions and practices with international standards: The ICRC, the
U.N. Development Fund for Women, as well as relationships with the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the
U.N. Office for Project Services, Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, the U.N. Development Program, and the World Health
Organization.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses and Trafficking in Persons
The TAL provides that all citizens are equal without regard to
gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality, religion, or origin, and
the Government generally enforced these rights.
Women.--The Ministry of State for Women's Affairs, with a
professional staff of 10 and 13 security personnel, functioned
primarily as a policy office.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs' (MOLSA) Social Care
Directorate administers a variety of social care institutions, among
them for orphans and the elderly. No substantive assistance was
currently offered for victims of domestic violence, although women who
were heads of single-parent households did receive a minimal cash
stipend from the Ministry.
Domestic violence against women occurred, but little was known
about its extent. Such abuse was customarily addressed within the
tightly knit family structure. There was no public discussion of the
subject, and no statistics were published. There were some reports that
honor killings occurred, but no further information was available.
A safe house located within the International Zone in Baghdad
provided shelter to victims of domestic abuse or those threatened with
honor killings. The safe house relied on nongovernmental support and
had an uncertain future because of government space needs in the
International Zone.
Women's leaders claimed that some extremist groups targeted women
by kidnapping, killing, and terrorizing them in an effort to force them
to refrain from working in public, to remain at home, wear veils, and
adhere to a very conservative interpretation of Islam. According to an
Amnesty International (AI) report, the lack of security remained a
serious threat, and women and girls feared abduction, rape, and murder.
Islamic extremists reportedly targeted female university students
in a number of cities and demanded that they cease wearing western
style clothing and cover their heads while in public. Additionally,
these extremists allegedly demanded that some universities separate
male and female students. According to the Ministry of Higher
Education, approximately 3,000 women indicated that they wanted to
postpone their university studies because of the current security
situation.
The law prohibits rape, and prostitution is illegal.
Children.--According to UNICEF, almost one-half of the country's
total population was under the age of 18.
Primary education, which is free and universal, is compulsory
through age 11. Attendance in the sixth grade fell to about 50 percent
of first grade levels due, in part, to the pervasiveness of child
labor.
According to UNICEF, nearly 1 in 4 children (31.2 percent of girls
and 17.5 percent of boys) between the ages of 6 and 12 did not attend
school. According to authorities, literacy dropped from 80 percent in
the late 1980s to approximately 50 percent during the year. Although 75
percent of teachers are women, women and girls represented
approximately 70 percent of the increase in illiteracy.
Ministry of Health clinics provide health care, which was generally
free of charge to all citizens. There was no systemic distinction in
the care provided to boys and girls.
During the August National Conference that chose the Interim
National Council, a Human Rights Sub-Committee was established. It
noted as one of its priorities the need to stop the exploitation of
children, especially their employment in military militias.
The Child Welfare Commission, in coordination with UNICEF, held its
first conference on children's rights on November 30. The Commission
includes the Ministries of Labor and Social Affairs, Foreign Affairs,
Education, Health, Culture, Planning, Youth, Justice, Environment,
Interior, Women's Affairs, and Human Rights.
Trafficking in Persons.--Detection of trafficking was extremely
difficult due to lack of information because of the security situation,
existing societal controls of women, and the closed-tribal culture.
Some reports suggested that the country might be a country of origin
for women trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation to other
countries within the region and to India. For example, there were
reports indicating that some citizen women and girls were trafficked to
the Arabian Peninsula for sexual exploitation. Some of these victims
cited threats against their families as a means of coercion; others may
be victims of debt bondage. To a lesser extent, there were reports of
girls and women trafficked within the country for sexual exploitation.
The Ministry of Interior has responsibility for trafficking-related
issues.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs operated several institutions for the education of disabled
children and young adults. These institutions offered basic educational
services; however, they did not have access to appropriate pedagogical
technology due to the absence of training and funding.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnically and linguistically,
the country's population includes Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Chaldeans,
Assyrians, and Armenians. The religious mix likewise is varied and
consists of Shi'a and Sunni Muslims (both Arab and Kurdish), Christians
(including Chaldeans and Assyrians), Kurdish Yazidis, and a small
number of Sabean Mandaeans, Baha'is, and Jews.
Historic tensions between Turkmen and Kurds reportedly reached
their peak at the end of 2003 and continued during this reporting
period.
Assyrian and Chaldean were considered by many to be a distinct
ethnic group. These communities spoke a different language (Syriac),
preserved traditions of Christianity, and did not define themselves as
Arabs.
The TAL identifies Arabic and Kurdish as the two official languages
of the State. It also guarantees the right of citizens to educate their
children in their mother tongue, such as Turcoman, Syriac, or Armenian,
in government educational institutions in accordance with educational
guidelines, or in any other language in private educational
institutions.
Christians in the region reported that they experienced problems,
which they attributed to the affiliation of some Sunnis with foreign
Sunni extremist groups; however, relations with their Shi'a neighbors
remained cordial. Many Christians have reportedly left their businesses
because of threats. Some Christian professionals complained that
corruption in the Government excluded them from jobs for which they
qualified.
The country's Jewish population reportedly dwindled at year's end
to only 22 persons in the Baghdad area, from 33 in April 2003. Soon
after the fall of the Ba'ath Regime, the IGC signed a memorandum with
the Baghdad Jewish community that would protect Jewish assets should
all members of the community depart the country. These assets would be
transferred to three external organizations.
Section 6. Worker Rights
The exercise of labor rights remained limited, largely due to
societal violence, high unemployment, and maladapted labor
organizational structures and laws; however, with international
assistance, some progress was underway at year's end.
MOLSA's Labor Directorate has jurisdiction over the labor code,
child labor, wages, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA), and labor relations. Most elements of this department were not
staffed and no funds were available from the budget.
At year's end work was in progress to draft a new labor code. The
TAL incorporated the 1987 labor code and the CPA Order Number 89 that
amended it.
a. The Right of Association.--The TAL guarantees the right of free,
peaceable assembly and the right to join associations freely, as well
as the right to form and join unions and political parties freely.
Despite the formation of dozens of trade union groups since 1991,
MOLSA continued to recognize and deal with the Iraqi Federal Federation
of Trade Unions. This was the only labor federation recognized by the
government, in spite of the existence of three other labor federations.
Throughout the year, the International Labor Organization (ILO)
provided technical assistance outside the country to help rebuild the
capacity of MOLSA, establish emergency employment services, and put in
place training and skills programs. In June, a national delegation
composed of representatives of workers, employers, and the Government
attended the 92nd session of the ILO Conference in Geneva. The
Conference accepted an arrangement proposed by the Government for the
settlement of its arrears of contributions for the period 1988-2003,
thereby restoring the country to full voting rights in the Conference.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The TAL states
that every citizen has the right to demonstrate and strike peaceably in
accordance with the law. The labor law of the former regime still in
force prohibits collective bargaining in the public sector.
In February, a delegation of the Brussels-based International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) visited the country on a 10-
day fact-finding mission. Composed of members of ICFTU affiliates in
Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., as well as representatives
of the Global Union Federations in the education and transport sectors,
the delegation met with workers and trade union leaders, members of the
Iraqi Federation of Industries, and officials of the IGC and the CPA.
The ICFTU reported that workers were organizing unions in workplaces
where they had been forbidden under the laws of the former regime and
revitalizing union structures previously dominated by the Ba'athists.
Later in the year, the ICFTU provided a number of training seminars in
core labor standards for trade unionists.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the worst forms of child labor. The Government had
limited capacity to enforce the law due to the effects of the ongoing
insurgency. The minimum age for employment is 15 years.
The Child Labor Unit at MOLSA was established in January with a
staff of four. The Unit is responsible for coordinating child labor
projects designed to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, raising
awareness of the hazards of the worst forms of child labor, and
conducting inspections of work places to enforce child labor laws. No
inspectors were hired or trained, and no further budget allocations
were made to support the unit by year's end.
Despite the various laws and regulations in place, children were
routinely tapped as an additional source of labor or income for the
family unit. This often took the form of seasonal manual labor in rural
areas, while in cities; it often meant begging or peddling a variety of
products
According to a report of the Islamic Institution for Women and
Children, many children under the age of 16 worked to help support
their unemployed parents. The report cited poverty as the main reason
for child labor. In Baghdad's industrial zone (Kusra and Attach areas),
children worked in various industrial crafts industries and constituted
approximately 30 percent of the workers. Children earned, 66 cents to
$2 (1000 to 3000 dinars) per day.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for a
skilled worker was less than $7.00 per day (10,000 dinars) and for an
unskilled worker less than $3.50 per day (5,000 dinars). The standard
workday is 8 hours. The average salary was approximately $1,250 per
year (1,785 million dinars). Unskilled workers must work 357 days per
year to achieve this average. These earnings were barely above poverty
level.
The OSHA component of MOLSA was inherited from the Ministry of
Health and comprises approximately 129 staff located throughout the
country. Salary disputes and a lack of funding effectively curbed any
work by this unit.
__________
ISRAEL
Israel is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. ``Basic laws''
enumerate fundamental rights. The 120-member Knesset has the power to
dissolve the Government and mandate elections. The current Knesset and
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were elected democratically in 2003. (An
annex to this report covers human rights in the occupied territories.
This report deals only with the situation in Israel itself.) The
judiciary is independent and often ruled against the Executive, even in
security cases.
During the year, a total of 76 Israeli civilians and four
foreigners were killed as a result of Palestinian terrorist attacks in
Israel and the occupied territories, and 41 members of the Israeli
Defense Forces were killed in clashes with Palestinian militants.
During the same period, more than 800 Palestinians were killed during
Israeli military operations in the occupied territories.
Internal security is the responsibility of the Israel Security
Agency (ISA or Shin Bet), which is under the authority of the Prime
Minister. The National Police, which includes the Border Police and the
Immigration Police, are under the Minister of Internal Security and the
Minister of Interior respectively. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are
under the authority of a civilian Minister of Defense. The IDF includes
a significant portion of the adult population on active duty or reserve
status. The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset
oversees the IDF and the ISA. Security forces were under effective
government control. Some members of the security forces committed
serious abuses.
The country's population is approximately 6.8 million, including
5.2 million Jews, 1.3 million Arabs, and some 290,000 other minorities.
It has an advanced industrial, market economy with a relatively high
standard of living. Twenty one percent of the population lived below
the poverty line in 2003. Unemployment was approximately 11 percent,
and was higher among the Arab population. Foreign workers, both legal
and illegal, constituted about 7 percent of the labor force.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Some members of
the security forces abused Palestinian detainees. Conditions in some
detention and interrogation facilities remained poor. During the year,
the Government detained on security grounds but without charge
thousands of persons in Israel. (Most were from the occupied
territories and their situation is covered in the annex.) The
Government did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal
discrimination against the country's Arab citizens. The Government did
not recognize marriages performed by non-Orthodox rabbis, compelling
many citizens to travel abroad to marry. The Government interfered with
individual privacy in some instances.
Discrimination and societal violence against women persisted,
although the Government continued to address these problems.
Trafficking in and abuse of women and foreign workers continued to be
problems. Discrimination against persons with disabilities persisted.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of politically motivated killings by the Government or its
agents during the year.
Twelve Israeli-Arab and one Palestinian protestors were killed by
police during October 2000 demonstrations (see Section 2. b.). The Orr
Commission of Inquiry (COI) was established to investigate those
killings. It recommended a number of measures, including criminal
prosecutions. The Cabinet adopted those recommendations in June. At
year's end, the Justice Ministry had not completed its investigations.
In October, the Justice Minister appointed Assistant Commander Benzi
Sau, one of the officers being investigated, to the position of Border
Police staff commander. The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in
Israel (Adalah), an Israeli-Arab advocacy group, charged that this was
a promotion. The Orr Commission specifically recommended that Sau not
be promoted due to his involvement in the killings.
During the year, terrorist organizations such as the Islamic
Resistance Movement (Hamas), Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Hizballah,
Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PLFP), committed numerous acts of terrorism in Israel as well as in
the occupied territories.
According to the Government, there was a 45 percent reduction in
the number of Israelis killed in such attacks during the year due to
the construction of a security barrier (see annex) and effective
terrorist interdiction. Seventy-six Israeli civilians and 4 foreign
nationals were killed, and over 394 were injured in terrorist attacks
during the year. Forty-one Israeli security forces were killed and 195
injured. There were 13 suicide attacks during the year that resulted in
53 Israeli and 2 Palestinian deaths. In addition, eight suicide bombers
killed only themselves. In contrast, 26 suicide attacks in 2003 caused
144 deaths.
In July 2003, the Border Police killed Morassi Jibali, an Israeli-
Arab. Police claimed the car in which he was a passenger had failed to
stop upon order, and that he had been mistaken for a terrorist. The
driver claimed that he had tried to avoid the roadblock because he was
driving without a license. According to Mossawa Advocacy Center for
Arab Citizens of Israel (Mossawa), witnesses reported that the police
did not warn the driver before firing and that police later prohibited
medical personnel from treating Jibali. At year's end, the Ministry of
Justice division for investigating police officers continued to
investigate the incident.
In July 2003, police killed unarmed Bedouin, Nasser Abu al Qia'an,
in his car at a junction. Police claimed he had tried to run them over
but at least one witness disputed the police account, reporting that
spikes in the road prevented any movement of the car. In September, the
Ministry of Justice filed an indictment against the police officer, who
was subsequently tried and found not guilty on the grounds of self-
defense.
In September 2003, residents of an Arab community, Kafr Qassem,
clashed with police searching for illegal immigrants. The police
wounded one Israeli Arab when, according to police reports, village
residents began to throw stones. According to Mossawa, at year's end,
the police had either not investigated or had closed all cases against
the police involved.
On January 29, a suicide bomber blew up a Jerusalem bus killing 11
Israelis and injuring 50. Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Hamas claimed
responsibility. On August 31, twin suicide bombs exploded on buses in
Be'er Sheva, killing 16 persons and injuring over 100. Hamas claimed
responsibility.
On November 1, a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv killed 3 Israelis and
wounded 30. The PFLP claimed responsibility. According to official
Israeli data, the number of rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli
targets increased over the year. Palestinian terrorists routinely fired
rockets into Sderot, a town that borders the Gaza Strip. Qassam rocket
attacks on June 28, and again on September 29, killed four residents of
Sderot.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Laws, judicial decisions, and administrative regulations
prohibit torture and abuse; however, during the year, credible NGOs
filed numerous complaints with the Government alleging that security
forces tortured and abused Palestinian detainees. (The law regarding
torture and allegations of torture of Palestinians by Israeli security
officials is discussed in the annex to this report.)
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) stated that
no ISA officials had been tried on torture charges during the past 3
years.
In June, the Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHR) petitioned
the Supreme Court to end what it termed the Israel Prison System's
(IPS) ``systematic abuse of prisoners'' in the Sharon Prison. In July,
the court decided to close the case after prisoner complaints ended
with the appointment of a new prison warden. At year's end, PHR
continued to investigate the complaints and had received relevant files
from the police.
A special bureau in the Ministry of Justice reviews complaints
against police officers and may impose disciplinary charges or issue
indictments against officers. During the year, several judges
criticized this bureau for launching faulty investigations against
police officers who were later acquitted.
In January, two police officers were convicted of raping a foreign
worker after they confiscated her work permit; each received a 2-year
prison sentence.
In May, an official secretly recorded a senior immigration police
officer stating that immigration police used excessive force when
detaining foreign workers. The senior officer confirmed his statement
to the media, but its accuracy was disputed by the Immigration Police
spokesperson. At year's end, a Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers
continued to investigate this matter.
The law provides detainees the right to live in conditions that do
not harm their health or dignity. Conditions in IPS facilities, which
house common law criminals and convicted security prisoners, and in IDF
military incarceration camps, which hold convicted security prisoners,
generally met international standards. The ICRC has access to these
facilities. However, police detention and interrogation facilities for
Palestinian were overcrowded and had austere, provisional conditions.
In June 2003, the Supreme Court issued a permanent injunction
prohibiting prisoners from being forced to sleep on the floor and
mandated that every prisoner be provided a bed. Subsequently, the
Minister of Internal Security stated that all persons held in the IPS
would receive a bed, daily outdoor exercise, telephone and visitation
rights, and less crowded facilities. In May, however, the IPS deputy
warden told a Knesset committee that approximately 500 prisoners in the
IPS, both security and criminal, slept nightly on prison floors because
of a lack of beds.
Conditions at the Russian Compound interrogation center in
Jerusalem remained harsh. According to a PHR report released in
November 2003, prisoners in the Russian Compound holding cells were
routinely handcuffed with their hands behind their backs to their feet,
sometimes for hours. The PHR report also stated that medical
examinations given to arriving prisoners were used to determine if the
prisoner could withstand ``the application of violent approaches to
those jailed.'' A reputable international organization with access to
this facility also reported during the year that it is investigating
the use of Israeli doctors in this capacity.
Women and children in prison were held separately from the adult
male population. Citizens 18 years and older and Palestinians 16 and
older were treated as adults. The ICRC reported that, as of the end of
December, the Government held 498 minor Palestinians, with the youngest
being 13 years old. Defense for Children International and Save the
Children charged that minors were being ``physically and mentally
abused,'' denied access to their families and legal representation
during interrogation, and held in overcrowded and unsanitary
conditions.
The ICRC regularly monitored IPS facilities, as well as IDF camps
and detention facilities. Pursuant to a 1979 ICRC-Israel agreement, the
ICRC does not have access to interrogation facilities but can meet with
detainees under interrogation in designated areas of those facilities.
NGOs generally were not permitted to monitor any incarceration
facilities, including within the IPS, but could send lawyers and
representatives to meet with prisoners in those facilities. According
to PHR, the Israeli Bar Association and public defenders were permitted
to inspect IPS facilities.
In December, in response to a petition to compel the Government to
release information on a secret IDF detention facility, the Supreme
Court ruled that the Government should not use secret interrogation
facilities. The court gave the Government 60 days to respond to its
undisclosed suggestions related to the secret facility.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions. (Palestinian security detainees fell under the
jurisdiction of military law even if they were detained in Israel (see
annex). When arrested, the accused is considered innocent until proven
guilty, has the right to habeas corpus, to remain silent, to be
represented by an attorney, to contact his family without delay, and to
a fair trial. A bail system exists and decisions denying bail are
subject to appeal. A citizen may be held without charge for 24 hours
before he must be brought before a judge (48 hours for administrative
detainees). If the detainee is suspected of committing a ``security
offense,'' the police and the courts can delay notification of counsel
for up to 31 days. The Government may withhold evidence from defense
lawyers on security grounds. In March, the Public Defender's Office
charged that the police sometimes failed to apprise detainees of their
rights under law and did not always provide detainees with legal
counsel when required. The Public Defender's Office estimated that, as
a result, approximately 500 persons were deprived of their rights to
due process.
Foreign nationals detained for suspected violations of immigration
law are afforded an immigration hearing within 4 days of detention, but
do not have the right to legal representation. According to the local
advocacy organization Hotline for Migrant Workers, appropriate
interpreters were not always present at the hearings. Hotline received
complaints from Israeli attorneys of being denied access to their
foreign clients. According to Hotline, foreign detainees were rarely
released pending judicial determination of their status. If the country
of origin of the detainee had no representation in the country,
detention could last for months, pending receipt of travel documents.
During the year, there were credible allegations that the police
knowingly detained and deported legal foreign workers to meet
deportation quotas.
Pursuant to the 1979 Emergency Powers Law, the Ministry of Defense
may order persons detained without charge or trial for up to 6 months
in administrative detention, renewable indefinitely subject to district
court review. Such detainees have the right to legal representation,
but the court may rely on confidential information to which the
defendant and his or her lawyer are not privy. Administrative detainees
have the right to appeal their cases to the Supreme Court.
In September, Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz ordered the 4-month
administrative detention of Israeli citizen Tali Fahima based on
confidential evidence that she was involved in terrorist activity.
Fahima's appeal to the Supreme Court was denied in November. In
December, she was released due to insufficient evidence, but was
rearrested shortly thereafter when police presented additional
evidence. Fahima remained in administrative detainee until later in
December, when the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court indicted her on criminal
charges, which included assisting the enemy during wartime and passing
information to the enemy. At year's end, she was detained pending
trial.
In the past, human rights groups have alleged abuse of preventative
or administrative detention orders in cases in which the accused did
not pose a clear danger to society.
In 2000, the High Court ruled that detaining Lebanese captives
indefinitely as ``bargaining chips'' violated the administrative
detention law. In 2002, the Knesset passed the Illegal Combatant Law
allowing the IDF to detain persons who are 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.''
In January, the GOI released Mustafa Dirani, head of the security
for the Amal militia; Sheikh Obeid, a Lebanese cleric; and some 25
other Lebanese prisoners held as enemy combatants in return for the
release of Elchanan Tanenbaum, a kidnapped Israeli held by the
Hizballah terrorist group in Lebanon, and the remains of three IDF
soldiers kidnapped to Lebanon in 2000. The Government also released 400
Palestinian prisoners and another 9 foreign prisoners in addition to
the Lebanese. In October 2003, the Tel Aviv District Court disclosed
that a Lebanese citizen, imprisoned in the country for 5 years but
eligible for release, had been detained under administrative detention
for the past year because the IDF decreed him an illegal combatant. He
was released and repatriated in December.
According to a reputable international organization, at year's end
one Lebanese national remained in Israeli detention.
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. District
Courts prosecute felonies, and Magistrate Courts prosecute
misdemeanors. There are military, religious, labor relations, and
administrative courts, with the High Court of Justice as the ultimate
judicial authority. The High Court is both a court of first instance
and an appellate court (when it sits as the Supreme Court). All courts
in the judicial system, including the High Court of Justice, thus have
appellate courts of jurisdiction. Religious courts, representing the
main recognized religious groups, have jurisdiction over matters of
personal status for their adherents (see Section 2.c.).
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 rather than juries
decide cases.
Nonsecurity trials are public except in cases in which the
interests of the parties are determined to be best served by privacy.
Security or military trials are open to independent observers upon
request and at the discretion of the court, but they are not open to
the general public. The law provides for the right to a hearing with
legal representation, and authorities generally observed this right in
practice. In cases of serious felonies--subject to penalties of 10
years or more--indigent defendants receive mandatory legal
representation. Indigent defendants facing lesser sentences are
provided with representation on a discretionary basis. Counsel
represented approximately 70 percent of defendants.
The 1970 regulations governing military trials are the same as
evidentiary rules in criminal cases. Convictions may not be based
solely on confessions; however, according to PCATI, in practice, some
security prisoners have been sentenced on the basis of the coerced
confessions made by both themselves and others. Counsel may assist the
accused, and a judge may assign counsel to those defendants when the
judge deems it necessary. Indigent detainees are not provided with free
legal representation for military trials. Charges are made available to
the defendant and the public in Hebrew, and the court can order that
they be translated into Arabic if necessary. Sentencing procedures in
military courts were consistent with those in criminal courts.
Defendants in military trials have the right to appeal through the
Military High Court. Defendants in military trials also can petition
the civilian High Court of Justice (sitting as a court of first
instance) in cases in which they believe there are procedural or
evidentiary irregularities.
According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to
impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens.
Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to
be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail.
In May, three Israeli Arabs were released after having been
detained for 10 months in prison when the police arrested new suspects
for the July 2003 murder of IDF corporal Oleg Shaigat. One of those
released publicly stated that his confession was coerced. According to
the Government, it will conduct an official examination of this case.
Human rights NGOs charged that the former mayor of the Arab city of
Umm al-Fahm, Sheikh Raed Salah, who was arrested in May 2003 for
allegedly funneling money to terrorist organizations, has been unfairly
denied bail despite his status and community ties. At year's end, his
case was still pending.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law generally protected privacy of the individual
and the home. In criminal cases, the law permits wiretapping under
court order; in security cases, the Ministry of Defense must issue the
order. Under emergency regulations, authorities may open and destroy
mail based on security considerations.
In May, the High Court banned the unsupervised electronic flow to
public bodies and banks of data on private citizens maintained by the
Government's Population Registry.
Separate religious court systems adjudicate personal status matters
such as marriage and divorce for the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and
Druze communities. Jews can only marry in Orthodox Jewish services.
Jews and members of other religious communities who wish to have a
civil marriage, Jews who wish to marry according to Reform or
Conservative Judaism, those not recognized as being Jewish, and those
marrying someone from another faith, must marry abroad in order to gain
government recognition of their unions. While civil marriages are
available in nearby Cyprus and are recognized by the Government, this
requirement presents a hardship. In July, the Knesset extended for 6
months the 2003 law that prohibits citizens' Palestinian spouses from
the occupied territories from residing in the country (see Section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. The law prohibits hate speech and incitement to
violence, and the 1948 Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance makes it
illegal for persons to express support for illegal or terrorist
organizations. In previous years, the Government has prosecuted persons
for allegedly speaking or writing on behalf of terrorist groups;
however, there were no such incidents during the year.
On May 25, the ISA detained for 2 days British journalist Peter
Hounam following his meeting with nuclear whistleblower Mordechai
Vanunu, who was released in April after serving 18 years in prison (see
Section 2.d.). The terms of Vanunu's release prohibited him from
meeting with the foreign press unless approved by the Government. On
November 11, police re-arrested Vanunu for meeting foreign media in
violation of the terms of his release and confiscated his computer.
Vanunu acknowledged the violation, and was released after 12 hours.
Vanunu's computer had not been returned by year's end.
In June, Arab Knesset Members Ahmed Tibi and Taleb el-Sana were
censured by the Knesset Ethics Committee for harshly criticizing IDF
operations in Gaza. The Committee banned Tibi and el-Sana from
attending Knesset sessions for 1 and 2 days, respectively.
In September, the Supreme Court upheld its original ruling
overturning the Film Council's ban on the screening of the film,
``Jenin, Jenin,'' which depicts fighting in the West Bank refugee camp
in Jenin during April 2002. In its decision, the Supreme Court reasoned
that a ban on the film was an undue infringement on freedom of
expression.
Arab Knesset Member Azmi Bishara was indicted (after the Knesset
lifted his immunity) for making statements allegedly supportive of
Hizballah during 2000 visits to Syria (a country still in a state of
war with Israel) and to the Israeli-Arab city of Umm al-Fahm. In
November, the Supreme Court held a hearing on a petition filed by
Adalah to dismiss the charges. At year's end, the case was still
pending.
As a general rule, Israeli media covered the occupied territories,
except for combat zones where access was restricted. In general,
journalists continued to claim that the Government placed limitations
on their freedom of movement within the occupied territories. The
Government claimed such restrictions were necessary for the security of
the journalists.
There were several allegations from foreign media that the IDF
fired upon journalists (see annex).
In August, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government Press Office
could not apply a blanket refusal to issue press credentials to
facilitate access to official events to Palestinians from the occupied
territories. The Court reasoned that such a blanket policy did not
properly balance freedom of the press and national security.
All newspapers are privately owned and managed. According to the
Journalism Ordinance dating from the British Mandate, anyone wishing to
publish a newspaper must apply for a license from the locality. The
ordinance also allows the Minister of Interior, under certain
conditions, to close a newspaper. In November, the High Court heard a
petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
challenging the ordinance; at year's end, the court had not reached a
decision.
The country has 12 daily newspapers, 90 weekly newspapers, more
than 250 periodical publications, and a number of Internet news sites.
The quasi-independent Israel Broadcast Authority controls
television Channel 1 and Kol Israel (Voice of Israel) radio, both 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. There are
three cable and one satellite television companies that carry
international networks and shows specifically produced for the domestic
audience.
The law authorizes the Government to censor any material reported
from the country or the occupied territories that it regards as
sensitive on national security grounds. A censorship agreement between
the Government and media representatives provides for military
censorship only in cases involving issues that are nearly certain to
harm the country's defense interests. Media organizations may appeal
the censor's decision to the High Court of Justice, and they are not
subject to closure by the military censor for censorship violations.
The military censor cannot appeal a court judgment. Foreign journalists
were required to sign an agreement upon receiving their press cards in
which they agreed to submit sensitive articles and photographs to the
military censor. In practice, they rarely complied; however, the censor
reviewed such material after the fact. News printed or broadcast abroad
may be reported without censorship. During the year, there were
instances of newspapers being fined for violating censorship
regulations.
The Government generally respected academic freedom; however, ISA
approval was needed for appointments of teachers and administrators in
Arab schools. In August, members of a Knesset committee reviewing the
status of the Arab education system criticized this practice.
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. ACRI reported that the police
confiscated posters from both right and left wing demonstrations during
the year, including posters referring to Prime Minister Sharon as a
``dictator.''
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. The Basic Law and
Declaration of Independence recognize the country as a ``Jewish and
democratic state,'' establishing Judaism as the country's dominant
religion. Civil rights NGOs have accurately charged the Government with
the discriminatory allocation of state resources favoring Orthodox
Jewish institutions.
Religious communities are conferred recognition under the law,
enabling them to exercise legal authority over their members in
personal status matters, such as marriage and divorce. These
communities included the Eastern Orthodox Church, several Catholic
orders, Maronites, and Jews. Three additional communities have been
recognized--the Druze, the Evangelical Episcopal Church, and the
Baha'i. Several religious communities are not recognized, including
Protestant groups. Unrecognized communities may practice their religion
freely and maintain communal institutions, but are ineligible to
receive government funding for religious services.
The fact that there was no recognized Muslim community is a vestige
of the Ottoman period, during which time Islam was the dominant
religion, and did not affect the rights of Muslims to practice their
faith. Legislation enacted in 1961 afforded the Muslim courts exclusive
jurisdiction to rule in matters of personal status concerning Muslims.
Secular courts have primacy over questions of inheritance, but parties,
by mutual agreement, may bring cases to religious courts. Muslims,
since 2001, also have the right to bring matters such as alimony and
property division associated with divorce cases to civil courts in
family-status matters.
Under the Law of Return, the Government grants citizenship and
residence rights to Jewish immigrants and their immediate family
members. In May, the High Court held that non-Jews who immigrate to the
country and then convert according to Orthodox requirements are
eligible to become citizens pursuant to the Law of Return. The court
let stand the State's practice of not recognizing conversions to
Judaism performed in the country by non-Orthodox rabbis.
In December, ACRI released a report charging that the Ministry of
Interior's Population Authority sought to prevent non-Jews--
particularly spouses of Israeli citizens--from obtaining residential
status.
Many citizens objected to exclusive Orthodox control over religious
aspects of their personal lives. Approximately 300,000 citizens who
immigrated under the Law of Return are not considered Jewish by the
Orthodox Rabbinate. These immigrants cannot be married, divorced, or
buried within the country. A 1996 law requiring the Government to
establish civil cemeteries has not been implemented adequately. Non-
Jews and Jews who wish to marry in Reform, Conservative, or secular
ceremonies must do so abroad.
Non-Orthodox Jews faced greater difficulties than Orthodox Jews in
adopting children. In December, on petition of the Israeli Religious
Action Center (IRAC), the High Court of Justice ordered the Government
to justify the Adoption Service of the Ministry of Social Affairs'
practice of placing non-Jewish children only in Orthodox Jewish homes.
According to IRAC, the budget for Jewish religious services,
institutions, and schools for the year was approximately $450 million
(1.9 billion New Israeli shekels(NIS), and virtually none of this went
to non-Orthodox institutions. Also according to IRAC, the budget for
the non-Jewish population was approximately $9 million (40 million
NIS)--2 percent of the budget for 18 percent of the population.
Muslim groups complained that the Government does not equitably
fund the construction and upkeep of Muslim holy sites in comparison to
Jewish Orthodox sites. It charged that the Government was reluctant to
refurbish mosques in areas where there is no longer a Muslim population
and has allowed mosques to be used for nonreligious purposes. The 1967
Protection of Holy Sites Law protects all holy sites, but the
Government has only issued implementing regulations for Jewish sites.
In November, Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the
Government to issue regulations to protect Muslim sites, charging the
Government's failure to implement regulations had resulted in
desecration and the conversion of some into commercial establishments,
including bars.
Since 2000, the Government no longer requires Israeli Muslims to
obtain permission from the Interior Ministry to travel to Saudi Arabia
on the Hajj.
During 2003, the Government refused to grant residence visas to
approximately 130 Catholic clergy assigned by the Vatican to the
country and the occupied territories. According to representatives of
Christian institutions, the process of visa issuance for religious
workers significantly improved during the year. The Interior Ministry's
Christian Department reported it had approved most of the 3,000
applications made by clergy during the year.
During the year, there were reports that airport immigration
deported non-Jews with mutilated passports, whereas Jews with damaged
travel documents were allowed entry.
Missionaries were allowed to proselytize, although the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints voluntarily refrained from doing so
under an agreement with the Government. There were incidents of
societal religious intolerance. In October, a yeshiva student spat at
the Armenian archbishop of Jerusalem. The student was arrested and
ordered to remain away from the Old City for 75 days. He also made a
formal apology. There were incidents where ultra-Orthodox Jews threw
rocks at motorists to protest their driving on the Sabbath.
In January, the Government recognized the duly elected Greek
Orthodox Patriarch, Eirinaios I; however, a legal challenge delayed
implementation until March. Eirinaios I was elected in 2001, but had
been unable to conclude financial or legal arrangements on behalf of
the Patriarchate. However, he had been free to travel to the West Bank
and Syria, where he is also the ecclesiastical authority.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
(Restrictions on movement within the occupied territories, between the
territories and Israel, and the construction of a security barrier are
discussed in the annex.)
Citizens generally were free to travel abroad and to emigrate,
provided they had no outstanding military obligations and were not
restricted by administrative order. Pursuant to the 1945 State of
Emergency Regulations, the Government may bar citizens from leaving the
country based on security considerations. In April, the Government
released Mordechai Vanunu after he served 18 years in prison for
revealing details of the country's nuclear program to a British
newspaper, the Sunday Times. Upon release, the Government prohibited
Vanunu from going within 500 meters of airports and overland border
crossings, and from entering any foreign diplomatic offices. Citing
security concerns, the Minister of Interior barred Vanunu from leaving
the country for 12 months. On December 24, Vanunu was detained at a
checkpoint when he attempted to travel to Bethlehem for midnight mass;
he was released the next day (see Section 2. a.)
Citing confidential security reasons, in 2002, the Government
imposed and renewed 6-month bans on foreign travel for Sheik Raed
Salah, leader of the Northern Branch of Israel's Islamic Movement. In
May 2003, Sheikh Salah was arrested for allegedly providing funds to
terrorist groups. His trial was ongoing during the year.
Citizens, including dual nationals, are required to enter and leave
the country using their Israeli passports only. In addition, no citizen
or passport holder is permitted to travel to countries officially at
war with Israel without special permission from the Government.
Advocacy groups challenged the 2003 temporary Citizenship and Entry
into Israel Law, which bars Palestinians from the occupied territories
from acquiring residence or citizenship rights through marriage to
Israelis or to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. These groups claimed
that the law has a disproportionate adverse effect on the country's
Arab citizens and residents (see Section 5).
In 2002, the police confiscated the passport of Archimandrite
Attallah Hanna, a citizen and a priest with the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate, for allegedly visiting Lebanon without permission and for
making public statements hostile toward Israel while there. The case
against Hanna was closed in January after Hanna signed a declaration
renouncing terrorism. At year's end, Hanna claimed that he had not
received a response to his application for a passport.
The law prohibits forced exile of citizens, and the Government
generally respected this prohibition in practice.
The Government provides refugees all the protections under the 1951
U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol
and has established a system whereby persons can apply for refugee
status. Palestinians were considered under the protection of the U.N.
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and therefore not
eligible for refugee status in the country.
The Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (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 or 1967 Protocol. The Government provided temporary
humanitarian protection to persons from ``conflict countries,''
including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Some individuals present on tourist or work visas, or illegally,
filed petitions with the local UNHCR representative seeking refugee
status. The UNHCR referred eligible refugee applicants to the National
Status Granting Body (NSGB), a committee consisting of representatives
of the Justice, Foreign, and Interior Ministries. The NSGB issued
recommendations, with the Ministry of Interior making final
adjudication on refugee status. The Tel Aviv University Refugee Rights
Clinic charged that the NSGB's procedures were not transparent, that it
did not publish data, and that applicants who were denied status by the
NSGB often were not given a reason for the denial.
The Government did not return those denied refugee status to their
home countries against their will. According to the Tel Aviv University
Clinic, some of those denied refugee status could remain in detention
facilities for months. In the case of asylum seekers from countries
with which Israel was at war, the Government attempted to find a third
country to accept them. The Government provided asylum seekers with
temporary work permits, but it did not provide them with social
benefits. If a person was granted refugee status, it was government
policy to grant renewable temporary visas.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage for adult citizens. National elections were held in January
2003, when the Likud Party led by Ariel Sharon again won a plurality of
Knesset seats, and Sharon was asked to form a Government of which he
became Prime Minister. The country is a parliamentary democracy with an
active multiparty system in which political views are wide ranging.
Relatively small parties, including those whose primary support was
among Israeli Arabs, regularly win seats in the Knesset. Elections are
by secret ballot.
In March, the State Comptroller discovered the names of 2,298
citizens age 110 or over in the voter registry, and determined that
ballots had been cast in the names of some of these individuals. The
Comptroller recommended that the Ministry of Interior investigate the
registry's data to prevent fraud.
The Basic Law prohibits the candidacy of any party or individual
who denies the Jewish character and democratic existence of the State
of Israel, incites racism, or supports in action or speech the armed
struggle of enemy states or terror organizations. Prior to the 2003
election, there were efforts to disqualify Arab candidates under the
provisions of this law; however, they were overturned by the Supreme
Court.
In June, the Attorney General exonerated Prime Minister Sharon of
allegations that he accepted bribes while serving as foreign minister
in 1999. The Attorney General continued to review the Prime Minister's
connections to the so-called ``Cyril Kern Affair,'' in which he was
alleged to have engaged in questionable financial dealings to refund
illegal campaign contributions.
On July 11, the Prime Minister dismissed Minister of Infrastructure
and Knesset Member Josef Paritzky from his cabinet seat after Channel 1
Television broadcast a tape of Paritzky allegedly plotting with a
private detective to defame a party rival.
In September, Knesset Member Tzachi Hanegbi was suspended from his
post as Minister of Public Security, pending a criminal investigation
into allegations he made inappropriate political appointments while
serving as environment minister from 2001-03. At year's end, there had
been no further developments.
There was an increasing public perception of corruption in the
executive and legislative branches.
A 2000 law affords the public access to government information, and
citizens could petition for such access. According to the Association
for Civil Rights in Israel, the Government does not effectively
implement its freedom of information act; consequently, information was
not always easy to obtain.
There were 18 women in the 120-member Knesset, and women chaired 6
of the Knesset's 21 committees, including the Committee on the Status
of Women. There were 3 women in the Cabinet and 6 women on the 14-
member High Court of Justice. There were 11 Arabs, including 2 Druze,
in the 120-member Knesset; most of these 11 represented parties that
derived their support largely or entirely from the Arab community. In
March, for the first time since the establishment of the State, an Arab
was appointed as a permanent justice to the High Court of Justice. No
Muslim or Druze citizens served on the court.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Following a visit in November 2003, the World Organization Against
Torture and the International Federation for Human Rights concluded in
a study that human rights groups were able to perform a full range of
investigative and protective activities in the country ``without major
difficulties.''
In November 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a new
liaison unit to develop and maintain relations with international and
domestic NGOs, assist domestic NGOs to participate in U.N. and other
international fora, and to facilitate international NGOs' visits to the
country.
During the year, the Ministry of Interior, operating under a 2002
order, barred entry to all foreign nationals affiliated with certain
Palestinian human rights NGOs and solidarity organizations. In July,
immigration police detained a U.S. citizen for over a month at Ben
Gurion Airport on security grounds before a district court ruled that
she could enter. The U.S. citizen was affiliated with the International
Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian advocacy NGO.
In February, the Ministry of Interior sustained the appeal of
Adalah against the decision of the Office of the Registrar of
Associations to investigate its activities. The registrar had contended
that Adalah exceeded its mandate by associating with a political party
and mismanaging its finances.
NGOs must register with the Government by submitting an application
and paying approximately $20 (85 NIS). They operate under the laws for
nonprofit organizations. If its application is approved after
investigation, the NGO receives a license to operate and must register
with the tax office to receive tax-exempt status. Registered NGOs are
eligible to receive state funding. Some Israeli-Arab NGOs have
complained in the past of difficulties in both registering and
receiving state funding.
(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 sex, marital
status, race, political beliefs, or age. Local human rights groups
believed that often these laws were not enforced, either due to
institutionalized discrimination or lack of resources.
Women.--The Equality of Women Law provides for equal rights for
women in the workplace, the military, education, health, housing, and
social welfare, and entitles women to protection from violence, sexual
harassment, sexual exploitation, and trafficking; however, violence
against women was a problem. According to an annual government report
released in March, approximately 140,000 women--almost 12 percent of
the country's adult women population--reported that they suffered from
spousal abuse in 2003. The Ministry of Welfare and several Knesset
committees, including the Domestic Violence Committee, have taken steps
to address this problem. A wide variety of women's organizations and
hotlines provided services to abused women. One organization reported
that it handled approximately 1,300 hotline calls regarding domestic
violence in 2003 with calls from women double those from men.
Rape is illegal; NGOs considered the incidence of rape a matter of
concern.
In 2001, the Government enacted the Prevention of Stalking Law and
amended the Prevention of Family Violence Law to require a number of
public and private sector professional personnel to inform suspected
victims of their right to turn to the police, welfare service, or
Centers for the Prevention of Domestic Violence for assistance. There
were no accurate statistics regarding the extent of sexual harassment
in the workplace, although there was a dramatic increase in the number
of complaints following the enactment of the 1998 law prohibiting
sexual harassment. According to a government report issued in July, the
65 cases of sexual harassment recorded in 2003 in the public sector
resulted in 12 employees facing internal disciplinary action (warnings)
and 2 male employees being forced to resign. Currently, 13 public
employees accused of harassment face trial.
According to IDF data, 358 soldiers complained of sexual harassment
during the year, an increase of 3 percent from 2003. Male soldiers made
14 of the complaints.
In 2003, a women's organization reported three cases of Arab women
killed by male relatives in ``honor'' cases, and that a Bedouin women's
organization suspected 10 cases of women disappearing in the Negev to
involve honor killings. There was no accurate estimate of the number of
family honor cases as families often attempted to cover up the cause of
such deaths.
Prostitution is not illegal; however, the operation of brothels and
organized sex enterprises is outlawed.
The law provides for class action suits and requires employers to
provide equal pay for equal work, including benefits and allowances;
however, women's rights advocates claimed that significant wage gaps
remained. According to figures published in March by the Central Bureau
of Statistics, men's wages in 2002 were 23 percent higher than women's
earnings. Women make up 56 percent of the bottom echelon of wage
earners, but they are only 34 percent of the top echelon.
Religious courts adjudicate personal status law. Jewish and Muslim
women are subject to restrictive interpretations of their rights in
both systems. Jewish women are not allowed to initiate divorce
proceedings without their husbands' consent. Consequently, there were
estimated to be thousands of so-called ``agunot'' who 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. A foreign man was jailed for over
2 years because he refused to grant his wife a writ of divorce. Some
Islamic law courts in the country have held that a Muslim woman may not
request a divorce, but that a woman may be forced to consent if a
divorce is granted to the husband.
Children.--Government spending on children was proportionally lower
in predominantly Arab areas than in Jewish areas. In December 2003, the
Child Welfare Council of Israel published a report that children in the
country were growing poorer, and increasingly falling victim to
violence, sexual exploitation, and drug and alcohol addiction. In
November, the National Insurance Institute's (NIS) annual report on
poverty showed that approximately 680,000 children, or 30 percent of
the total child population, lived below the poverty line in 2003.
However, some economists disputed the NIS' definition of poverty as
overly broad. In October the Eli child protection organization reported
to a Knesset committee that in 2003 it addressed 3,599 child abuse
cases, as compared to 699 in 2000. The group attributed the increase in
part to a new law requiring reporting of such abuse. The group claimed
that child abuse cases in the country increased five-fold after 2000.
On February 9, Elem, an NGO that aids troubled youth, estimated
that there were more than 1,000 women under the age of 18 who work as
prostitutes.
Education is compulsory until the child reaches the 10th grade.
The Government operated two school systems: One for secular Jews
and Arabs, and one for Orthodox Jews. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools,
while not a part of the public system, also received government
funding. In December, the National Task Force for the Advancement of
Education in Israel (the Dovrat Committee) issued a report including
recommendations that would affect ultra-Orthodox schools. Ultra-
Orthodox political parties, such as the United Torah Judaism, opposed
interference by the Government in its school system.
Most Jewish children attended schools where the language of
instruction was Hebrew and the curriculum included Jewish history. Most
Israeli-Arab children chose schools where the language of instruction
was Arabic and the curriculum had less of a Jewish focus. Israeli-Arab
advocacy groups charged that Arab children received an education
inferior to that of Jewish children in the secular system.
According to the Government's February 2002 report to the U.N.,
government investment per Arab pupil was approximately 60 percent of
investment per Jewish pupil.
High school graduation rates for Arabs were significantly lower
than for Jews. According to an Israeli-Arab advocacy group, the
percentage of Jews beginning university studies was 21.5 percent
compared with 11.5 percent of those defined as ``members of other
religions,'' mostly Arabs. Preschool attendance for Bedouin children
was the lowest in the country, and the dropout rate for Bedouin high
school students was the highest. Arab members of the Knesset have
criticized the lower academic achievements of Arab students and stated
that this was an indication of discrimination in the system.
The Government has legislated against sexual, physical, and
psychological abuse of children and has mandated comprehensive
reporting requirements. The sharp increase in reported cases of child
abuse in recent years, activists believed, was due to increased
awareness rather than a growing pattern of abuse. There were five
shelters for children at risk of abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in women for
the purpose of sexual exploitation; however, trafficking of women for
prostitution remained a serious problem. Trafficking in foreign labor
has also been a problem. The penal code stipulates that it is a
criminal offense, punishable by between 4 and 20 years imprisonment, to
coerce a person to engage in prostitution and makes it a crime to
induce a woman to leave the country to ``practice prostitution
abroad.''
The operation of brothels and ``organized sex enterprises'' is
outlawed, as are many of the abuses committed by traffickers and
procurers, such as assault, rape, abduction, and false imprisonment;
however, brothels operated in several major cities. The law guarantees
foreign laborers legal status, decent working conditions, health
insurance, and a written employment contract; however, some foreign
laborers entered the country under conditions that constituted
trafficking. Numerous reports documented foreign laborers living in
harsh conditions, subjected to debt bondage, and restricted in their
movements.
Organized crime groups trafficked women primarily from the former
Soviet Union, sometimes luring these women by offers of service jobs.
Foreign laborers came mainly from Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa,
Turkey, Eastern Europe (Romania), and South and Central America. Some
women were sold to brothels, forced to live in harsh conditions,
subjected to beatings and rape, and reportedly forced to work off
transportation costs and other ``debts'' through sexual servitude. In
September, police arrested 40 suspected members of a Russian-Israeli
prostitute smuggling ring which, according to a major media report, the
police believed had brought hundreds of women into the country over the
past decade. According to local NGOs, several hundred women are
trafficked into the country annually, but the number decreased from
previous years because of increased airport security.
During the year, the Government strengthened its laws for fighting
trafficking and established a new border police unit to combat
smuggling of persons and drugs across the border with Egypt. A 2003 law
provides minimum sentencing requirements for convicted sex traffickers.
During the year, the Government filed 89 indictments for trafficking.
Also, the police conducted 50 criminal investigations of trafficking
and 516 involving related offenses. During the year, the police
arrested 103 persons for trafficking, 69 of whom were denied bail. The
prosecution division of the Ministry of Trade and Labor filed 309
criminal indictments against employers and manpower firms for
violations of labor laws concerned with employment of foreign workers.
The Government received 88 judgments against violators during the year,
for a combined sum in criminal fines of approximately $3 million (13.5
million NIS).
The Government investigated allegations that individual police
officers engaged in misconduct, including taking bribes or tipping off
brothels of raids, but these instances of corruption were not
widespread.
In February, the Government opened a new, 50-person-capacity
shelter for trafficking victims. As of the end of the year, it was
almost filled to capacity, and NGOs claimed that additional shelters
were needed. The Government continued to provide some victims with
lodging in police-funded hostels, minimal financial assistance, and
access to medical care. Trafficking victims who are willing to assist
in prosecuting traffickers, are not prosecuted or fined for illegal
entry or for the possession of fraudulent documents, and receive visas
and permits. According to the Government, during the year, 108
trafficking victims chose to testify, compared to 81 victims in 2003.
In August 2003, the State Attorney's office, the police, and the
Knesset urged the courts to speed up the process of taking testimony
from trafficking victims; the law stipulates that testimony must be
taken within 2 months of the indictment of suspected traffickers, but
some victims have waited as long as 18 months.
In comparison with previous years, the Government increased its
campaign to combat trafficking, and cooperated with local NGOs to
launch an information campaign in countries of origin. With assistance
of NGOs, the Government distributed brochures through its embassies in
such source countries as Moldova and Uzbekistan, warning potential
victims of the threat.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Government provided a range of
benefits, including income maintenance, housing subsidies, and
transportation support for persons with disabilities, who constituted
approximately 2.4 percent of the population. Existing
antidiscrimination laws do not prohibit discrimination based on
disability, and persons with disabilities continued to encounter
difficulties in areas such as employment and housing. A law requiring
access to public buildings for persons with disabilities was not widely
enforced and accessibility of public transportation was not legally
mandated. A 2002 survey of buildings by the Commissioner for Equality
for the Disabled indicated that most building owners have ignored
access laws for persons with disabilities. The commissioner also
accused the Government of not adequately providing for the employment
needs of the persons with disabilities, despite legal requirements to
do so. In December 2003, the Attorney General told the Knesset
committee that laws protecting and assisting persons with disabilities
were not being implemented due mainly to a lack of funding.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Orr Commission of Inquiry's
report (see Section 1.a.) stated that the ``Government handling of the
Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,'' that
the Government ``did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of
the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state
resources in an equal manner.'' As a result, ``serious distress
prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress
included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in
the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.''
In June, the Government adopted the proposals of a special
ministerial committee on implementing the Orr Commission's
recommendations, including the establishment of a government body to
promote the Arab sector, the 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 had not implemented these
proposals.
In December, the Knesset established a new subcommittee charged
with monitoring the needs of the Israeli-Arab sector and advocating
necessary alterations in the budget. The subcommittee is to be chaired
by an Israeli-Arab Knesset member.
In November, the Israeli-Arab advocacy NGO Sikkuy's annual report
stated that 45 percent of Arab families were poor, in contrast to 15
percent of Jewish families, and that the rate of infant mortality in
the Arab sector was 8 out of 1,000 births--twice that of the Jewish
population. According to Human Rights Watch, during the year, the
Government provided 1 teacher for every 16 Jewish primary school
children compared to 1 teacher for every 19.7 Arab children.
According to a report by Mossawa, racist violence against Arab
citizens has increased, and the Government has not done enough to
prevent this problem. The annual report cited 17 acts of violence by
Jewish citizens against Arab citizens. In October, police arrested two
15-year-old boys for allegedly assaulting and harassing Arabs several
months earlier. The two youths reportedly have admitted to the
allegations against them. Advocacy groups charged government officials
with making racist statements. In December, Knesset member Yehiel Hazan
likened Arabs to ``worms'' in a speech in the Knesset on a terrorist
attack. The Attorney General declined to open investigations into
incitement by several public figures, including Hazan.
In June, the Jerusalem District Court filed six indictments against
fans of a local soccer team for shouting ``death to the Arabs'' at the
local stadium. In May, then-Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman
publicly advocated the transfer of Israeli-Arab communities to the
occupied territories. A Haifa University poll released in June revealed
that over 63 percent of Jews believed that the Government should
encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate.
Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain,
including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the
Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased,
not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-
Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of
Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land
Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it
banned Arabs from bidding. The ILA halted marketing JNF land in the
North and the Galilee. In December, Adalah petitioned the High Court to
annul definitively the ILA policy. At year's end, there had been no
court action.
The Jewish community of Katzir had refused to provide an Israeli-
Arab family, the Ka'adans, with title to a plot of land. In 2000, the
High Court of Justice ruled that the Government cannot discriminate
against Israeli Arabs in the distribution of State resources, and that
the ILA must provide the Ka'adans with the plot they wanted to buy.
According to ACRI, the Ka'adans will be able to sign a lease upon
payment of a development fee to the local municipality.
Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the
Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab
sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing
building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities,
thereby not accommodating natural growth. In February, security forces
demolished several homes allegedly built without authorization in the
Arab village of Beineh (see Section 1.c.). The Orr Commission found
that ``suitable planning should be carried out [in the Arab sector] as
soon as possible to prevent illegal construction... `` A ministerial
committee, created to advise the Government on implementing the Orr
Commission recommendations, called on the ILA to complete master plans
for Arab towns, some half of which currently lack such plans. In towns
without plans, and in 46 unrecognized Bedouin villages, building
permits are not legally available. Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations
have challenged the Government's plan to demolish more illegal
buildings in areas in which it is not possible to obtain building
permits.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from
specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This
judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by
Arab Israelis.
Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the
1996 ``Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel,'' which listed as
priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking
the territorial contiguity of Arab towns. Objections were presented at
a hearing in March 2003, but there was no response from the National
Council for Building and Planning. The plan had not been implemented at
year's end.
On February 25, security forces demolished several homes in the
Arab village of Beineh, claiming that the houses were built illegally.
Adalah filed a complaint in April with the Ministry of Justice charging
that security forces assaulted residents of Beineh in their homes and
caused widespread property damage during the demolitions. At year's
end, the Justice Ministry was still investigating the incident.
Israeli Arabs were underrepresented in the student bodies and
faculties of most universities and in higher professional and business
ranks. The Bureau of Statistics noted that the median number of school
years for the Jewish population is 3 years more than for the Arab
population. Well educated Arabs often were unable to find jobs
commensurate with their level of education. According to Sikkuy, Arab
citizens held approximately 60 to 70 of the country's 5,000 university
faculty positions. A small number of Israeli Arabs have risen to
responsible positions in the civil service, generally in the Arab
departments of government ministries. In September 2003, the Government
approved an affirmative action plan to promote the hiring of Israeli
Arabs in the civil service. However, according to Civil Service
Commission data, only 5.05 percent of civil servants are Arab or Druze
and only 193 of the 4,531 civil servants hired in 2003 were non-Jewish.
In January, in order to implement a 2000 law requiring that
minorities be granted ``appropriate representation'' in the civil
service and on the boards of government corporations, Prime Minister
Sharon mandated that every state-run company's corporate board must
have at least one Arab member by August. In June, the media reported
that the number of Arabs sitting on the boards of state corporations
actually had declined. According to data from the Government Companies
Authority, Arabs were only 36 out of the 544 board members of state-run
companies.
Israeli Arabs continued to complain of discriminatory treatment at
the airport. In February, Ben Gurion Airport security officials singled
out the editor of an Arab weekly, Lutfi Mashour, from his Jewish
colleagues for additional security checks before he could join the
press entourage, whose individual members President Moshe Katsav had
invited to accompany him to Paris. Mashour refused to subject himself
to the checks, and security officials prevented him from accompanying
the President.
Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military
service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs
served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less
access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which
military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing,
new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or
security-related industrial employment. Regarding the latter, for
security reasons, Israeli Arabs generally were restricted from working
in companies with defense contracts or in security-related fields. In
December, the Ivri Committee on National Service issued official
recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to
perform national or ``civic'' service, but be afforded an opportunity
to perform such service.
The Israeli Druze and Circassian communities were subject to the
military draft, and the overwhelming majority accepted service
willingly. Some Bedouin and other Arab citizens who were not subject to
the draft served voluntarily.
The Bedouin sector was the weakest of all the population groups in
the country. The COI report called for ``special attention'' to the
living conditions of the Bedouin community. Approximately 140,000
Bedouin live in the Negev; half in 7 state-planned communities, and the
rest in 46 unrecognized settlements. The recognized Bedouin villages
received basic services, but remained among the poorest communities in
the country. According to a media report, some ``60 percent of the
community's babies are not inoculated, the school dropout rate is
exceedingly high, and 31 percent of school-age children in unrecognized
settlements are illiterate.'' According to PHR, the unrecognized
villages were not connected to national infrastructure and lacked basic
services.
In March, the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction to
prevent the ILA from spraying herbicide on Bedouin crops in
unrecognized villages. Adalah alleged that the herbicide has caused
adverse health effects; the ILA claimed that the crops were planted
illegally on state-owned land.
During the year, the Government began to implement a plan to
relocate Bedouin living in unrecognized villages to seven new
townships. Nearly two-thirds of the plan's $225 million (1 billion NIS)
allocation is earmarked for ``environmental law enforcement in the
Negev,'' which included resources for crop-spraying and home
demolitions.
Government planners noted that funds to complete the seven new
townships were far from sufficient, and that the average Bedouin family
did not have adequate funds to purchase a home there. Clashes between
authorities and residents of unrecognized villages have escalated over
the past year, resulting in one Bedouin resident of the village of Atir
killed during a clash with a government home-demolition unit.
In July, the Government extended for 6 months the 2003 Citizenship
and Entry into Israel Law, which bars Palestinians from the occupied
territories from acquiring residence or citizenship rights through
marriage to Israelis. Several civil rights groups petitioned the High
Court arguing that the law has a disproportionate effect on the
country's Arab citizens. The ISA recommended the law based on its
allegation that in some 20 cases Palestinian spouses of Arab citizens
were involved in terrorist activity. Advocacy groups stated that
approximately 16,000 residency applications have been affected. In
August, the Attorney General informed the court that the Government may
amend the law in February 2005 to widen exceptions to the ban. In
December, the court ruled that it would wait to review these amendments
before ruling on the legality of the law.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In June, bystanders
verbally harassed participants in a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. At
the same time, a photograph and the telephone number of a homosexual
Jerusalem city council member was plastered on that city's billboards
along with accusations that he would bring disaster to Jerusalem.
Anonymous callers threatened to bomb the parade; however, there was no
violence.
In 2003, the Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and
Transgendered in Israel complained of several incidents in which police
allegedly engaged in verbal and physical harassment of homosexuals in a
Tel Aviv public park. Representatives of that organization subsequently
met with the police to discuss ways to improve relations, and the
police appointed contact persons in all police districts who serve as
liaisons to the homosexual community. No similar complaints were
reported during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Citizen workers may join and
establish labor organizations freely. 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). These organizations are independent of the Government.
Histadrut members elect national and local officers and officials of
its affiliated women's organization, Na'amat, from lists of those
already in the union. Plant or enterprise committee members are elected
individually. Approximately 650,000 workers were members of Histadrut
during the year, and much of the non-Histadrut work force was covered
by Histadrut's collective bargaining agreements.
Nonresident workers, including Palestinians from the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, were not able to join Israeli trade unions or organize
their own unions in Israel. Nonresident workers in the organized sector
were entitled to the protection of Histadrut work contracts and
grievance procedures. They may join, vote for, and be elected to shop-
level workers' committees if their numbers in individual establishments
exceed a minimum threshold. Palestinian participation in such
committees was minimal.
Labor laws apply to Palestinians holding East Jerusalem identity
cards and to the Syrian Druze living on the Golan Heights.
Unions were free to affiliate with international organizations.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Citizen workers
exercised their legal rights to organize and bargain collectively. The
law specifically prohibits antiunion discrimination. No antiunion
discrimination was reported.
Nonresident workers could not organize their own unions or engage
in collective bargaining, but they were entitled to be represented by
the bargaining agent and protected by collective bargaining agreements.
The country's immigration officials estimated there were approximately
200,000 foreign workers in the country. They did not pay union dues,
but were required to pay an agency fee in lieu of dues, which entitled
them to union protection by Histadrut's collective bargaining
agreements. The Ministry of Labor has the authority to extend
collective bargaining agreements to nonunionized workplaces in the same
industrial sector. The Ministry of Labor also oversaw personal
contracts in the unorganized sectors of the economy.
The right to strike was exercised regularly. Unions must provide 15
days' notice prior to a strike. The law protected strike leaders--even
those organizing illegal strikes. If essential public services are
affected, the Government may appeal to labor courts for back-to-work
orders while the parties continue negotiations. Worker dismissals and
the terms of severance arrangements often were the central issues of
dispute. During the year, there were several major strikes of municipal
workers. For example, on September 21, Histadrut called a nationwide
strike over unpaid public sector wages to some 20,000 local government
workers, reportedly involving 400,000 workers. Agreement was reached
whereby the Government would pay grants to the local authorities in
accordance with a recovery plan. During July, the port workers
conducted strikes over a period of weeks to protest the Government's
intentions to implement port reforms. In July, the country's
Manufacturers Association reported that the strikes had caused
approximately $400 million (2 billion NIS) in economic damages.
There are no export processing zones. In December, the country
signed an agreement with Egypt to establish a ``Qualified Industrial
Zone'' (QIZ), which creates duty-exempt zones to facilitate joint
manufacturing between Israel and Egypt for exports to the United
States. Egyptian labor laws apply since the factories are located in
Egypt. A comparable QIZ was established with Jordan in 1998.
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 for citizens or nonresident
Palestinians working in Israel; however, civil rights groups charged
that unscrupulous employers often took advantage of illegal workers'
lack of status to hold them in conditions that amount to involuntary
servitude (see Section 6.e.).
Women were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution (see Section
5, Trafficking).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Children at least 15 years old, who have completed their education up
to grade 10, may be employed as apprentices only, according to the
Apprenticeship Law. Children who are 14 years old may be employed
during official school holidays in light work that will not harm their
health. Working hours of those 16 to 18 years of age are restricted to
ensure time for rest and education. The Government enforced these
restrictions in practice.
No reliable data existed regarding illegal child workers, although
it is believed they exist to a small degree, primarily in urban, light
industry. Previously, there were reports of illegal child labor in the
country's undocumented Palestinian population; however, with the
greatly reduced Palestinian workforce, such reports could no longer be
confirmed.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was calculated
periodically and adjusted for cost of living increases. During the
year, the minimum wage was approximately 47.8 percent of the average
wage. At year's end, the minimum wage was approximately $900 (3,335
NIS) per month. During the year, the minimum wage often was
supplemented by special allowances for citizens and was considered by
the Government to be sufficient to provide a citizen worker and family
with a decent standard of living. Some union officials and social
commentators disputed that. Union officials expressed concern over
enforcement, particularly with respect to employers of illegal
nonresident workers.
By law, the maximum hours of work at regular pay are 42.5 hours a
week, 8 hours a day, and 7 hours in night work on the day before the
weekly rest. That rest period must be at least 36 consecutive hours and
include the Sabbath for Jews and a choice of Friday, Saturday, or
Sunday for non-Jews.
Employers must receive a government permit to hire Palestinian
workers from the occupied territories, and, to do so, must make a case
that no citizen is available for the job. All Palestinians from the
occupied territories working legally in Israel were employed on a daily
basis and, unless they were employed on shift work, were not authorized
to spend the night in Israel. Palestinians without valid work permits
were subject to arrest.
Palestinian employees, whose Israeli employers recruited them
through the Ministry of 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.
Palestinians, paid through the Labor Ministry, continued to be entitled
to maternity leave and were insured for injuries suffered while working
in the country and for any wages lost by bankruptcy of a worker's
employer. They did not, however, receive unemployment insurance,
general disability payments, or low-income supplements. Palestinians,
who were not employed through the Labor Ministry, were paid directly by
their Israeli employers.
Since 1993, the Government has agreed to transfer the NII fees
collected from Palestinian workers to the Palestinian Authority (PA),
which was to assume responsibility for all the pensions and social
benefits of Palestinians working in Israel. According to the
Government, these funds were unfrozen and transferred to the PA at the
beginning of 2003, when mechanisms for transferring the funds and
mechanisms for providing these services in the PA controlled
territories were established.
Following the outbreak of violence in 2000, the Government
implemented a closure policy on the occupied territories, which
prevented nearly all Palestinians from getting to their places of
employment in Israel (see Section 2.d.). As of midyear, the Government
issued approximately 15,000 work permits for Palestinian day laborers,
of which approximately 12,500 were used by Palestinians to cross into
Israel.
Along with union representatives, the Labor Inspection Service
enforced labor, health, and safety standards in the workplace, although
resource constraints, such as insufficient staffing, affected overall
enforcement. Legislation protects the employment rights of safety
delegates elected or appointed by the workers. In cooperation with
management, these delegates were responsible for safety and health in
the workplace.
Workers did not have the legal right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
However, collective bargaining agreements provided some workers with
recourse through the work site labor committee. Any worker may
challenge unsafe work practices through government oversight and legal
agencies. Continuing NGO and police reports charged that illegal
workers often lived in situations amounting to involuntary servitude,
due primarily to their tenuous legal status and lack of recourse. NGOs
noted cases in which the police injured foreign workers during arrest.
In July, the immigration police reportedly raided a factory on Kibbutz
Ramat Hakovesh and found eight allegedly illegally employed Thai
workers living in harsh conditions.
Public debate continued regarding the role in the workplace and
society of non-Palestinian foreign workers, whom the Government
estimated as approximately 189,000 at the end of 2003. According to the
Government, most of these workers entered the country illegally or
overstayed their visas, with illegal migrant workers reaching 104,000.
The Government estimated that, during the year, approximately 45,000
illegal migrant workers left the country, with approximately 19,000
deported and the rest departing voluntarily. Currently, the Government
estimated that approximately 60,000 to 70,000 workers employed
illegally still resided in the country. The majority of such workers
came from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia and worked in the
construction and agricultural sectors, and as domestic help. During the
year, the Government sought to restrict the entry and stay of new and
resident workers.
The law does not permit foreign workers to obtain citizenship or
permanent residence status unless they are Jewish.
In May, the Minister of Interior halted the deportation of any
illegal foreign workers' children, age 10 and above and who were born
and raised in the country, until a ministerial panel formulated a
policy for naturalizing children in these circumstances. During the
year, the Government allowed over 2,300 foreign laborers to change
employers.
NGOs alleged that foreign workers were being lured to the country
with the promise of jobs that did not exist. Some foreign workers
reportedly paid up to $10,000 (45,000 NIS) to employment agencies to
obtain work permits. According to NGOs, in a significant number of
cases workers were dismissed shortly after arriving. Allegedly, the
manpower companies worked with deportation authorities to deport the
newly arrived workers, who were then replaced by others, earning the
companies more fees. NGOs argued that most workers expected to work for
some time in the country to recoup their initial payments; those
dismissed often sought illegal employment and some committed suicide.
Illegal foreign workers facing deportation were brought before a
special court, and workers may contest the deportation orders. Many
workers lacked fluency in Hebrew, which hindered the process. In March,
in response to judicial criticism about the protracted detention of
foreign workers, the Attorney General directed that detained foreign
workers must be brought before the court within 4 days of arrest, and
not the 2 weeks stipulated by law. NGOs existed to aid workers facing
deportation, and there have been cases in which the worker's status was
reinstated. The court also provided a forum where workers subject to
deportation orders can lodge claims for unpaid wages or other benefits
to which they are entitled by law. Workers were often deported before
they could lodge such claims. NGOs noted cases in which the police
injured foreign workers during arrest. In some cases, these NGOs
claimed, the workers were injured so seriously that they were not
ultimately detained, due to the potential cost of care for their
injuries and police fears of possible investigation of police
misconduct. In 2003, at least one foreign worker killed himself while
in detention; however, there were no such cases during the year.
In 2002, the editor of the foreign worker newspaper Manila-Tel Aviv
Times was deported shortly after giving interviews to other
publications on the subject of foreign worker rights under the law;
foreign worker advocates claimed the deportation was politically
motivated. During 2003, another reporter from the publication was
deported after advising foreign workers in an article on strategies for
avoiding detention and deportation. Human rights groups claimed that
since foreign worker residency permits were tied to specific
employment, even legal foreign workers had little leverage to influence
their work conditions. However, there were no comparable deportation
actions during the year, and the newspaper continued to operate.
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. Pursuant to the May 1994 Gaza-Jericho
Agreement and the September 1995 Interim Agreement, Israel transferred
most responsibilities for civil government in the Gaza Strip and parts
of the West Bank to the newly created Palestinian Authority (PA). The
1995 Interim Agreement divided the territories into three types of
areas denoting different levels of Palestinian Authority and Israeli
occupation control. Since Palestinian extremist groups resumed the use
of violence in 2000, Israeli forces have resumed control of a number of
the PA areas, citing the PA's failure to abide by its security
responsibilities.
The body of law governing Palestinians in the occupied territories
derives from Ottoman, British Mandate, Jordanian, and Egyptian law, and
Israeli military orders. Laws and regulations promulgated by the PA
also are in force. Israeli settlers were subject to Israeli law.
The Palestinian Authority now has a democratically elected
President and Legislative Council, which elects a Prime Minister and
Cabinet. Following the death of PA Chairman Yasir Arafat on November
11, an election for PA president was scheduled for January 9, 2005.
Seven candidates competed in a vigorous election campaign throughout
the occupied territories. Municipal elections were held in selected
West Bank localities on December 23--the first since 1976. Future
rounds of municipal elections were scheduled for 2005. New Palestinian
Legislative Council elections were scheduled for July 17, 2005.
Israel exercised occupation authority through the Israeli Ministry
of Defense's Office of Coordination and Liaison (MATAK).
Violence associated with the Intifada has claimed the lives of
3,517 Palestinians, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society
(PRCS), 1,051 Israelis, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Affairs website, and 52 foreign nationals, according to B'tselem, an
Israeli human rights organization that monitors the occupied
territories. During the year, over 800 Palestinians were killed during
Israeli military operations in the occupied territories, a total of 76
Israeli civilians and 4 foreigners were killed in terrorist attacks in
both Israel and the occupied territories, and 41 members of the Israeli
Defense Forces were killed in clashes with Palestinian militants.
The Palestinian security forces included the National Security
Forces (NSF), the Preventive Security Organization (PSO), the General
Intelligence Service, or Mukhabarat, the Presidential Security Force,
and the Coastal Police. Other quasi-military security organizations,
such as the Military Intelligence Organization, also exercised de facto
law enforcement powers. 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 Strip.
Palestinian security forces were under the authority of the PA. Members
of the PA security forces committed numerous, serious abuses.
Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip consisted
of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the Israel Security Agency (Shin
Bet), the Israeli National Police (INP), and the Border Police, an
operational arm of the Israel National Police that is under IDF command
when operating in the occupied territories. Israeli military courts
tried Palestinians accused of security offenses. Israeli security
forces were under effective government control. Members of the Israeli
security forces committed numerous, serious abuses.
The population of the Gaza Strip was approximately 1.4 million, of
the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) approximately 2.4 million, and
of East Jerusalem approximately 414,518, including 177,333 Israelis.
The economy of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is small, underdeveloped,
and highly dependent on Israel and international assistance. The
continuing conflict, including Israeli curfews and closures, severely
affected the economy.
The PA's overall human rights record remained poor, and it
continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. There were credible
reports that PA officers engaged in torture, prisoner abuse, and
arbitrary and prolonged detention. Conditions for prisoners were poor.
PA security forces infringed privacy and freedom of speech and press.
The PA did not take available measures to prevent attacks by terrorist
groups either within the occupied territories or within Israel.
Impunity was a serious problem. Domestic abuse of women persisted.
Societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities and
child labor remained problems.
There were reports that Israeli security forces used excessive
force, abused and tortured detainees. Conditions in permanent prisons
met international standards, but temporary facilities were austere and
overcrowded. Many Israeli security personnel were prosecuted for
committing abuses, but international and Israeli human rights groups
complained of lack of disciplinary action in a large number of cases.
The Israeli Government continued construction of a security barrier
along parts of the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice line) and in the West
Bank. The PA alleged that the routing of the barrier resulted in the
taking of land, isolating residents from hospitals, schools, social
services, and agricultural property. Israel asserts that it has sought
to build the barrier on public lands where possible, and where private
land was used, provided opportunities for compensation. Palestinians
filed a number of cases with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the
routing of the barrier. In June, 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.
On July 9, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory
opinion, concluding that ``The construction of the wall built by
Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
including in and around East Jerusalem and its associated regime, are
contrary to international law.''
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 Israel settlers and
Palestinian militant groups remained a serious problem.
'Imran Abu Hamdiyah, a 17-year-old Palestinian, was found dead in
Hebron in December 2002. In April 2003, four Israeli Border Police
officers were arrested on charges that they had beaten Hamdiyah and
then dumped him from their moving vehicle, causing fatal injuries. At
year's end, a trial begun in 2003 was reportedly still ongoing.
Three U.S. security personnel in a diplomatic convoy were killed in
an attack in October 2003. At year's end, there had been no progress by
the PA's investigative team, and the case remains unsolved.
On May 2, Palestinians belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
and the Islamic Jihad shot and killed Tali Hatuel, an Israeli settler
and her four daughters in the Gaza Strip when their car spun off the
road after a shooting. An Israeli traveling in a separate car and two
IDF soldiers were injured before the gunmen were killed.
On August 2, grenades were thrown into a room holding suspected
Palestinian collaborators in the Gaza Central Prison. Two Palestinian
prisoners were killed, and six others were injured. Palestinian
security officials arrested two policemen, who allegedly had carried
out the attack on behalf of Hamas. At year's end, no further legal
action had been taken against the two police officers.
On September 20, gunmen belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
shot and killed Rami Yaghmour near Ramallah, alleging that Yaghmour had
collaborated with Israel. The PA security services arrested two persons
who were subsequently released.
On September 27, an Israeli settler, Yehoshua Elitzur, shot and
killed Palestinian taxi-driver Sa'al Jabara near Nablus. According to
witnesses, Elitzur shot Jabara at close range after he had slowed his
car to ask whether Elitzur needed assistance. On October 25, Elitzur
was indicted in Tel Aviv District Court.
On October 1, according to a Palestinian human rights group, 10
unknown individuals in military uniforms entered the central prison in
Nablus and killed 2 prisoners.
On October 7, gunmen belonging to al-Aqsa entered a hospital in
Ramallah, kidnapped a Palestinian accused of collaboration, shot him,
and left his body on the street.
On October 11, an assailant believed to be an Israeli settler shot
and seriously wounded Palestinian farmer Hani Shadeh, 26, after Shadeh
engaged in an argument with settlers. Local Palestinians said that
settlers had cut down approximately 1,000 olive trees in an effort to
drive Palestinians from their farmland.
On October 27, an Israeli settler shot and killed 18-year-old
Salman Yussuf Safadi near the settlement of Yizhar. The settler
initially claimed that Safadi attempted to enter his home, but later
said that the Palestinian was not in his home when he shot him.
Settlers placed spikes in the road that prevented an ambulance from
reaching Safadi before he died. The Israeli police opened an
investigation into both the shooting and the obstruction of the
ambulance; however, at year's end, there were no public results.
On December 27, a Palestinian male was found dead outside Ramallah.
Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility for killing the suspected collaborator.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Article 13 of the PA Basic Law prohibits the use of
torture or force against detainees; however, international human rights
groups stated that the use of torture was widespread and not restricted
to those persons detained on security charges.
Torture by PA security forces reportedly was widespread.
Documentation of abuses was very limited, due partly to the hesitancy
of alleged victims to file or make public claims of torture or abuse
against PA authorities. Palestinian security officers have no formal
guidelines regarding the proper conduct of interrogations; most
convictions were based largely on confessions.
Israeli law, as interpreted by a 1999 High Court of Justice
decision, prohibited torture and several interrogation techniques, such
as violent shaking, holding and tying of prisoner in painful positions,
shackling, sleep deprivation, covering the prisoner's head with a sack,
playing loud music, and prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures, but
allowed ``moderate physical pressure'' against detainees considered to
possess information about an imminent attack. However, CATI and the
Physicians for Human Rights in Israel (PHR) reported that techniques
prohibited by the law were used against Palestinian detainees during
interrogation and that security forces often beat Palestinians during
arrest and transport. Israeli law prohibits the admission of forced
confessions, but most convictions in security cases were based on
confessions made before legal representation was available to
defendants.
A detainee may not have contact with a lawyer 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 take place, and the ICRC is allowed to visit detainees 14 days
after their arrest. Detainees sometimes stated in court that their
confessions were coerced, but there were no instances when judges
excluded such confessions.
In January, at the Huwwara checkpoint, an IDF sergeant handcuffed
and beat a Palestinian man in front of his family. The man was then
removed to a hut and further beaten. The incident was taped by an IDF
video team. The sergeant was convicted by a military judicial panel in
September, sentenced to 6 months in jail, and demoted to the rank of
private; he also admitted beating at least 8 other Palestinians and
smashing windshields of 10 taxicabs from mid-January until the end of
February.
On May 23, a PA prison guard at a facility in Jericho severely beat
a prisoner with a metal ruler, according to a witness. The witness also
saw several other guards and nonuniformed individuals taking part.
On May 24, another witness in the same facility observed a prisoner
being beaten with a nightstick. The prison governor claimed that the
prisoner had provoked the initial beating by taunting the guards, but
he refused to explain the presence of other guards and plainclothes
individuals during the beating.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) reported
that on July 6, a Palestinian inmate at the Gilboa Prison poured a hot
substance on an Israeli prison official. In response, prison officials
allegedly forced the cellblock inmates to kneel with their hands tied
behind their backs and beat them, resulting in numerous injuries. At of
year's end, PCATI had not received a response from the prison
authorities regarding this incident.
On September 26, the Israeli Justice Ministry filed indictments
against five Border Policemen accused of severely abusing two
Palestinians detained for lacking the necessary permits in Abu Dis
earlier in September. According to the indictment, the border policemen
forced the two Palestinians into a building and beat one with rifles,
boots, and fists before forcing him to jump out of a second floor
window. The border policemen allegedly burned the second Palestinian
with a cigarette and forced him to drink urine. The policemen then
allegedly threw the Palestinian's papers into a puddle of urine and
ordered him to pick up his papers with his mouth and tongue. They then
threw him out the same second story window. At year's end, further
legal action remained pending.
In February 2003, Israeli authorities arrested Daoud Dirawi, a
Palestinian lawyer, for being in Jerusalem without proper
identification. Dirawi told his lawyer that soldiers beat him severely
on the way to the Asyun military prison in the Negev. In March 2003,
Israel sentenced Dirawi to 6 months of administrative detention. He was
released in August.
Israeli soldiers on patrol in June 2003 allegedly attacked 20
Palestinian youths, who were trying to cross a dirt road near a
military checkpoint north of Jerusalem. The soldiers allegedly beat the
youths with their rifles and threw several of them in a sewage ditch
before leaving the scene.
In June 2003, Israeli Border Police in Tulkarm took the identity
card of shepherd Nazih Salah 'Awad Damiri, 24, and forced him to mime
sexual intercourse with his donkey.
In November 2003, IDF soldiers at the Huwwara checkpoint outside
Nablus demanded that two Palestinians stop and clean the checkpoint.
When the men refused, the soldiers handcuffed, blindfolded, and
detained them for several hours. When B'tselem investigated the
incident, the soldiers admitted to the action and claimed their
superiors had ordered them to do it. B'tselem has requested an official
investigation of the incident; however, at year's end, there was no
response to their request.
PA prison conditions were poor. Facilities were old, dilapidated,
and neglected. Most prison facilities were destroyed during the
Intifada, and prisoners were kept informally in houses or other
buildings. There were separate facilities to hold juvenile prisoners.
Prison facilities were poorly protected 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 independent monitoring of its prisons, although human
rights groups, humanitarian organizations, and lawyers reported
difficulties arranging visits or gaining access to specific detainees.
Human rights organizations stated that their ability to visit PA
prisons and detention centers varied depending on which security
organization controlled the facility. Human rights monitors stated that
prison authorities did not consistently permit them to have access to
PA detention facilities and that they rarely were permitted to see
inmates while they were under interrogation.
The conditions of Israeli permanent prison facilities generally met
international standards. The standards were less likely to be met in
provisional detention centers, because prison facilities refused to
take new inmates when their maximum capacity was reached. The detention
and interrogation facilities for Palestinian detainees, including the
four interrogation centers (Shikma, Kishon, Petah Tikva, and the
Jerusalem Internment Center) were austere, overcrowded, provisional
facilities. Israel held at least 121 Palestinian prisoners in some form
of solitary confinement. Israel permitted independent monitoring of
prison conditions by the ICRC and other groups, although human rights
groups reported delays and difficulties in gaining access to specific
detainees. Male family members between 16 and 40 years of age, and any
family members with security records, usually were barred from visiting
relatives in Israeli facilities. According to the ICRC, between January
and May, 3,517 detainees in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank had visits
from family members.
The NGO, Palestinian Prisoners Club, had approximately 820 medical
cases in Israeli prisons. During the year, approximately 57 cases
required urgent medical attention. Following the August 18 hunger
strike, Israeli authorities provided increased medical attention;
however, prisoners continued to claim that it was inadequate. Several
private doctors were authorized to visit prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The 2001 PA Criminal Procedures
Law allows police to hold detainees without charges for 24 hours. Court
approval is necessary for detention without charges for a maximum of 45
days. A trial must start within 6 months of arrest or the detainee must
be released. In practice, however, many Palestinians were held in
detention without charge for months.
PA security forces detained persons without informing judicial
authorities, and often ignored laws that protect the rights of
detainees and court decisions calling for the release of alleged
security criminals. At year's end, Palestinian sources estimated that
between 250 and 300 suspected collaborators were held in PA prisons.
Alleged collaborators often were held without presentation of evidence
to a court and were denied access to lawyers, their families, or
doctors.
Under applicable occupation orders, Israeli security personnel may
arrest without warrant or hold for questioning a person suspected of
having committed or to be likely to commit a security related offense.
Israeli Military Order 1507 permits the Israeli army to detain persons
for 10 days, during which detainees are barred from seeing a lawyer or
appearing before court. Administrative detention orders could be issued
for up to 6-month periods and could be renewed indefinitely by judges.
No detainee has ever successfully appealed a detention order. Israeli
military Order 1369 provides for a 7 year prison term for anyone who
does not respond to a special summons in security cases. Suspects are
entitled to an attorney, but this can be deferred during the
interrogation phase, which sometimes lasts 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 appeal to a judge to
extend this period in security cases for an unlimited period, and many
families reported serious problems in learning of the status and
whereabouts of prisoners. Evidence used at hearings for administrative
detentions in security cases was often unavailable to the detainee or
his attorneys due to security classification.
The Israeli Government maintained that it held no political
prisoners, but Palestinians claimed that administrative detainees were
political prisoners. At year's end, Israel held approximately 8,300
Palestinian security prisoners (up from 5,900 in 2003), of which at
least 960 were in administrative detention.
During the year, Israel did not conduct mass detentions in the West
Bank as had been the case in the past; arrest operations were geared
more toward specific persons. Israeli authorities intermittently issued
special summonses for those suspected of involvement in or knowledge of
security offenses.
Palestinians transferred to prison facilities in Israel had
difficulty obtaining legal representation because only Israeli citizens
or Palestinian lawyers with Jerusalem identification cards were
permitted to visit them. However, during the year, procedures were
revised to permit more lawyers to have access to the prisons. Israeli
authorities in some instances scheduled appointments, but they
subsequently moved the clients to another prison to delay lawyer client
meetings for as long as 90 days.
The Government of Israel frequently failed to notify foreign
consular officials in a timely manner when their citizens were
detained.
In contrast to past practice, during the year, Israel did not
forcibly transfer Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. On
August 27, Israel allowed Kifah Ajouri, a Fatah activist who was
forcibly transferred to Gaza in 2002, to return to his home in Nablus.
Mahmud Suleiman Sa'id al-Sa'di al-Saffouri was transferred to Gaza from
Jenin in May 2003 and was required to remain in the Gaza Strip.
Amnesty International (AI) noted that Muhammad Hassan Mustafa al-
Najjar was administratively detained for the fourth consecutive time on
May 20. Subsequently, AI reported that al-Najjar was released on June
20.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The PA court system is based on
legal codes that predate the 1967 Israeli occupation and Israeli
military orders. A High Judicial Council (HJC) maintained authority
over most court operations. State security courts were formally
abolished in 2003. Military courts, established in 1995, have
jurisdiction over police and security force personnel as well as crimes
by civilians against security forces. The PA courts were inefficient,
lacked staff and resources, and often did not ensure fair and
expeditious trials. These problems predated PA jurisdiction, and were
aggravated by lack of PA attention thereafter. The PA executive and
security services frequently failed to carry out court decisions and
otherwise inhibited judicial independence.
The ongoing violence adversely affected the PA administration of
justice. Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 damaged the Court of First
Instance and Conciliation in Ramallah and the PA's main forensic lab.
Many police stations and incarceration facilities were damaged or
destroyed. Travel restrictions, curfews, and closures significantly
impeded the administration of justice.
Israeli law provides for an independent judiciary, and the
Government generally respected this in practice. Palestinians accused
of security offenses usually were tried in military courts. Security
offenses are comprehensively defined and may include charges as varied
as rock throwing or membership in outlawed terrorist organizations,
such as Hamas or the PFLP. Military prosecutors brought charges.
Serious charges were tried before three-judge panels; lesser offenses
were tried before one judge. The Israeli military courts rarely
acquitted Palestinians of security offenses, but sentences in some
cases were reduced on appeal.
Israeli military trials followed evidentiary rules that were the
same as those in regular criminal cases. Convictions may not be based
solely on confessions, although, in practice, some security prisoners
were convicted on the basis of alleged coerced confessions of
themselves and others. The prosecution must justify closing the
proceedings to the public in security 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, and the court may order that
the charges be translated into Arabic, if necessary. Defendants had the
right to appeal through the Military High Court or to the Civilian High
Court of Justice in certain instances. The court may hear secret
evidence in security cases that is not available to the defendant or
his attorney. However, a conviction may not be based solely on such
evidence.
Trials sometimes were delayed for very extended periods, because
Israeli security force witnesses did not appear, the defendant was not
brought to court, files were lost, or attorneys were delayed by travel
restrictions (see Section 2.d.). Palestinian legal advocates alleged
that these delays were designed to pressure defendants to settle their
cases.
On May 20, a Tel Aviv District Court convicted West Bank Fatah
leader and Palestinian Legislative Council member, Marwan Barghuti, on
three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder involving
terror attacks that resulted in the deaths of five Israelis. Barghuti
was arrested in April 2002 and initially was barred from seeing an
attorney; however, he was allowed to retain and dismiss legal counsel
during the course of his trial. The trial began in September 2002 and
proceeded sporadically for more than 2 years. Barghuti rejected the
Israeli court's jurisdiction, did not mount a legal defense, and did
not appeal the five consecutive life sentences he received.
In May 2003, the PA High Court of Justice ordered the release of
Taysir Abu Meghasib and Mehdi Abu Seif from detention for lack of
evidence on charges of collaborating with Israel. At year's end, it
appeared that they had not been released.
On October 16, a PA civil court in the Gaza Strip sentenced a
Palestinian to death by hanging after finding him guilty of
collaborating with Israel; however, by year's end, there had been no
execution. Another three Palestinians convicted of the same charges
received prison terms.
On November 28, an Israeli military court delayed PLC member Husam
Khader's trial until March 6, 2005. Khader was arrested in March 2003
for alleged involvement in Intifada-related violence, but his trial
since has been delayed repeatedly.
Crowded facilities, poor arrangements for scheduling and holding
attorney client consultations, and confessions prepared in Hebrew
hindered legal defense efforts.
Israeli settlers were tried under Israeli law in the nearest
Israeli district court. Civilian judges presided, and the standards of
due process and admissibility of evidence were governed by the laws of
Israel, not military orders. Settlers rarely were prosecuted for crimes
against Palestinians and, in the rare instances in which they were
convicted, regularly received lighter punishment than Palestinians
convicted in Israeli courts (see Section 1.a.).
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 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. Authorities stated that these were punishable violations of
military regulations, and compensation was due.
Israeli security forces demolished and sealed the homes (owned or
rented) of Palestinians suspected of terrorism or the relatives of such
suspects, without judicial review (see Section 1.g.). During the year,
according to B'tselem, Israeli forces demolished 181 housing units in
the occupied territories (compared with 219 in 2003) as punishment for
terror activity and deterrence against future attacks.
On February 26, the IDF blew up the apartment of 'Itaf Abu Sha'ira
in the al-Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem. Abu Sha'ira said that an
IDF officer on the scene told her that the demolition was punishment
for her husband Hassan's June 2001 killing of an IDF soldier. The IDF
gave Abu Sha'ira and her family 10 minutes to remove items from her
apartment prior to its destruction; the explosion also damaged other
apartments in the building.
On April 4, the IDF blew up the home of Fakhri 'Aarda from the
Tulkarm refugee camp after one of his sons killed an Israeli and
injured another in a northern West Bank settlement on April 3.
Israel demolished many homes between the Rafah refugee camp and the
border with Egypt, claiming that the houses concealed tunnels used for
weapons smuggling or provided cover for attacks against Israeli
soldiers. Between May 17 and 24, the IDF undertook ``Operation
Rainbow'' to secure the neighborhoods along the Philadelphi road that
divides the Gaza Strip from Egypt and eliminate ``terrorists and wanted
operatives.'' UNWRA and U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), judged that this operation destroyed 298
buildings, leaving 3,794 individuals homeless. Since 2000,
approximately 1,500 buildings in Rafah have been demolished by the IDF,
making more than 15,000 Palestinians homeless.
The IDF destroyed numerous citrus, olive, and date groves, and
irrigation systems, stating that Palestinians had been shooting from
those areas. The IDF also cleared and took control of land held by
private Palestinians for construction of the separation barrier.
B'tselem estimated that at least 6,900 acres of land has been taken for
construction of the separation barrier. According to OCHA, the
separation barrier was approximately 123 miles long and was projected
to be more than 372 miles long.
Human rights monitors reported that the IDF provided greater
protection to Palestinian farmers than they did in the past. Still,
Palestinians complained that the IDF measures gave insufficient time to
complete the harvest, and that they were limited in their own ability
to protect their property by curfews and travel restrictions.
On November 17, approximately 70 Israeli settlers from the West
Bank settlement of Itamar attacked Palestinian olive harvesters;
Israeli security forces attempted to prevent disruption of the harvest.
Between December 9 and 12, according to the daily Ha'aretz, Zufim
settlers uprooted more than 217 olive and citrus trees at Jayyus.
Israeli authorities generally did not prosecute settlers for acts
of violence against Palestinians, and settlers rarely served prison
sentences if convicted of a crime against a Palestinian. However, in
August 2003, Israel arrested nine settlers for plotting an attack on a
Palestinian school in East Jerusalem. Ultimately, during 2003, two were
sentenced to 15-year terms, and one was sentenced to 12 years'
imprisonment. The remaining six were released from custody for lack of
evidence.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--Palestinian members of Fatah, HAMAS,
and PFLP attacked and killed civilians in Israel, Israeli settlers,
foreign nationals, and soldiers. They used weapons designed to inflict
casualties on noncombatants, such as suicide bombs, and fired area
weapons such as rockets and mortars at their targets without regard for
noncombatants. In addition, they often fired at Israeli security forces
from civilian population areas, increasing the risk that Israeli return
fire would harm noncombatants. The PA did not take sufficient steps to
prevent terrorist attacks, enforce a ban on militant groups, or prevent
such groups from seeking shelter in civilian areas. By year's end, some
PA officials made statements questioning the utility of violence.
During the presidential campaign, PA presidential candidate Abbas
called the armed Intifada counterproductive to Palestinian interests.
According to the PA Ministry of Health, the Palestine Red Crescent
Society, and B'tselem, at least 800 Palestinians were killed during the
course of Israeli military and police operations during the year. The
PA Ministry of Health estimated that approximately half of those killed
were noncombatants. B'tselem reported a figure of 452 innocent
Palestinians killed this year. 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.
According to the PRCS, IDF operations resulted in injuries to
approximately 4,000 Palestinians.
The IDF conducted numerous military incursions into Palestinian
population centers, in response to Palestinian mortar and antitank
fire. 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
Palestinian gunfire was believed to have originated. Palestinians often
used civilian homes to fire upon Israeli forces and booby-trapped
civilian homes and apartment buildings. In response to these actions,
the IDF usually raided, and often leveled, these buildings.
During an IDF incursion into two refugee camps in the northern Gaza
Strip on March 7, Israeli forces killed 10 Palestinian militants and 4
civilians, including 3 children, during fighting throughout the day.
On May 17, Israel launched ``Operation Rainbow'' in Rafah in the
Gaza Strip. According to the IDF, the operation was designed to destroy
tunnels used for smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Over
40 Palestinians were killed during the operation, including civilians.
(see Section 1.f. regarding housing destroyed in this operation.) Human
Rights Watch (HRW) also reported that the IDF actions destroyed over 50
percent of Rafah's roads and elements of its water, sewage, and
electrical systems.
On May 18 in Rafah, two Palestinian children, 16-year-old Asma al-
Mughayr and her 13-year-old brother, were shot in the head on the roof-
terrace of their home while performing household chores. AI concluded
that IDF snipers killed both; Israeli army officials suggested that
they were killed by an explosive device set by Palestinians. At year's
end, there was no information on any further official investigation.
On July 6, IDF forces killed Dr. Khaled Salah, a Palestinian
engineering professor at al-Najah University, and his teen-age son
during a raid on their apartment building. IDF soldiers were seeking
Palestinian militants in the building and, in the exchange of gunfire,
also killed Salah and his son.
On September 7, a girl sitting in a U.N.-flagged school was struck
in the head by gunfire from an Israeli position in Gaza. At year's end,
an IDF investigation was ongoing into the circumstances of the
shooting.
On September 19 in Nablus, during an exchange of gunfire between
the IDF and militants, an 11-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and
killed while standing in the doorway of her house. Palestinians claimed
the IDF killed the girl, but the IDF stated that a preliminary
investigation found that no IDF gunfire had been directed at the girl.
On September 28, the IDF launched ``Operation Days of Penitence''
into the northern Gaza Strip in response to continued Qassam rocket
fire into Israel that killed two Israeli children in the town of
Sderot. The IDF attacked targets in Bayt Hanun and Jabaliyah refugee
camp using tanks and helicopters during the 17-day operation. Human
rights groups claimed that IDF security forces killed as many as 130
Palestinians and wounded over 430 during the operation, although the
U.N. put the number of those killed at 107. According to B'tselem,
among the Palestinians killed were approximately 50 civilians,
including at least 26 Palestinians under the age of 18. The IDF
estimated that 19 civilians were killed.
On October 5, IDF soldiers shot and killed Imam al-Hams, a 13-year-
old Palestinian schoolgirl, as she approached an IDF outpost in the
southern Gaza Strip. The girl approached the outpost carrying a bag
that troops suspected contained explosives, but which later turned out
to contain only schoolbooks. After the girl had been shot from a
distance, the IDF company commander repeatedly fired his automatic
weapon into her at close range. On November 22, after investigation
including statements by soldiers under his command, an IDF military
court indicted the company commander on two counts of illegal use of
weapons, obstructing justice, unbecoming behavior, and improper use of
authority. At year's end, the court martial remained ongoing.
On October 7, IDF tank fire killed two boys 12 and 15 years of age
while they were standing near their school.
On October 8, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed by
IDF gunfire in Bayt Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip as she stood on
the street in front of her house.
On October 12, Israeli military forces shot and killed an 11-year-
old, Ghadir Mokheimer, as she stood outside her school in Khan Yunis
refugee camp in Gaza. The IDF claimed that they returned fire after
coming under rocket attack from militants using the school as cover.
On October 4, the IDF severely damaged the Gaza City wastewater
treatment plant resulting in $200,000 (872,000 NIS) worth of damage to
the USAID-funded parts of the plant. An investigation is being
conducted into the incident; however, the IDF stated that the plant was
not intentionally targeted. According to USAID, the total repair and
replacement costs for damage during the year to USAID-funded projects
are estimated at $450,000 (1.93 million NIS).
On November 5, Israeli media reported that an IDF tank round killed
two Palestinian children, ages 8 and 10 years old, when tank fire hit
their home in the al-Qarrara district of Khan Yunis.
On November 6, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by
IDF forces in Jenin. The IDF said the boy had thrown a firebomb at IDF
soldiers.
On November 18, IDF tank fire killed three Egyptian policemen at
the border near Rafah. Reportedly, the IDF believed the police were
Palestinians attempting to plant explosives. Subsequently, the
Government apologized for the killings.
IDF soldiers reportedly fired without warning on trespassers in or
near restricted areas.
On September 28, Israeli forces killed a mentally ill Palestinian
man when he climbed a fence near an army outpost in Jenin. On another
occasion in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian youths were killed when they
approached the security fence. Soldiers said the boys were providing
intelligence to militants; Palestinians maintained that the boys were
hunting birds.
During the year, according to Palestinian security and media
reports, the IDF targeted for killing at least 25 Palestinians
suspected of involvement in terrorism. IDF forces killed at least 18
bystanders--4 of whom were civilians and many of the remaining were
affiliated with terrorist organizations and injured a number of others.
On March 22, rockets from Israeli helicopters killed Sheikh Ahmad
Yassin, the founder of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), as he
was leaving a mosque in the Gaza Strip. Two bodyguards and one of
Yassin's sons-in-law also died in the attack, along with eight
worshippers from the mosque. Fifteen bystanders were injured.
On April 17, rockets from Israeli helicopters killed 'Abd al-Azziz
al-Rantisi, a co-founder of Hamas and Yassin's replacement as its
leader. Rantisi's bodyguards were killed during the attack. Eighteen
other persons were wounded.
On October 21, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a car killing
Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior Hamas commander, and his assistant. Eight
bystanders also were slightly wounded.
Israeli security personnel operating checkpoints killed a number of
Palestinians.
There were no developments in the investigation into the
circumstances surrounding the July 2003 death of 3-year-old Palestinian
Mahmud Jawadat Sharif Kabaha, who was shot while sitting in his
parents' car at the Barta'a checkpoint west of Jenin (see Sections 1.a.
and 1.c.).
During the year, Israeli forces delayed the movement of, and
occasionally fired upon, medical personnel and ambulances. Israel has
presented video evidence of armed Palestinians running from a building
and entering an ambulance and of an ambulance crew that picked up an
injured Palestinian, retrieved his weapon, and put it inside the
ambulance before driving away. The U.N. maintained that the ambulance
crews acted under duress. The Israeli Government acknowledged that an
accusation that an ambulance crew had transported a Qassam rocket was
in error.
On January 11, according to PRCS allegations, Israeli soldiers
manning a checkpoint in the West Bank beat an ambulance driver and
medic as they transferred patients from Nablus to Ramallah hospital.
On June 13, according to PRCS, an ambulance attempted to evacuate
protesters injured during an antiseparation barrier demonstration.
Israeli security personnel allegedly fired gunshots and tear gas at the
ambulance.
The IDF abuse of Palestinians or their vehicles at checkpoints
continued, but at a more reduced level than during 2002-03. Qahira
Muhsen, age 41, from the village of al-Funduq, alleged that four
Israeli Border Police in the vicinity of the Jajuliya checkpoint
punched, kicked, and cursed him.
In April, a young Palestinian woman from Bethlehem told Machsom
Watch, an Israeli women's rights organization, that she witnessed IDF
soldiers at the ``Container'' checkpoint, southeast of Jerusalem, hit
her father with truncheons as he sat in his car as well as abusing
other drivers.
Palestinians frequently threw stones, 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.
On May 19, at least 10 Palestinians were killed and more than 50
wounded when tank shells exploded near demonstrators in the Rafah
refugee camp. IDF officials claimed that the tank had fired warning
shots, and denied firing into the crowd. The IDF claimed that gunmen
were in the crowd. This claim was disputed by Palestinians, and there
was no evidence to substantiate the IDF charge. The IDF released a
statement that expressed deep sorrow and regret over the loss of
civilian lives.
On November 15, according to witnesses, Israeli border police
entered Saint Vincent's Monastery in Bethany and seriously wounded an
unarmed 15-year-old boy when his group, holding a mourning
demonstration for Arafat, did not disperse as police requested.
Israeli forces used Palestinians as ``human shields'' in violation
of applicable Israeli law. In 2002, the Israeli High Court of Justice
granted an injunction against the use of Palestinians as ``shields''
for Israeli forces. The IDF admitted violations of existing procedures
and reiterated that IDF forces ``are absolutely forbidden to use
civilians of any kind as a means of `living shield' against gunfire or
attack by the Palestinian side, or as `hostages.' '' However, IDF
soldiers were permitted to seek consensual assistance of civilians in
operations. Human rights groups asserted that Palestinians who
consented often did so out of fear even if they were not coerced. Such
Palestinians face the risk of being branded as collaborators.
On January 12, IDF soldiers used Ahamd Assaf to enter and search
homes in the Tulkarm refugee camp and fired gunshots into the homes as
Assaf searched them. Another Tulkarm refugee camp resident, Ahmad
Ganem, claimed that Israeli soldiers made him search homes in the camp.
In April, Adalah, an Israeli-Arab human rights organization, asked
the Israeli High Court to issue an injunction against the IDF seeking
the assistance of Palestinians, without exception. On September 5, the
President of the Court urged the IDF to forego use of the procedure,
citing the Fourth Geneva Convention. The High Court announced that it
would give its decision at a later date.
According to B'tselem, there have been 90 Military Police
investigations since September 2000 relating to Palestinians killed and
injured during the Intifada, resulting in the filing of 29 indictments.
B'tselem reported that one soldier was convicted for causing the death
of a Palestinian.
B'tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
petitioned the High Court in September 2003 to open military
investigations into all cases where IDF soldiers killed Palestinians
who had not engaged in hostilities. At year's end, the High Court had
not ruled on the petition.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The PA restricted freedom of
speech and freedom of the press. During the year, the PA limited free
expression, particularly regarding human rights and alleged security
issues. PA security services banned publications or broadcasts and
periodically harassed or detained members of the media. Palestinian
commentators and human rights groups stated that, as a result,
journalists practiced self-censorship. In addition, armed extremist
groups attacked journalists.
There were three Palestinian dailies and several Palestinian weekly
newspapers. There also were several monthly magazines and three
tabloids. The PA operated two television stations and one radio
station. There were approximately 30 independently owned television
stations and approximately 9 radio stations. According to an October
study published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics,
approximately 33 percent of Palestinians in the occupied territories
had access to the Internet.
The Israeli occupation authorities limited speech. In East
Jerusalem, the display of Palestinian political symbols, such as flags,
national colors, and graffiti, was prohibited and punishable by fines
or imprisonment, 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 material related to public order and security issues.
Closures and curfews limited the ability of Palestinian journalists to
do their jobs.
On January 8, journalist Saifeddin Shahin was beaten by five armed
men after his car was stopped. The attackers claimed to be from the
Fatah movement and threatened reprisals if he continued to write about
Fatah. PA police arrested one of the attackers; however, at year's end,
there had been no further legal action.
On March 22, Mohammad Abu Halima, a correspondent for the al-Najah
University-affiliated radio station, was killed by IDF gunfire as he
reported on clashes in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, according to
the Committee to Protect Journalists. An IDF spokesperson said that Abu
Halima had opened fire. At year's end, there was no report of any
Israeli investigation of the circumstances of the killing.
During the year, Israeli gunfire killed a journalist, and at least
11 other journalists sustained injuries during clashes between IDF
soldiers and Palestinians in the occupied territories. Israeli soldiers
beat journalists on several occasions, detained others, and confiscated
their press cards.
On September 27, Riad Ali, a Cable News Network journalist, was
abducted by a group of armed Palestinian men. Ali, an Israeli citizen
from the Druze community, was released 36 hours after his abduction.
There were no claims of responsibility for the kidnapping.
In March 2003, PA police in Gaza City shut the Palestinian
newspaper, al-Risalah, a weekly publication of the Islamic National
Salvation Party (Khalas). The paper returned to publication during the
year.
On April 2, Ammar Awad was covering clashes between Israeli police
and Palestinian demonstrators in Jerusalem. The policemen destroyed the
journalist's cameras.
On April 24, an IDF soldier shot journalist Ali Samoudi in the nose
as he was covering an Israeli army incursion into Jenin. Samoudi, who
was wearing a ``press'' sign, alleged that the soldier intentionally
fired at him.
James Miller was killed by the IDF in May 2003 while filming a
documentary in Gaza City. After repeated requests from his family and
from foreign diplomatic representatives, the IDF Military Attorney
General (MAG) ordered an investigation into the incident. At year's
end, the NGO B'tselem had no information regarding the status of the
investigation.
In April 2003, an IDF soldier killed Nazeeh Darwaza while he was
filming a wounded child during an IDF incursion in Nablus. On June 16,
B'tselem was informed that the MAG was investigating the case. At
year's end, there was no further information.
On December 27, Israeli police detained PA presidential candidate
Mustafa Barghuti for several hours after he attempted to campaign in
Jerusalem. Barghuti lacked a permit to enter Jerusalem (see Sections
2.d. and 3).
The PA had authority over all levels of education. During the year,
the PA did not interfere with education, but academic institutions were
adversely affected by the violence.
On November 27, Yaser al-Madhoun, a Palestinian professor at al-
Azhar University in Gaza City, was killed when a remote control bomb
exploded in his office; another Palestinian was injured. At year's end,
PA police continued the investigation.
Israeli closures, curfews and the separation barrier restricted
access to Palestinian academic institutions. In some instances, Israeli
authorities shut universities entirely. Israeli shelling and gunfire
during military operations damaged a number of schools and, in some
cases, killed schoolchildren (see Section 1.g.).
In 2003, Israeli authorities closed the Hebron University and the
Hebron Polytechnic School, which served 5,000 students. The schools
reopened during the year.
According to UNICEF, years of conflict damaged 300 schools and, in
2003, 580 schools were periodically forced to close.
The PA Ministry of Education claimed that, since 2001, the IDF had
converted three schools in Hebron into military barracks.
Physical damage to schools and universities was calculated at more
than $10 million (43 million NIS).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The PA imposed
some formal limits on freedom of assembly; however, while it required
permits for rallies, demonstrations, and large cultural events, these
permits rarely were denied. In Gaza, police approval was required for
political meetings at specific meeting halls and for buses to transport
passengers to attend political meetings. The PA prohibited calls for
violence, displays of arms, and racist slogans, although these
provisions were rarely enforced. The PA placed some limits on freedom
of association; however, charitable, community, professional, and self-
help organizations were able to operate.
Israeli military orders banned public gatherings of 10 or more
persons without a permit; however, Palestinians were able to ignore
this order without punishment.
Israeli security forces used force against Palestinians involved in
demonstrations (see Section 1.c.). The Israeli and Palestinian
authorities disputed whether Palestinians attacked security forces
during such demonstrations. In 2001, the IDF authorized the use of
gunfire in some rock-throwing situations.
On February 26, Israeli security forces used tear gas, rubber
bullets, and live ammunition, reportedly after demonstrators began
throwing stones at Israeli forces during an antiseparation barrier
demonstration Biddu village. Two persons were killed and approximately
70 persons sustained injuries.
Orient House, the preeminent Palestinian political institution in
Jerusalem, was shut by Israeli forces in 2001 and remained closed
throughout the year. In 2002-03, Israel closed the Arab Graduates Club,
frequented by Fatah activists, the Multi-Sectoral Review Project, the
Land Research Center, the East Jerusalem offices of the Federation of
Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, and the Jerusalem Cultural
Association and the Union of Sports Clubs. Israeli authorities claimed
that these institutions were operating under PA supervision in
violation of signed agreements. At year's end, these organizations
remained closed.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The PA has no law that specifically
protects religious freedom, but religious freedom was respected 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 paid for the construction and maintenance of mosques
and the 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. During the year, there were no reports of violence against or
vandalism of Jewish institutions in the occupied territories.
The PA required that religion be taught in PA schools. The PA
provided separate religious instruction for Muslim and Christian
students.
Media frequently published and broadcast material about the
occupation that included anti-Semitic content. The rhetoric used by
Palestinian terrorist groups included expressions of anti-Semitism.
Muslim religious leaders and the PA television station engaged in
expressions of anti-Semitism. On the positive side, in a December 3
sermon broadcast on PA Television, preacher Muhammad Jammal Abu Hunud
called for the development of a modern Islamic discourse, to recognize
the ``other,'' to treat him with tolerance, and to avoid extremism and
violence.
Israeli authorities generally respected religious freedom and
permitted all faiths to operate schools and institutions. However,
internal and external closures prevented tens of thousands of
Palestinians from reaching their places of worship in Jerusalem and the
West Bank, including during religious holidays. Citing security
reasons, Israel prevented most male Muslim worshippers under the age of
45 from attending Friday prayers inside the Haram al-Sharif/Temple
Mount, the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism.
Most West Bank residents and virtually all Gaza residents were
restricted from entering Jerusalem during Ramadan.
In August 2003, Israeli police began escorting tourists to the
Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount to reassert the right of non-Muslims to
visit the shrine.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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,
citing military necessity, often tightly restricted the movement of
Palestinians in response to changing security conditions.
During periods of unrest (in the aftermath of terrorist attacks or
during military exercises), travel between some or all towns within the
territories was prohibited. 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 territories. During the
year, there were no extended blanket closures, although several Gaza
crossing points were simultaneously closed for extended periods,
completely closing off the Gaza Strip. Since 1993, Palestinians were
able to enter East Jerusalem only with a travel permit issued by
Israeli authorities. The Israeli authorities also imposed curfews in
some areas, which confined Palestinians to their homes for all but a
few hours per week. During the year, there were fewer curfews than in
2003.
The PA issued passports for Palestinian residents of the West Bank
and Gaza. Because there are no commercial flights from the territories,
travelers must depart via land crossings into Israel, Jordan or Egypt.
Even prior to the Intifada, it was difficult for Palestinians to obtain
permits to visit Israel. While transit passes for travelers using Ben
Gurion airport exist, they are not widely available. Vehicles
originating in the territories are often not permitted entry into
Israel or Jerusalem. Palestinians were prohibited from using the Sheikh
Hussein or Arava crossings. As a result, most Palestinians traveling
abroad could exit and enter only via the Allenby Bridge or Rafah
crossing points.
Between April 16 and September 18, the IDF prevented Palestinian
males between the ages of 16 and 35 from exiting Gaza through the Rafah
terminal. On July 18 the terminal was closed completely, leaving
approximately 2,500 Palestinians on the Egyptian side for more than 2
weeks. The IDF was searching for a tunnel in the vicinity, but failed
to locate it. On December 12, a terrorist attack extensively damaged
the terminal and killed five Israeli soldiers. At year's end, the
terminal remained closed.
Palestinians with Jerusalem identification cards, issued by the
Israeli Government, needed special documents to travel abroad. Upon
request, the Jordanian Government also issued travel documents to
Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians who wish
to travel to Jordan must leave their Israeli identification documents
with Israeli authorities at the Allenby Bridge. Bridge-crossing permits
to Jordan were available at post offices without a screening process.
The external and internal closures contributed to increased
unemployment and poverty in the occupied territories. Approximately
146,000 West Bank and Gaza workers, representing roughly 25 percent of
the Palestinian work force, depended on day jobs in Israel, Israeli
settlements, and Jerusalem. The closures impeded Palestinians from
reaching jobs or markets in the occupied territories and disrupted
internal and external trade. The unemployment rate was estimated at 31
percent at year's end. The economic dependency ratio (total population
divided by employed persons) increased during the year. The percentage
of employees whose monthly wages fell below the poverty line increased
from 43.5 percent in the third quarter 2000 to 56.8 percent at year's
end.
For the approximately 200,000 Palestinians who lived in rural
villages without the full range of urban services--such as medical
care, education, or potable water--the closures were a particular
hardship.
Apart from closures, delays at checkpoints and roadblocks affected
all aspects of life, particularly emergency health care. According to
OCHA, in the West Bank there were 61 fully manned checkpoints, 6
occasionally manned checkpoints, 374 earthen mounds blocking roads, 102
cement roadblocks, 48 road gates, and 51 gates along the separation
barrier. The Israeli authorities' figures show 47 checkpoints and 130
roadblocks in the West Bank as of December. (OCHA and Israeli
Government statistics are based on different methodology.) Although
ambulance response times improved during the year as the Israeli
authorities provided additional permits, many problems remained,
including difficulties for ambulances attempting to reach villages in
remote areas of the West Bank.
In January, villagers from Jayyus were unable to exit the village
to tend fields or graze sheep.
On March 10, the IDF delayed a car containing an ill 10-month-old
for 3 hours at a roadblock near Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The baby
died.
On April 30, Mohammad Dagaghmah, a shepherd from Hebron who claimed
to have a valid permit, was not permitted to pass a checkpoint for 2
days, although his sheep were allowed to pass.
According to B'tselem, on June 15, taxi driver Fuad al-Jaiyusi
reported that IDF soldiers refused to let him and four other drivers
cross the Jit checkpoint, contending that al-Jaiyusi did not have the
proper permit, and impounded his vehicle for 4 days.
On July 10, Israeli soldiers delayed at the Allenby Bridge gates
for approximately 2 hours a PRCS ambulance carrying a cancer patient in
critical condition to a local Palestinian hospital. During a search of
the ambulance by Israeli security personnel, the patient's condition
deteriorated, but PRCS medics were not permitted to intervene. The
patient was dead on arrival.
On July 20, Abdel Latif Emlaitat died of a heart attack at a
roadblock near the village of Bayt Furik. According to his family,
Emlaitat suffered severe chest pain and was trying to reach the
hospital in Nablus. Israeli soldiers stopped the car when it attempted
to leave the village for approximately 2 hours.
On December 23, at the Erez Crossing into Israel from Gaza city,
only 5 of 25 medical cases that had permits to enter were allowed to
cross into Israel. Those unable to enter were directed to leave and
reapply to enter on another day.
The Israeli Government continued construction of a security barrier
along parts of the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice line) and in the West
Bank. The PA alleged that the routing of the barrier resulted in the
taking of land, isolating residents from hospitals, schools, social
services, and agricultural property. Israel asserts that it has sought
to build the barrier on public lands where possible, and where private
land was used, provided opportunities for compensation. Palestinians
filed a number of cases with the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the
routing of the barrier. In June, 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.
On July 9, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory
opinion, concluding that ``The construction of the wall built by
Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,
including in and around East Jerusalem and its associated regime, are
contrary to international law.''
At the end of the year, the barrier divided approximately 157,800
acres with a population of 93,200 from the rest of the West Bank.
According to OCHA, Palestinians have been impeded from reaching their
land to harvest crops and graze animals. Residents' access to schools,
medical care and other services was also impeded. In October 2003,
Israeli military orders required Palestinians residing in ``seam
zones'' between the separation barrier and the Green Line
(approximately 5,000 of the 93,200 mentioned above) to obtain residency
permits to remain in these areas.
Israel offered East Jerusalem residents citizenship following
Israel's occupation of Jerusalem in 1967. Most have chosen not to
accept Israeli citizenship, but instead have sought a residence permit
or Jerusalem identification card. Under the 1952 Law of Permanent
Residency, such residents risk loss of status if their ties with
Jerusalem lapse, although human rights groups report that such
revocations have been infrequent. On July 8, an Israeli ministerial
committee reportedly adopted an unpublished resolution calling for the
application of the 1950 Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem;
however, the resolution does not appear to have been acted upon or
implemented by year's end.
Residency restrictions affected family reunification. Palestinians
who were abroad during the 1967 War, or who subsequently lost their
residence permits, were not permitted to reside permanently with their
families in the occupied territories. Foreign-born spouses and children
of Palestinian residents experienced difficulty in obtaining residency.
Palestinian spouses of Jerusalem residents must obtain a permit to
reside there. Palestinians reported delays of several years or more
before spouses were granted residency permits. The Government of Israel
occasionally issued limited-duration permits, but renewing the permits
could take up to 8 months, which resulted in many Palestinians falling
out of status. Palestinians 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
Following the death of PA Chairman Yasir Arafat on November 11, an
election for PA president was scheduled for January 9, 2005. Seven
candidates competed in a vigorous election campaign throughout the
occupied territories. The Government of Israel and the PA agreed to
follow the 1996 parameters for voting in East Jerusalem.
On December 23, the PA held municipal elections in 26 West Bank
localities for the first time since 1976. Further elections were
scheduled for Gaza on January 27, 2005, and for other municipalities in
the spring and summer of 2005. Domestic and international election
observers found the December 23 elections met democratic standards,
while noting several technical and procedural problems.
The 88-member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and Chairman of
the Executive Authority were elected in 1996 in a process that
international observers concluded generally met democratic standards,
despite some irregularities.
On September 27, the Palestinian cabinet adopted a 1-year reform
action plan, approved by the council, that was designed to create a
more equal balance of power between the executive and the council and
more accountability and transparency in governance.
In September and October, the independent Central Elections
Commission conducted voter registration. The registration process went
smoothly except in East Jerusalem, where Israeli police closed
registration centers, and in some parts of Gaza, where IDF operations
disrupted the process. The register was used in the December 23
municipal elections and will be used in elections scheduled for 2005.
Following the closure of registration centers in East Jerusalem, very
few Palestinian residents of the city attempted to register elsewhere,
though they were eligible to do so.
While Palestinians with residency permits were eligible to vote in
Jerusalem municipal elections, most did not recognize the jurisdiction
of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem and did not participate. There
were no Palestinian residents of Jerusalem on the city council.
There was a widespread public perception of corruption within the
PA, notably within the security forces. There were calls for reform
from many social and political elements, especially during the summer.
The law requires official PA institutions to ``facilitate'' the
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 from the PA; however, no cases have come before the PA
courts. NGOs were seeking to amend the law to make it mandatory to
provide information to Palestinians.
During the year, there were 5 women on the 88-member Council, and 2
women served in Ministerial-level positions.
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
2003, the PA had issued registration certificates for 150 of the
approximately 350 new and existing NGOs that submitted applications
under the 2000 NGO law. During the year, an additional 74 such
certificates were granted; others still were being processed at year's
end.
PA officials usually met with NGO representatives. Public criticism
from these groups has been somewhat less forthcoming since the outbreak
of the Intifada, with several NGOs voluntarily deciding to defer
criticism of the PA's human rights performance. Observers noted that
documentation of abuses was very limited.
On March 2, Khalil al-Zaban, a journalist and advisor to PA
Chairman Arafat on human rights and the media, was shot and killed in
Gaza City. Al-Zaban headed the PA's government-appointed NGO Council
and published its monthly newsletter. Al-Zaban was noted both for open
criticism of Islamic militancy and aggressive attacks on those critical
of the PA, particularly on human rights. At year's end, neither the
perpetrators nor their motives had been identified.
Some PA security organizations, including the General Intelligence
Service in the West Bank and the police, appointed officials to act as
liaisons with human rights groups. These officers met with human rights
organizations and members of the diplomatic community to discuss human
rights cases.
The ICRC and human rights groups, such as the Palestinian
Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights and the Mandela Institute,
regularly visited PA prisons and detention centers. During the year,
some groups reported that they occasionally encountered delays in
obtaining access to detainees in Palestinian prisons. PA officials
reportedly were less responsive to queries regarding the PA's policies
toward and treatment of collaborators than to queries on other
detainees (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.).
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 of these
organizations were critical of the Israeli Government's practices and
cooperation. In many cases, human rights groups refused to apply to
Israeli authorities for special travel permits in order to protest
Israel's regulation of their activities. During the year, human rights
groups reported that Israeli closures impeded and, at times, completely
prevented their work.
On January 13, Thomas Hurndall, 22, a British activist with the
International Solidarity Movement, died as a result of injuries
sustained in April 2003 when an IDF soldier shot him as he attempted to
move Palestinian children to safety during clashes in Rafah. At year's
end, the court-martial of the IDF soldier charged with manslaughter was
still pending.
In May 2003, Israel began requiring foreigners entering the Gaza
Strip to sign a waiver providing that ``the Government of the State of
Israel and its organs cannot be held responsible for death, injury and/
or damage/loss of property which may be incurred as a result of
military activity.''
In May 2003, then-Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom
said, ``Most human rights offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
provide shelter for Palestinian terrorists.''
In September, a settler confronted two members of the Temporary
International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), an NGO that monitored
relations between Israeli and Palestinian security forces, Palestinian
civilians, and settlers in the city, and attempted to run over one of
the TIPH staff. IDF soldiers refused to intervene, allegedly told the
TIPH members to leave, and blamed them for the incident.
On September 29, unidentified assailants suspected of belonging to
the Maon settlement in the South Hebron Hills attacked and robbed two
U.S. citizen members of the Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT) as they
escorted Palestinian children to school. One sustained internal
injuries, including a punctured lung, and the other a broken arm.
Settler officials denied any knowledge of the attack. At year's end,
the assailants had not been apprehended.
On October 9, members of the CPT, AI, and an Italian NGO
(``Operation Dove'') were escorting Palestinian children from the
village of Tuwani to a school in the village of Tabban southeast of
Hebron. As they were walking by the settlement of Maon, settlers
wearing masks and shouting obscenities in Hebrew attacked the escorts
with baseball bats, seriously injuring an Italian volunteer. At year's
end, the assailants had not been apprehended.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other groups reported
continued delays in transporting goods to Palestinian refugees in the
occupied territories. During Operation Days of Penitence in September
and October, the IDF restricted entrance into the Gaza Strip,
preventing humanitarian agencies such as UNRWA from delivering food and
providing assistance.
In October, UNRWA claimed that 24 of its staffers were detained by
the IDF and that it was not notified. An Israeli official stated the
number detained was not 24, but said that other UNRWA staff members
were under indictment.
Physicians for Human Rights, which offered weekly ``mobile
clinics'' in Palestinian villages, has been denied access to Gaza for 3
years and has only limited access to the West Bank.
On March 16, 2003, an Israeli bulldozer clearing land in Rafah in
the Gaza Strip crushed and killed Rachel Corrie, 23, a U.S. citizen
peace activist. Corrie was standing in front of the bulldozer and was
wearing a reflective vest. Eyewitness demonstrators stated that they
believe the driver knew Corrie was in front of the bulldozer as he
proceeded forward. IDF investigations concluded that the operator was
not negligent. U.S. officials who have seen the IDF report found
inconsistencies among the statements of the people involved in the
accident and other witnesses. The Corrie family believes that the
investigation was not thorough, credible, and transparent and continued
to pursue the case. In conjunction with the report of the IDF Judge
Advocate General, the IDF implemented two remedial procedures for
improved safety: The presence of more senior officers to oversee such
operations and the designation of closed military zones with orders
forbidding the presence of civilians in areas when IDF military
operations are concluded.
On April 7, 2003, gunfire from an undetermined source struck 24-
year-old U.S. citizen Brian Avery in Jenin. The IDF denied
responsibility for the incident. Avery, an activist with the
International Solidarity Movement, was walking outside during curfew in
the city when an IDF armored personnel carrier approached him. Avery
was shot in the face and required considerable surgery and extended
hospitalization. In December, a lawyer petitioned the Supreme Court to
require Israel military authorities to investigate his shooting.
According to B'tselem, the IDF had reportedly conducted an internal
investigation and concluded that it was impossible to determine whether
Avery was hit by IDF or Palestinian gunfire. At year's end, the Israeli
High Court had not delivered its decision in the case.
On December 26, 2003, Israeli security forces fired at
demonstrators attempting to penetrate the separation barrier built near
the town of Qalqilya. The gunfire wounded a 25-year-old U.S. citizen
and seriously wounded Israeli citizen Gil Na'amati in both legs. The
IDF internal inquiry concluded that the soldiers involved had not
violated the open-fire regulations. On November 27, the Military
Attorney General (MAG) decided that no criminal charges would be
brought. However, the MAG recommended a reprimand for the regional
brigade commander and further recommended that the commander of the
Engineers Corps unit that was involved, his second in command, and two
other soldiers be brought to a disciplinary hearing.
At year's end, the Government of Israel continued to withhold
information regarding the documents and property taken during the 2001
seizure of Orient House (see Section 2.b.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Women.--PA law does not explicitly prohibit domestic violence, but
assault and battery are crimes. There were reports indicating that
Palestinian domestic violence increased since 2000.
So-called honor crimes occurred infrequently, according to human
rights groups. Public discussion of the issue gained greater attention
due to a significant effort by Palestinian women's groups. The crimes
almost exclusively involved alleged sexual interactions of female
family members with men who were not their husbands. Women's shelters
were not accepted culturally. There was no reliable data on the
incidence of violence against women.
Rape is illegal, but spousal rape is not.
Palestinian women endured social prejudice and repression. Some
girls, especially in rural areas, did not finish mandatory schooling
because prospective husbands did not approve. Education and cultural
restrictions occasionally prevented women from attending college.
Muslim and Christian women who married outside of their faith often
were disowned and sometimes harassed. Local officials sometimes advised
such women to leave their communities to protect themselves.
Before 2000, a growing number of women worked outside the home,
where they often encountered discrimination and, occasionally, sexual
harassment. There were no special laws on women's rights in the
workplace. Women were underrepresented in most aspects of professional
life, although a small group of women were prominent in politics,
medicine, law, teaching, and NGOs.
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 Jordanian Status
Law of 1976, which includes inheritance and marriage laws. Women in
most cases are not entitled to inheritance. Men may take more than one
wife, although few did so. Women may make ``stipulations'' in the
marriage contract to protect them in the event of divorce and on
questions of child custody; however, only an estimated 1 percent of
women took advantage of this provision. Ecclesiastical courts also
often favored men over women in divorce and child custody cases.
Children.--The PA provides for compulsory education through the
ninth grade. However, girls who married before the ninth grade left at
the behest of husbands and, in rural areas and refugee camps, boys left
school to help support their families.
Internal closures, checkpoints, and the separation barrier
significantly impeded the ability of both students and teachers to
reach educational facilities (see Sections 2.a. and 2.d.).
In areas under curfew, all classes were cancelled. UNRWA reported
that more than 35,000 teacher workdays were lost in the 2002-03
academic year. Enrollment of students from Gaza at Birzeit University
in the West Bank declined from 370 in 2000 to 39 at year's end.
Education and health care professionals judged that the violence
produced lack of focus, nightmares, incontinence, and other behavioral
problems. UNRWA reported that elementary school exam pass rates in
Arabic, mathematics, and science declined dramatically between 2000-01
and 2003-04.
OCHA reported that during the past 3 years, Palestinian
universities lost approximately $4.85 million (20.8 million NIS) worth
of infrastructure. During the year, university dropout rates increased
by 7 percent, in part, because families were unable to pay the fees.
The PA Ministry of Health provided for children's immunizations.
The PA insurance program provided basic medical care for children, for
a small monthly fee. The latest available figures showed a slight
improvement in nutrition levels from 2003. In 2003, 3.4 percent of
Palestinian children suffered from acute malnutrition and 10.7 percent
suffered from chronic malnutrition. The prevalence of anemia varied
between the West Bank (17.4 percent) and the Gaza Strip (31.2 percent).
Child abuse was not a widespread problem. The law does not
explicitly prohibit child abuse, but does sanction parents who failed
to protect children from abuse. PA courts may protect children in
``difficult situations,'' including cases of neglect or abuse. The
Ministry of Social Affairs may ask a court to intervene to place a
child in an official protective institution or with an alternate
family.
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 was no juvenile court system, but certain judges specialized in
juvenile cases.
Palestinians in East Jerusalem received municipal services inferior
to those available in other parts of Jerusalem. In 2001, the Israeli
High Court ordered the construction of new infant care clinics in East
Jerusalem. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel stated that six
centers now existed in East Jerusalem and the surrounding areas and
that there was sufficient coverage for the local East Jerusalem
population. East Jerusalem schools remained under-funded and
overcrowded, and many students were denied enrollment due to lack of
space. In 2001, the Israeli High Court ordered the municipality to
build 245 new classrooms within the next 4 years, but, at year's end,
only 2 new classrooms were finished and 28 were under construction.
International and domestic NGOs, including UNICEF, Save the
Children, and Defense for Children International, promoted educational,
medical, and cultural services for children, and other groups
specialized in the needs of children with disabilities.
Palestinian terrorist groups used minors to conduct attacks or as
human shields. On January 11, a 17-year-old high school student from
Nablus blew himself up near an army post at Jinsafut; no IDF solders
were hurt. On November 1, a 16-year-old Palestinian bomber blew himself
up in a Tel Aviv marketplace, killing three Israeli civilians.
Trafficking in Persons.--Palestinian law does not prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the occupied territories.
Persons With Disabilities.--Accessibility to public facilities was
not mandated in the occupied territories. Palestinians with
disabilities were discriminated against in most spheres, including
education, employment, transportation, and access to public facilities.
There were approximately 130,000 Palestinians with disabilities prior
to the outbreak of the current Intifada. The Health, Development,
Information, and Policy Institute estimated that one-tenth of the
approximately 28,000 Palestinians injured in the Intifada will have
permanent disabilities.
Some institutions cared for persons with disabilities; however,
their efforts consistently were underfunded.
Care for Palestinians with physical and mental disabilities
remained a problem. Cultural stigmas coupled with inadequate funding
produced poor quality care. The PA depended on NGOs to care for
physical disabilities, and offered substandard care for mental
disabilities. In February, the Ministry of Health, with input from the
World Health Organization, released a national strategy for mental
health services that called for increased efforts to care for mental
health patients and to reintegrate them into the community.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no laws that
discriminated against homosexuals, and there were no reports of
specific incidents of abuse because of sexual orientation. However,
cultural traditions and religious publications reject homosexuality,
and Palestinians alleged that the public and PA security officers
subjected them to harassment, abuse, and sometimes arrest because of
their sexual orientation.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Labor Law 7 went into effect in 2001,
but calls for 48 bylaws. Nine have been approved by the Ministers
Council and published; 9 were approved but have not yet been published;
and 30 remain incomplete. Workers may establish unions without
government authorization. There were 19 trade unions registered with
the Ministry of Labor.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has paid to disseminate
an explanation of labor laws prepared by the Department of Law at
Birzeit University.
Workers in Jerusalem are free to 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 Israeli Histadrut Labor Federation.
Palestinians who worked in Israel or Jerusalem prior to 2000 were
partial members of Histadrut and had 1 percent of their wages withheld.
Partial membership entitled them to limited benefits, including
compensation for on-the-job injuries, maternity leave, and employer
bankruptcy. Histadrut and West Bank union officials negotiated an
agreement to transfer half of this fee to the Palestinian General
Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), which claimed it was owed $6.5
million (28 million NIS).
Article 66 of the labor law provides for the right to strike.
Prospective strikers must send a written warning 2 weeks in advance to
the other party and the Ministry of Labor notifying them of the basis
for the strike. (For strikes affecting public utilities, the period is
4 weeks.) In practice, strikers had little protection from retribution.
Unions that seek to strike must accept arbitration by the Ministry of
Labor and are subject to disciplinary action if they do not accept the
result.
The PGFTU participated in some programs of the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, but was not a member. The PGFTU
became an ICFTU affiliate in 2002.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--A majority of
workers in the occupied territories were self employed or unpaid family
helpers. Approximately 35 percent had wage jobs. Most were employed by
UNRWA and the PA. Articles 60 to 65 of the labor law stated that
conflicts should be resolved by a mediator from the ministry. If the
ministry cannot resolve the dispute, it can be referred to a special
committee, and, eventually to a special court. Accordingly, in practice
the right to strike remained questionable.
There are no export processing zones in the occupied territories,
although the Gaza Industrial Estate previously enjoyed free trade
access to foreign markets.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--PA law does not
prohibit specifically forced or compulsory labor; however, there were
no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum employment age is 15, and there are special conditions for
employment between 15 and 18. For minors, working at night, hard labor,
and travel outside their area of domicile were prohibited. However,
many children under 15 worked in family farms and shops, or as street
vendors, and in small manufacturing enterprises, such as shoe and
textile factories. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics' Labor Force Survey Report, July-September 2003, 1.7 percent
of children 10 to 14 years of age worked in 2003. The PA had only 40
labor inspectors for an estimated 65,000 enterprises. The ILO and
UNICEF worked with the PA to develop capacity. During the year, the ILO
began to implement its International Program for the Elimination of
Child Labor, conducted a survey, and hired a specialist to conduct a
technical assessment.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage. Prior
to 2000, the average wage for full-time workers provided a decent
standard of living. The standard of living dropped significantly over
the last 4 years.
The normal workweek was 45 to 48 hours. There was no effective
enforcement of maximum workweek laws.
The PA Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing safety
standards, and, while its ability was limited, it carried out some
inspections. The ministry stated that new factories and workplaces met
international health and safety standards, but that older ones did not.
Palestinians who worked in Israel were required to 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. The Constitution concentrates
executive and legislative authority in the King. A regent, whose
authority is outlined in the Constitution, assumes many
responsibilities in the King's absence. The King appoints the Prime
Minister and other members of the cabinet who manage the daily affairs
of the Government. The Parliament consists of the 55-member Senate,
appointed by the King, and a 110-member elected lower house, the
Chamber of Deputies. June 2003 multi-party parliamentary elections were
generally free and fair; however, the election law significantly under-
represented urban areas. The Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary; however, in practice, it remained susceptible to political
pressure and interference by the executive.
The Public Security Directorate (PSD) controlled general police
functions. The PSD, the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), and the
military shared responsibility for maintaining internal security, and
had authority to monitor security threats. The PSD reports to the
Interior Minister and the independent GID reports directly to the King.
The civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security
forces. Members of the security forces committed a number of serious
human rights abuses.
The Government made substantial progress in implementing market-
based reforms in a mixed economy. The Department of Statistics
estimated the population at the end of the year at 5.32 million. During
the year, the economy grew by more than 7 percent in real gross
domestic product terms, with an increase of approximately 3.4 percent
in the cost of living index. In general, wages and benefits kept pace
with inflation, although the Government has not increased the minimum
wage since January 2003. High unemployment and persistent poverty,
especially in rural areas, coupled with political uncertainty in the
region and limited water and energy resources, negatively affected the
economy.
Although the Government respected human rights in some areas, its
overall record continued to reflect many problems. Reported continuing
abuses included police abuse and mistreatment of detainees, allegations
of torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, lack of transparent
investigations and of accountability within the security services
resulting in a climate of impunity, denial of due process of law
stemming from the expanded authority of the State Security Court and
interference in the judicial process, infringements on citizens'
privacy rights, harassment of members of opposition political parties,
and significant restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and
association. Citizens did not have the right to change their
government. Citizens may participate in the political system through
their elected representatives to Parliament; however, the King has
discretionary authority to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister,
members of the cabinet and upper house of Parliament, to dissolve
Parliament, and to establish public policy. The Government imposed some
limits on freedom of religion, and there was official and societal
discrimination against adherents of unrecognized religions. There were
some restrictions on freedom of movement. Violence against women,
restrictions on women's rights, and societal discrimination against
women persisted. ``Honor'' crimes continued. Child abuse remained a
problem, and discrimination against Palestinians persisted. Abuse of
foreign domestics 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.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports of arbitrary or unlawful
deprivation of life by the Government or its agents.
There were no new developments in the January 2003 police killing
of a man in Ruseifa or the 2002 killing of a youth from Ma'an.
The security services promoted a climate of impunity by their
continued reluctance to conduct transparent investigations into
allegations of wrongful deaths that occurred during police detention in
previous years. In recent years, authorities have been more willing to
conduct transparent investigations and have, from time to time,
disclosed results.
In 2002, USAID official Lawrence Foley was shot and killed in front
of his home. In December 2002, the Government arrested suspects who
confessed to the act. In October 2003, five men accused in the killing
of Foley proclaimed their innocence, and claimed that security
officials had tortured them to elicit their confessions (see Section
1.c.). In April, all of the accused were convicted, some in absentia.
The Government announced that one suspect convicted in absentia for his
role in the killing was in custody as of July and would be retried in
accordance with the law, which provides for a new trial in such
circumstances.
In 2002, a challenge to government authority by an armed group in
Ma'an led to the deaths of five persons, including two police officers
and three militants. In September 2003, the man accused of fomenting
riots in Ma'an, Mohammed Shalabi, was arrested and put on trial by the
State Security Court. Shalabi (known as Abu Sayyaf) claimed he had been
tortured and initially denied a lawyer during his investigation (see
Section 1.c.). Shalabi and 12 other defendants were charged with
conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts and possession of explosives. In
December, the State Security Court acquitted Shalabi and his co-
defendants on the charge of conspiring to commit terror attacks. The
court found 11 of the defendants, including Shalabi, guilty for the
lesser charge of possessing explosives and sentenced them to prison
terms ranging from 6 to 15 years. Two of the defendants were cleared of
all charges.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, the police and
security forces sometimes abused detainees during detention and
interrogation, and allegedly also used torture. Allegations of torture
were difficult to verify because the police and security officials
frequently denied detainees timely access to lawyers. The most
frequently reported methods of torture included beating, sleep
deprivation, extended solitary confinement, and physical suspension.
Defendants in high-profile cases before the State Security Court
claimed to have been subjected to physical and psychological abuse
while in detention. Government officials denied allegations of torture
and abuse. Defendants in at least six cases before the Security Court
during the year alleged that they were tortured while in custody. For
example, affiliates of fugitive Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
convicted in April of killing USAID official Laurence Foley in 2002,
claimed their confessions were derived under duress. Zarqawi's nephew
Omar al-Khalayleh, who was sentenced in May with two others for
plotting against U.S. and Israeli tourists, also claimed torture. Other
Zarqawi accomplices in custody for activities made similar accusations
in their trials during the year, including Ansar al-Islam member Ahmad
al-Riyati (sentenced in June), fundraiser Bilal al-Hiyari (sentenced in
October), and Miqdad al-Dabbas, whose trial was ongoing at years end.
In June 2003, the Court of Cassation overturned the death sentence
of convicted terrorist Raed Hijazi. In December 2003, the State
Security Court convicted Hijazi and sentenced him to death for the
third time. At year's end, he continued to proclaim his innocence and
vowed to appeal the verdict again. In October, the Court of Cassation
upheld the guilty verdict and commuted Hijazi's sentence to 20 years
with no possibility of further appeal.
In October 2003, Mohammad al-Shalabi (see Section 1.a.) claimed
during his first court appearance that his interrogators tortured him
and denied him access to an attorney. In a December 2003 court
appearance, after being appointed a lawyer, al-Shalabi repeated his
claim and proclaimed his innocence. Several other co-defendants
retracted their previous confessions stating that they were extracted
under duress. Al-Shalabi's lawyers brought four prison inmates to
testify before the court that they noticed marks on al-Shalabi's legs
suggesting he had been tortured. Based on his attorneys' request, the
court referred al-Shalabi to the National Institute of Forensic
Medicine (NIFM) for medical evaluation. The NIFM physicians' report
indicated that al-Shalabi had not been tortured and noted no torture
marks on his body.
In October 2003, five men who later were convicted for the killing
of USAID official Lawrence Foley, claimed innocence in court and
asserted that security forces had tortured them to elicit their
confessions (see Section 1.a.). Bin Suwayyid, one of the defendants,
told reporters that interrogators made him sign a confession that he
was not allowed ``to read or check.'' Another defendant, Yasser
Freihart, reported that interrogators told him that if he did not sign
the confession, he ``would go back to the cell for more torture and
beating.''
There were no new developments in the 2002 case of a local
newspaper reporter covering anti-Israeli demonstrations in Sweileh who
claimed that he was detained, threatened, and ``manhandled'' by
government security forces. Human rights activists believed that
similar incidents occurred during the year that were not documented.
Police on several occasions used force to disperse demonstrations
during the year, including violent demonstrations held in refugee camps
following the death of HAMAS leaders. (see Section 2.b.).
Human rights activists reported a number of cases of beatings and
other abuses of individuals in police custody during the year. These
included accusations surrounding a disturbance at the Juweideh
Correctional and Rehabilitation Center and allegations by security
detainees. Human rights activists also claimed that detainees are often
held incommunicado for up to 2 months after arrest.
Prison conditions generally met international standards, and the
Government permitted visits by independent human rights observers.
Prisons and local police detention facilities were spartan, and on the
whole were severely overcrowded and understaffed. Human rights groups
and prisoners complained of poor food and water quality, inadequate
medical facilities, and poor sanitation in certain facilities.
On September 5, according to press reports and human rights
activists, one inmate died and several were injured during a
disturbance at the Juweideh Correctional and Rehabilitation Center.
Press reports indicated that some inmates became violent after
ingesting smuggled hallucinogenic drugs. Prison authorities then used
force to regain control. The Government formed a committee to
investigate the incident and to review overall prison conditions. At
year's end, the trial of 11 officers accused of unnecessary use of
force during the disturbance was ongoing.
The Government held men, women, and juveniles in separate prison
facilities. The GID held some persons detained on national security
grounds in separate detention facilities. The Government held other
security detainees and prisoners in regular prisons. Conditions in GID
detention facilities were significantly better than general police
detention facilities. While security prisoners often were separated
from common criminals, conditions for such prisoners did not differ
significantly.
Local human rights monitors were allowed to visit prisons; however,
they complained that the authorities required them to undertake a
lengthy and difficult procedure to obtain permission for such visits.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was permitted
access to prisoners and detainees, as well as to all prison facilities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did not always
observe these prohibitions. The Constitution 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.'' Criminal
laws generally required warrants; however, in most cases suspects may
be detained for up to 48 hours in the absence of a warrant. Police
obtained many warrants after making arrests.
Police forces fall under the leadership of the Director of the PSD,
who in turn answers to the Minister of Interior. The Director has
access to the King when the seriousness or urgency of a matter demands
it. A total of 13 different offices form the basic structure of the
PSD. Two of these offices include Preventative Security and the Office
of Complaints and Human Rights. Each of the 12 provinces has a police
department that also falls under the authority of the PSD Director.
Security and Policing activities were effective.
The Preventative Security Office enforces strict rules regarding
officer performance. Incidents of poor officer performance ultimately
are reported to the PSD Director's Office (see Section 1.c.).
Corruption within the PSD has not been an issue of significant debate,
and there are mechanisms in place to investigate police abuses.
Preventative Security actively investigates security issues, including
police corruption. Following the initial investigation, Preventative
Security forwards the findings to the Legal Affairs Office for further
investigation and possible prosecution in Police Court. Citizens may
file a complaint about police abuse or corruption to the Office of
Complaints and Human Rights (see Section 4). The head of this office
reports directly to the PSD Director. New officers in training receive
special instruction on how to avoid corruption.
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 of time.
In cases involving state security, the security forces arbitrarily
arrested and detained citizens. 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 until shortly before trial. Defendants before
the State Security Court usually met with their attorneys only 1 or 2
days before their trial. The Criminal Code prohibits pretrial
detentions for certain categories of misdemeanors.
In the past, human rights activists reported that the Government
detained hundreds of persons, including journalists (see Section 2.a.)
and Islamists, for varying amounts of time for what appeared to be
political reasons. In the past, human rights groups also reported that
there were a smaller number of long-term political detainees.
Local governors had the authority to invoke the Preventing Crimes
Law, which allowed them to place citizens under house arrest for up to
1 year without formally charging them (see Section 2.d.). House arrest
may involve requiring persons to report daily to a local police station
and the imposition of 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 (see Section 2.2).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was not independent in
practice and remained subject to pressure and outside interference. The
King appoints the Higher Judiciary Council, a committee that determines
judicial appointments, advancement, and dismissal. There were numerous
allegations in previous years, and some this year, that judges were
``reassigned'' temporarily to another court or judicial district to
remove them from a particular proceeding. Despite constitutional
prohibitions against such actions, judges complained of government
monitoring of their telephones (see Section 1.f.).
The judicial system consists of civil, criminal, commercial,
security, and religious courts. Most criminal cases are tried in
civilian courts, which include the appeals courts, the Court of
Cassation, and the Supreme Court. Cases involving sedition, armed
insurrection, financial crimes, drug trafficking, and offenses against
the Royal Family are tried in the State Security Court.
Shari'a (Islamic law) courts have jurisdiction over marriage and
divorce among Muslims. Christian courts have jurisdiction over marriage
and divorce cases among Christians, but apply Shari'a law in
inheritance cases (see Section 5).
The law provides that all civilian court trials are open to the
public unless the court determines otherwise. Defendants are entitled
to legal counsel, may challenge witnesses, and have the right to
appeal. Defendants facing the death penalty or life imprisonment must
be represented by legal counsel. Public defenders are provided if the
defendant is unable to hire legal counsel. Civil, criminal, and
commercial courts accord equal weight to the testimony of men and
women; however, in Shari'a court, the testimony of two women is equal
to that of a man's in most circumstances (see Section 5).
The State Security Court consists of a panel of three judges, two
military officers and one civilian. More than a dozen cases were tried
or are ongoing in the State Security Court during the year. Most
sessions are open to the public, though some are limited to the press.
Defendants tried in the State Security Court often were held in
pretrial detention without access to lawyers, although they were
permitted regular visits by representatives of the ICRC. 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 the State Security 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 have
no right of appeal. Appeals are 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
any allegations of torture.
In the past, defense attorneys challenged the appointment of
military judges to the State Security Court to try civilian cases as
contrary to the concept of an independent judiciary. According to human
rights activists, military judges appeared to have received adequate
training in civil law and procedure.
There were no reports of political prisoners. A ``prisoner'' is a
person deprived of liberty ``pursuant to conviction for a crime.''
However, the Government detained, deprived of liberty from the time of
arrest to conviction or release, persons for varying periods of time
for political reasons (see Section 1.d.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law
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, at times in violation of
the law, the authorities obtained warrants retroactively or obtained
pre-approved warrants. Security officers officially 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. In the past, judges complained
that their telephones were surveilled unlawfully (see Section 1.e.).
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 imposed
significant restrictions on these rights in practice.
The Press and Publications Law and the Press Association Law
imposed stringent restrictions on the operation of newspapers. The
Government also intimidated journalists to encourage self-censorship.
Citizens may be prosecuted for slandering the Royal Family, the
Government, or foreign leaders, and for ``sowing sedition.'' Citizens
generally did not hesitate to criticize the Government openly, but
exercised caution with regard to the King, the Royal Family, and the
GID. The Press and Publications Law and the law governing the Jordan
Press Association (JPA) require membership in the JPA for persons to be
considered ``legal'' journalists or editors, thus potentially excluding
dozens of practicing journalists from the profession. During the year,
the Government selectively enforced this provision.
In May, the Government summoned Fahd Al-Rimawi for questioning,
allegedly for writing an article critical of Saudi Arabia in his weekly
newspaper, Al-Majd. Al-Rimawi was released and continued to write
opinion pieces as the editor of Al-Majd.
In September, the Government detained and released 11 unlicensed
preachers. The Government claimed that it acted to enforce a long-
standing law requiring preachers, of all religions, to be licensed.
Some human rights activists accused the Government of selectively
enforcing this law in a way that restricts free speech.
In December, the Government detained overnight Ali Hattar, a member
of the Jordan Engineers Association, and charged him with slandering
the government in a public lecture. The case was moved from the penal
court to the magistrate's court in Salt and was scheduled to reconvene
in early 2005.
There were no developments in the alleged censorship of a political
cartoon in November 2003 in the weekly newspaper Al-Wahda.
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, allows journalists to cover court proceedings unless the
court ruled otherwise, and requires publications to be licensed. The
Law imposes strict limits on publications, which gave the Government
broad leeway to impose sanctions. Journalists alleged that the
Government uses informants and censors at printing presses to inform
the Government if particularly objectionable material is slated for
print in the news media.
The Penal Code restricts free speech and allows the prosecution of
any person found to have written, published, or aired any statements
that could be construed to harm or incite to harm or insult individuals
or ``the state's reputation and dignity.'' Imprisonment of 3 years is
punishment for defamation of the King or Royal Family.
Journalists also may be prosecuted before the State Security Court
for criminal and security violations. Although a substantial number of
cases were dismissed before trial, some cases lingered in the courts
for years. The Government routinely used detention and prosecution or
the threat of prosecution to intimidate journalists into self-
censorship (see Section 1.d.).
No incidents occurred during the year, but in February 2003, three
journalists were charged with blasphemy and slandering the government.
They received prison terms ranging from 2 to 6 months and returned to
work after their release.
In 2001, the Government arrested seven members of the Anti
Normalization Committee, a group that opposes the country's relations
with Israel, on charges of belonging to an illegal group (see Section
2.b.). The State Security Court also charged two of the seven with
possession of explosives and with terrorist activities. All seven
detainees were released on bail while awaiting trial. At year's end the
trials had not yet begun.
The Press and Publications Department continued to enforce bans on
the publication of a number of books within the country. Books were
banned based on religious, moral, and political objections.
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 and
the Government did not block the entry of foreign publications during
the year.
Radio and television news broadcasts, more restricted than the
print media, were liberalized slightly during the year. The Government
created a new Audio Visual Licensing Authority, which regulated and
licensed private radio and television broadcasts for the first time.
The Government also licensed one new radio station and a satellite
television broadcaster that had not begun transmission by years end.
Under commercial agreements with each entity, the Government re-
broadcasts the regional programs of the British Broadcasting
Corporation, the London-based Middle East Broadcasting Center, Radio
Monte Carlo, and Radio Sawa. Jordan Television (JTV) reported only the
Government's position on controversial matters. International satellite
television and Israeli and Syrian television broadcasts were available
and unrestricted.
The Government opened investigations attempting to determine who
was responsible for Internet sites that allegedly libeled the King;
however, no one was known to be prosecuted in such cases during the
year. In the past, there were reports of government interference with
Internet access, including several websites that appear to have been
blocked. The Government allowed Internet news sites to operate in the
country, including those presenting news critical of the Government.
The Government limited academic freedom. Some academics claimed
that they received frequent threats of dismissal. During the year,
sources in the academic community claimed that there was an ongoing
intelligence presence in academic institutions.
During the year, Jordan University continued its policy of granting
the president of the university the authority to appoint half of its
80-member student council, including the chair. The amendment 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 decision.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--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 the organizers of rallies and demonstrations request
permission from provincial governors at least 3 days prior to any
event. Under the law, no protest may be held without the governor's
consent, and violators face imprisonment from 1 to 6 months and a fine
not to exceed $4,230 (3,000 dinars).
In some cases, the Government granted approval at the last moment,
making it difficult for organizers to plan effective demonstrations.
On March 26, 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. The demonstration began after Friday prayers in reaction
to the death of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The Government
claimed it filed formal charges against some of the detainees while
releasing those under 18. Member of Parliament Tayseer Al-Fitiani
alleged that riot police beat him with clubs upon his arrival at the Al
Wihdat police station after demonstrators had dispersed.
The Constitution provides for the right of association; however,
the Government limited freedom of association by law. Several
university students, mostly Islamists, were taken before academic
disciplinary councils during the year for political activities
unrelated to their studies and punished with dismissal or the inability
to sit for exams. The Government required and routinely granted
approval for nonpolitical conferences, workshops, and seminars.
The Government prohibits membership in an unlicensed political
party and routinely licensed political parties and other associations.
There were 30 licensed political parties. The Government may deny
licenses to parties that it decides do not meet a list of political and
other criteria contained in the Political Parties Law. The High Court
of Justice may dissolve a party if it violates the Constitution or the
Political Parties Law.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, provided that religious practices are consistent with
``public order and morality''; however, the Government continued to
impose some restrictions on freedom of religion. According to the
Constitution, Islam is the state religion.
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. The Government does not
officially recognize all religious groups. Some religious groups, while
allowed to meet and practice their faith, complained of societal and/or
official discrimination. In addition, not all Christian denominations
have been accorded legal recognition as religions. The Prime Minister
unofficially conferred with an interfaith council of bishops
representing local churches on all matters relating to the Christian
community, including the registration of new churches in the country.
The Government used the following criteria when considering recognition
of Christian churches as separate official religions: The faith does
not contradict the nature of the Constitution, public ethics, customs,
or traditions; the faith is recognized by the Middle East Council of
Churches; the faith does not oppose the national religion; and the
group includes some citizen followers.
The Government did not recognize the Druze or Baha'i faiths as
religions but did not prohibit the practice of the faiths. Druze faced
official discrimination but did not complain of social discrimination.
Baha'is faced both official and social discrimination. 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 was allowed to conduct religious services and
activities without interference.
The Government did not interfere with public worship by the
country's Christian minority.
The Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary (JETS), a Christian
training school for pastors and missionaries, had not been accredited
by year's end. As a result, students and faculty from the U.S. and
elsewhere wishing to attend JETS still were unable to obtain student
visas. JETS continued its operations with students studying on tourist
visas and broke ground for a new building in August 2003.
Shari'a prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing Muslims.
Conversion to the Muslim faith 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. However, in practice, this principle
was not applied. According to the Government, it neither encouraged nor
prohibited apostasy. Converts from and to Islam are considered Muslims
under Shari'a law on matters of personal status. Shari'a prescribes the
death penalty for Muslims who convert to another religion; however,
there is no corresponding statute under national law, and such
punishment never has been applied.
The Constitution provides that religious community trusts and
matters of personal status fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of
the Shari'a courts for Muslims, and separate non-Muslim tribunals for
each religious community recognized by the Government. There is no
civil marriage. 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 of 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.
On September 13, a convert from Islam to Christianity was arrested
and held overnight for charges of apostasy. A Shari'a court issued a
guilty verdict on November 23. At year's end, no written verdict had
been issued or punitive action taken, and the accused reportedly had
left Jordan with his family.
In 2002, the Shari'a and civil court systems adjudicated a child
custody case and transferred legal custody of two minors who were
raised as Christians from their Christian mother to her Muslim brother.
At year's end, the children remained in her physical custody pending
the result of a counter suit filed against the Muslim brother claiming
disinterest in the children and misuse of the children's trust funds.
Men may divorce their spouses more easily than women; however,
since 2001, Shari'a courts have granted over 500 divorces brought by
women (see Section 5). The new lower house of parliament rejected the
law permitting this initiation by women in August 2003, but the upper
house approved it. At year's end, Parliament has not taken final action
and the law remained in effect.
All minor children of a male Muslim who converts to another
religion automatically are considered to be Muslim. 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, and minor children of male converts to Christianity are not
recognized legally as Christians and continue to be treated as Muslim
in matters of family and property law.
The Government noted individuals' religions (except for Druze,
Baha'is, and other unrecognized religions) 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.
In May 2003, a court sentenced poet Musa Hawamdeh to 3 months in
prison on apostasy charges stemming from one of his controversial
poems. In August 2003, the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the verdict.
Hawamdeh maintained that he would make a final appeal to the Court of
Cassation.
Government policy requires that foreign missionary groups refrain
from public proselytizing ``for the sake of their own personal safety
from members of society that oppose such practices.'' 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 ``disrupt the cohesiveness and peace
between religious groups in society.''
Anti Semitic editorial cartoons, articles and opinion pieces,
usually the rhetoric of political columnists, were published in the
newspapers ``Al-Rai'' and ``Al-Dustur". They were not common, but they
did occur without government response.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights;
however, there are some restrictions. The law requires that all women
obtain written permission from a male guardian to apply for a passport;
however, women do not need a male relative's permission to renew their
passports. In the past, there were several cases in which mothers
reportedly 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 1 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.
Persons with full citizenship receive passports that are valid for
5 years. Most Palestinians living in the country were citizens and
received passports; however, the Government estimated that there are
150,000 Palestinian refugees who do not qualify for citizenship. They
receive 3-year passports valid for travel but which do not connote
citizenship. West Bank residents without other travel documentation are
eligible to receive 5-year passports for travel only and do not connote
citizenship.
Human rights activists continued to charge that the Government did
not apply consistently citizenship laws, especially in cases in which
passports were taken from citizens of Palestinian origin. The
Government claimed this policy is in line with its efforts to implement
the Government's disengagement from its former claims to the West Bank.
However, citizens complained that the process is not transparent and
the appeal process is virtually non-existent. Persons or families filed
appeals with the Ministry of Interior, which were not resolved to their
satisfaction. The Government asserted that the cases it has closed all
involved persons without valid claims to citizenship or travel
documents.
Human rights activists reported that approximately 1,200 citizens
of Palestinian origin remained outside the country, due to the
Government's refusal to renew their passports at embassies overseas.
The Government asserted that only non-resident Palestinians who seek to
renew travel documents, which require proof of residence in the
country, have been refused.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile and the Government did not
use forced exile.
The Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees; however it does not force the return of persons
to a country where they fear persecution. The Government generally
cooperated with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The
Government respected the UNHCR's eligibility determinations regarding
asylum seekers, including those who entered the country clandestinely
and recognized the legal definition of a refugee as set forth in the
U.N. Convention. In March 2003, the Government also signed a letter of
understanding with UNHCR agreeing to provide protection against the
forcible return of persons displaced by hostilities in Iraq requiring
humanitarian assistance. UNHCR continued to train law enforcement
officials and judges in international refugee law, including training
for instructors from the National Center for Human Rights who conduct a
course for entry-level government officials.
The Government generally provided temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/
1967 Protocol. The Government generally recognized UNHCR's request that
states continue to grant some temporary protection for all Iraqi asylum
seekers, including new arrivals, rejected cases, and recognized
refugees whose cases had been suspended by resettlement countries.
However, UNHCR reported that a significant number of Iraqis were
refused entry into the country during this period. It also reported
that it had to intervene to prevent the deportation of persons issued
UNHCR asylum seeker cards during the reporting period in several
instances during the year.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and
the Government continued to provide assistance to 1.768 million
Palestinian refugees during the year. Approximately 700,000 displaced
persons from former Jordanian territories during the 1967 war have been
granted nationality. An additional 120,000 displaced persons during the
1967 war hold temporary residency permits. There was public debate over
the Government's extension of assistance to those refugees who do not
hold Jordanian nationality during the year.
Prior to the war, the Government estimated that over 300,000 Iraqis
resided in the country. Since 1991, thousands of Iraqis have applied
for refugee status and received legal and material assistance from the
UNHCR. In April 2003, the Government agreed to admit persons displaced
by the hostilities in Iraq.
UNHCR received applications for refugee status determination from
6,004 Iraqis during the year. In addition to applications from Iraqis,
UNHCR also received applications from 75 Sudanese, 31 Egyptians, 33
Syrians and 43 stateless persons. According to UNHCR figures, during
the year, 12,616 persons were seeking asylum, another 1098 persons
recognized as refugees were awaiting resettlement, and 78 Chechens were
allowed to remain indefinitely pending repatriation. The Government
provided protection at the UNHCR camp at Ruweished to approximately 323
Palestinian refugees who fled in Iraq in April 2003. The Government
also continued to provide temporary protection to approximately 700
recognized refugees, mostly Iranian Kurds formerly resident in UNHCR's
Al Tash camp in Iraq, in the UNHCR camp in the no-man's land between
Iraqi and Jordanian border checkpoints at the Karamah-Trebil crossing.
UNHCR assisted several hundred Ruweished and no-man's land residents to
voluntarily repatriate to Iraq during the reporting period. It also
continued to provide financial assistance to 387 Palestinians from Iraq
who had been permitted to leave the Ruweished camp and enter the
country proper per royal decree in August 2003.
The Government continued its policy of denying children of Iraqi
asylum seekers admittance to school unless their families presented
evidence that they had established legal residency in the country.
According to IOM statistics, between January 1 and December 1, the
Government also granted protection to 170 third country nationals
fleeing Iraq en route to Sudan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Somalia, Egypt,
Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria. An additional 64 Sudanese remained
in the country awaiting third-country repatriation at year's end. The
Government also facilitated the transit of approximately 1,200 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
Citizens do not have the right to change their government. Citizens
may participate in the political system through their elected
representatives in Parliament; however, the King has discretionary
authority to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister, cabinet, and upper
house of Parliament, to dissolve Parliament, and to establish public
policy.
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. In practice, Parliament routinely granted its
confidence, although not without substantive debate. In the most recent
vote of confidence in December 2003, 85 of 110 deputies voted in
support of the Government. Executive power is vested in the King (or,
in his absence, in the Regent), who exercises his power through his
ministers in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. June
2003 parliamentary elections generally were regarded as free and fair.
The Parliament is composed of a 55-member Senate appointed by the
King, and a popularly elected 110-member Chamber of Deputies. The
Constitution provides authority to the Parliament to initiate
legislation and to approve, reject, or amend legislation proposed by
the cabinet. A group of 10 senators or deputies may submit draft bills
for consideration; however, in practice legislation is initiated and
drafted by the Cabinet of Ministers and submitted by the Government to
Parliament for consideration.
In November 2003, the King appointed a new Senate, and reappointed
Zeid Rifai as Senate President. Fourteen senators were carried over
from the previous 40-member Senate. In line with tradition, the Senate
contains a large number of former government officials, including 24
former ministers and 4 former prime ministers. The number of female
members increased from three to seven, while the number of senators of
Palestinian origin decreased from nine to seven (see Section 5).
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. Observers believed that the law continues to
give greater proportional representation to electorates in the rural
and southern part of the country, as well as in regions with
populations known for their traditional, pro-Hashemite views, resulting
in significant under-representation of urban areas. In practice, the
chances of non-tribal candidates, to be elected were limited.
The 2001 election law increased the number of electoral districts
by redrawing district boundaries and redistributing seats among
districts, required verification of polling results by members of the
judiciary, and lowered the voting age to 18 years. A February 2003
amendment included a six-seat quota for women in the House of Deputies.
Citizens may freely nominate themselves and register as candidates as
long as they do not have a criminal history.
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,
may in practice remain in force without legislative approval.
The country is divided into 99 municipalities for purposes of local
governance. A 2002 provisional law gives the King the power to appoint
all mayors and half the municipal councils. Opponents of these measures
claimed that the consolidations were an attempt to undermine the
strength of Islamist parties in local Government, and that they would
weaken the democratic process at the municipal level by reducing the
number of locally elected officials. The Islamic Action Front (IAF)
sought to enjoin the Government from making the consolidations, but the
courts held that the IAF had no standing to initiate action against the
consolidation.
The June 2003 municipal elections were regarded as generally free
and fair; however, some losing candidates claimed that voter fraud was
a problem. The IAF boycotted the elections in all districts outside of
greater Amman to protest the provisional law on appointing municipal
officials.
Women have the right to vote, and women's groups encouraged women
to vote and to be active in the political process. There were four
female ministers. In the Parliament there were seven female senators,
up from three in the previous Senate, and six female members of the
Chamber of Deputies, up from one in the previous Chamber.
Of the 110 seats in the lower house, 9 are reserved for Christians,
9 for Bedouins, and 3 for either the Circassian or Chechen ethnic
minorities.
The Palestinian community, estimated at more than half of the total
citizen population, contributed 7 of 21 ministers. In the Parliament, 7
of 55 senators and 17 of 110 lower house deputies were of Palestinian
origin. There were no Palestinians in any of the 12 governorships
throughout the country. The electoral system gives greater
representation to areas that have a majority of inhabitants of non-
Palestinian origin.
Allegations of corruption were leveled against the executive and
legislative branches. Parliamentary debate focused on corruption when
the Government proposed transparency laws requiring financial
disclosure for Government officials. At years end, the proposed
transparency laws still were being debated in Parliament.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated with government restriction, 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 local chapter of the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR)
and the Jordanian Human Rights Organization (JHRO) continued to operate
with the permission of the Government. In 2002, the Ministry of
Interior dissolved the Jordanian Society for Citizens' Rights (JSCR),
one of the few human rights groups not affiliated with any political
movements or the Government. The Government reported that it closed the
JSCR because of legal infractions and internal disputes related to
finances. However, the JCSR claimed the closure was for political
reasons, including the JSCR's reporting of Palestinian citizens losing
their passports as a result of the 1988 disengagement laws. On July 25
the Society applied for registration with the Ministry of Interior
under the new name of the Jordan Organization for Citizen Rights
(JOCR). The Ministry of Interior officially denied the application on
October 11.
The National Center for Human Rights, a quasi-governmental body
with educational, protective, and reporting responsibilities, began
operations in June 2003. Its activities 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.
In March 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a Human
Rights Directorate, focused on ensuring government compliance with
international agreements and cooperation with international
organizations.
In May 2003, the PSD opened human rights complaints offices at each
of its regional directorates. Persons charging police misconduct may
submit complaints to the relevant office, and the Government reported
that cases backed by sufficient evidence can result in police officers
being tried under the Public Security Law. Plaintiffs may file
compensation claims for damages, and convicted officers reportedly also
are subject to disciplinary action. Citizens filed 285 complaints in
2003, of which 80 were found to be valid and resulted in either court
trials or disciplinary measures for the officers involved.
The Government directed the Parliamentary Public Freedoms Committee
and the Human Rights Office at the Prime Ministry.
The Government generally cooperated with international
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but human rights observers
claimed that some security detainees were held incommunicado. The ICRC
was permitted full access to detainees and prisoners, including those
held by the GID and the military intelligence directorate (see Section
1.c.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law does not distinguish between citizens on the basis of race;
however, women and some minorities were treated differently under the
law and faced discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas.
Some private political groups such as the Anti-Normalization Committee,
which is opposed to ties with Israel, acted through various
professional organizations to restrict the freedoms of individuals who
have had dealings with Israel. The Government opposed the activities of
the Committee.
Women.--Violence against women was common; however, reported
incidents of violence against women did not reflect the full extent of
the problem. Medical experts acknowledged that spousal abuse occurred
frequently. However, cultural norms discouraged victims from seeking
medical or legal help, thus making it difficult to assess the extent of
such abuse.
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. Wife battering technically was
grounds for divorce, but a husband may seek to demonstrate that he has
authority from the Koran to correct a perceived irreligious or
disobedient wife by striking her.
The Criminal Code provides for leniency for a person found guilty
of committing an ``honor crime,'' a violent assault with intent to kill
against a female by a relative for her perceived immodest behavior or
alleged sexual misconduct. Law enforcement treatment of men accused of
honor crimes reflected widespread unwillingness to recognize the abuse
involved or to take action against the problem. During the year, 18
honor crimes committed against women were reported. In 2003, 15 cases
were reported. The actual number of honor crimes was most likely
higher. Human rights observers believed that more killings occurred but
were not documented as honor crimes. According to women's rights
activists, there was some evidence of a societal trend toward
condemnation of honor crimes. The police regularly imprisoned women who
were potential victims of honor crimes for their own protection.
Activists estimated that more than 25 women were detained in such
``protective'' custody.
The penal code provides that a ``crime of honor'' defense may be
invoked by a defendant accused of a killing who ``surprises his wife or
any close female relative'' in an act of adultery or fornication, and
the perpetrator of the honor crime is judged not guilty of a killing.
Although few defendants are able to meet the stringent requirements for
a crime of honor defense (the defendant personally must have witnessed
the female victim engaging in sexual relations), most avoided trial for
the crime of a killing, and were tried instead on the charge of
manslaughter. Even those convicted of murder rarely spent more than 2
years in prison. In contrast to honor crimes, the maximum penalty for
first-degree murder is death, and the maximum penalty for second-degree
murder is 15 years. Such defenses also commonly relied on the male
relative having acted in the ``heat of passion'' upon hearing of a
female relative's alleged transgression, usually without any
investigation on the part of the assailant to determine the veracity of
the allegation before committing the assault. Defenses in such cases
fall under Article 98 of the Penal Code. A provisional law amended
Article 340 to apply equally to men and women; however, this legal
change did not affect substantially the sentencing of perpetrators of
honor crimes, as no defendant in an honor crime invoked Article 340
during the year. Most activists believed that even if Article 340 were
repealed, honor crimes likely would persist, with sentences continuing
to be reduced under Article 98. In July, the Ministry of Justice
submitted draft legislation to the cabinet increasing the minimum
punishment for all killings, regardless of motivation, to 5 years. No
further action has been taken by years end.
Some instances of honor killings included a 36-year-old man who
killed his 25-year-old cousin as she was recovering in a hospital after
a Caesarean delivery on June 2. The victim became pregnant with the
child of a married man. Two other male cousins of the victim
accompanied the man as he shot her six times. A nurse and the newly
born baby were both in the room during the shooting. All three cousins
turned themselves in the same day and remained in custody pending their
trial.
In another case, on July 1, a younger brother stabbed his 26-year-
old sister to death. The brother turned himself in to the authorities
shortly after the killing claiming family honor motivated his actions.
The victim had been released from protective custody the day before
after her family signed a guarantee that they would not harm their
daughter. The victim had become pregnant out of wedlock almost a year
earlier. The brother remained in custody pending his trial.
In July 2003, police arrested an 18-year-old boy for shooting his
16-year-old sister after her father secured her release by guaranteeing
her safety. The case had not gone to trial at years end.
In September 2003, three brothers were arrested for hacking their
two sisters to death with an axe. The older sister married without her
family's consent, and the younger victim was living with her sister at
the time. According to press reports, in their confession the brothers
stated that they acted to ``cleanse the family's honor.'' In November,
the courts sentenced two of the brothers to death and then reduced the
sentence to 10 years imprisonment. The third brother was cleared of all
charges.
In contrast with 2003, there were no reports during the year that
female genital mutilation (FGM) was practiced.
According to the law, sexual harassment is strictly prohibited and
subject to criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment. Sexual
harassment, assault, and unwelcome advances of a sexual nature against
women did not appear to be widespread problems.
Women experienced legal discrimination in matters of pension and
social security benefits, inheritance, divorce, ability to travel,
child custody, citizenship, and the value of their Shari'a court
testimony in certain limited circumstances (see Section 1.e.). 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 are able to divorce their spouses more easily than
women, although a provisional law introduced in 2002, which was under
debate in Parliament, adds to the circumstances under which a woman may
file for divorce (see Section 2.c.). At year's end, the issue remained
under consideration with the Upper House after the Lower House rejected
the law for a second time in June, but the provisional law remained in
effect. Special courts for each denomination adjudicated marriage and
divorce matters for Christians (see Section 2.c.). There were 19 female
judges in the country, up from 11 in 2002.
The law requires a married woman to obtain her husband's permission
to obtain, but not to renew, a passport (see Section 2.d.). Married
women do not have the legal right to transmit citizenship to their
children. Furthermore, women may not petition for citizenship for their
non-citizen husbands. The husbands themselves must apply for
citizenship after fulfilling a requirement of 15 years of continuous
residence. 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, lack the rights of
citizen children, such as the right to attend school or seek other
government services.
Civil law grants women equal pay for equal work; however, in
practice, this law sometimes was ignored. During the year, press and
union leaders reported that a small number of employers in the private
sector paid their female employees less than the legal minimum wage,
despite the fact that the women were under contract, and that wage
disparity increased with salary.
Social pressures discouraged many women from pursuing professional
careers. 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 those rights. The
Business and Professional Women's Club held seminars on women's rights
and assisted women in establishing small businesses. The chapter was
also one of the organizations providing programs for potential female
voters and candidates leading up to the parliamentary elections.
Members of the Royal Family worked actively to improve the status of
women. The Jordanian National Commission for Women organized a series
of conferences to develop a strategy to increase women's role in the
country's political development.
Children.--The Government is 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 until the age of 16; however, no legislation
exists to enforce the law or punish guardians for violating it, and
absence of children from school is without penalty. 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 the beginning of the 1999-2000
school year, the Government denied Iraqi children admittance to public
school unless they were legal residents of the country or recognized as
refugees by the UNHCR (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, with few concrete results. The Government did not charge
tuition for public education and it granted food and transportation
supplements to families with many children or to very poor families.
Students must obtain a good behavior certificate from the GID to
qualify for admission 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 Team for Family Protection (NTFP) coordinated all
issues concerning family safety. The Government-funded ``Dar al
Amman,'' the nation's first child protection center, provided temporary
shelter, medical care, and rehabilitation for children age 6 to 12 who
have suffered abuse.
Although the problem was difficult to quantify, social and health
workers believed that there was a significant incidence of child abuse
in families, and that the incidence of child sexual abuse was
significantly higher than reported. The law specifies punishment for
abuses against children. Rape or sodomy of a child under 15 years of
age carries the death penalty.
The Family Protection Unit of the PSD worked with victims and
perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence. The Unit dealt primarily
with child and spousal abuse, providing multiple in-house services,
including medical treatment for patients. The Unit cooperated with
police to apprehend perpetrators of domestic violence, facilitated
participation in education and rehabilitation programs, and referred
patients to other facilities.
Illegitimate children are entitled to the same rights under the law
as legitimate children; however, in practice, they suffered severe
discrimination in a society that does not tolerate adultery or
premarital sex. Most illegitimate children become wards of the State or
lived a meager existence on the fringes of society. In either case,
their prospects for marriage and gainful employment were limited.
Furthermore, illegitimate children who were not acknowledged legally by
their fathers were considered stateless and were not given passports or
identity numbers.
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. The Ministry of Social Development has
a committee to address the problem and, in some cases, removed the
children from the streets, returned them to their families or to
juvenile centers, and provided the families with a monthly stipend;
however, the children often returned to the streets. Economic
conditions and social disruption have caused the number of these
children to increase over the last 10 years. Child vendors sold
newspapers, tissues, small food items, or gum, and other children who
picked through trash dumpsters to find recyclable cans to sell,
sometimes were the sole source of income for their families.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children;
however, it does not specifically prohibit trafficking in other
persons. Other criminal statutes prohibit slavery and indentured
servitude. There were no confirmed reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, or within the country. To reduce the potential for abuse of
foreign domestic workers (FDWs), the Government adopted new and
stricter procedures that regulate the importation of such labor (see
Section 6.e.). While these changes improved the legal framework to
protect FDWs, lack of awareness among employers and employees remained
a problem. The Government has undertaken a cooperative program with
UNIFEM to raise the awareness of FDWs on the new protections afforded
them.
The Government did not formally assign anti-trafficking duties to a
specific body, nor did it have a national action plan, and it was
limited financially in its ability to carry out trafficking related
programs. However, a number of programs helped combat trafficking in
women and children, such as a Ministry of Social Development program to
rehabilitate street children and Ministry of Labor vocational training
programs for young rural women.
The interagency Family Protection Department (FPD) offered
assistance to all victims of abuse, as well as FDWs, including medical
exams, consular notification, and access to counseling. The Government
did not provide training on how to assist victims of trafficking;
however, the FPD raised the profile of abuse within the country and its
personnel became increasingly adept at handling this crime.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. The law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions in practice. High unemployment
restricts job opportunities for persons with disabilities, who numbered
220,000. Thirteen percent of citizens with disabilities received
monetary assistance from the Government. The Government passed
legislation in 1993, reinforced in 2000, requiring future public
buildings to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities and to
retrofit existing public buildings; however, implementation has been
slow.
The law requires that 2 percent of available public sector jobs be
reserved for persons with physical disabilities. Private organizations
and members of the Royal Family actively promoted programs to protect
and advance the interests of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Palestinians residing in the
country suffered discrimination in appointments to positions in the
Government and the military, in admittance to public universities, and
in the granting of university scholarships. The Government granted
citizenship to all Palestinians who fled to the country in the period
after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and to a large number of refugees and
displaced persons who arrived as a result of the 1967 war. However,
most refugees who fled Gaza after 1967 were not entitled to citizenship
and were issued 3-year passports valid for travel only. In 1995, then-
King Hussein announced that West Bank residents without other travel
documentation would be eligible to receive 5-year passports. However,
the Government emphasized that these passports are for travel only and
do not connote citizenship (see Section 2.d.).
Indigenous People.--The country's indigenous people, nomadic
Bedouin and East Bank town-dwellers, traditionally have been the
backbone of popular support for the Hashemite monarchy and dominated in
senior military, security, civil service positions, and in the
Parliament. Nevertheless, many Bedouin in rural areas were
disadvantaged economically.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers in the private sector, in
some state-owned companies, and in certain professions in the public
sector have the right to form and join unions without excessive
requirements and did so in practice. Unions must be registered to be
legal. Union by-laws limit membership to citizens, effectively
excluding the country's more than 125,000 registered foreign workers.
However, some unions represented the interests of foreign workers
informally. More than 30 percent of the work force was organized into
17 unions. 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 subsidizes and audits the GFJTU's
salaries and activities. Union officials are elected by secret ballot
to 4 year terms. The Government cosponsors and approves the timing of
these elections and monitors them to ensure compliance with the law.
Union leaders complained about the requirement for government oversight
of their elections.
The Constitution prohibits anti-union discrimination, but the ICFTU
claimed that the Government did not protect adequately employees from
anti-union discrimination. Workers may lodge complaints of anti-union
discrimination with the Ministry of Labor, which is authorized to order
the reinstatement of employees discharged for union activities. There
were no complaints of anti-union discrimination lodged with the
Ministry of Labor 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 Ministry of Labor 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 Ministry of Labor. The decisions of the panel are
legally binding. If only one party agrees, the Ministry of Labor 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.
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. It generally was not practiced. Some
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.). 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.--
Child labor is not a major problem, and the worst forms of child labor
are virtually nonexistent. Labor law forbids children under the age of
16 from being employed, except as apprentices; however, there were
reports of child labor. Children under the age of 18 may not work for
more than 6 hours continuously between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.,
or during weekends, religious celebrations, or national holidays.
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 Ministry of Labor
inspectors responsible for enforcing the relevant laws. When
investigating child labor, inspectors generally acted to ameliorate the
situation of the involved families when appropriate, 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 depend, and might turn to more serious activities, such as
drug trafficking and prostitution, for income.
The Ministry of Labor's Child Labor Unit receives, investigates,
and addresses child labor complaints (although it has no formal
mechanism for doing so) and coordinates government action regarding
child labor. Anecdotal evidence suggested that child labor, especially
of street vendors, was more prevalent during the year than it was 10
years ago.
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.--In January 2003, the Government
increased the national minimum wage by 6.25 percent from $113 (80
dinars) to $121 (85 dinars) per month. The minimum wage applies to all
workers except domestic servants, those working in small family
businesses, and those in the agricultural sector. Inspectors from the
Ministry of Labor enforced the minimum wage, but due to limited
resources were unable to ensure 100 percent compliance. Although the
increase exceeded the 2002 1.8 percent cost of living increase, 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 workweek, 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 1 day off per week. Labor
law does not apply to small family businesses, domestic servants, and
non-professional 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
Ministry of Labor is authorized to enforce. The law requires employers
to report industrial accidents to the Ministry of Labor within 48
hours. Although employers are not required to report occupational
diseases to the Ministry of Labor, the law stipulates that if the
medical authority determines that a worker suffers an occupational
disease as a result of his work, the employer is liable for
compensation. The Ministry of Labor 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 Ministry of Labor, there were approximately
143,000 registered non-citizen workers in the country. The majority of
these were engaged in low-wage, low skill activities in the
agriculture, construction, and industrial sectors. According to the
Government, 13,000 of these workers were employed in the Qualified
Industrial Zones (QIZs). Foreign workers in the QIZs were recruited
through a vetted process involving registered recruitment agencies. The
embassies for a number of the major source countries of this labor sent
officers to the QIZ factories to track labor conditions.
Domestic servants have no legal redress for labor grievances and
cannot sue in court for nonpayment of wages. Abuse of domestic
servants, most of whom were foreign and many of whom were working
without legal status in the country, was widespread. Imprisonment of
maids occurred, and illegal confiscation of travel documents by
employers was common. Victims, who feared losing their employment and
being returned to their home country, generally did not report
complaints to government officials. In 2003, the Ministry of Labor
instituted a number of new requirements for employment agencies that
provide Ministry oversight of FDWs' recruitment and employment. The
Ministry actively closed down unlicensed recruiting agencies, but the
lack of awareness among FDWs of their legal protections remained an
impediment that the Ministry worked to address. In cooperation with the
U.N. Development Fund for Women and several source country embassies,
the Government also introduced a new standard work contract with
greater protections that applied to all newly arriving FDWs since July
2003.
__________
KUWAIT
Kuwait is a constitutional, hereditary emirate ruled by the Al-
Sabah family who governs in consultation with prominent families and
community leaders. The 1962 Constitution empowers the Emir with
executive and legislative authority and permits dissolution of the
elected National Assembly by decree. The July 2003 parliamentary
elections were generally considered to be free and fair; however, there
were some credible reports of the Government and the opposition buying
votes. Only 15 percent of citizens have the right to vote. Following
the 2003 elections, the Emir appointed a new prime minister whose
authority the Crown Prince previously held. The Crown Prince appoints
government members; however, the elected National Assembly has at times
influenced or overturned government decisions. The Constitution
provides for some judicial independence; however, the judiciary was
subject to government influence. The Emir appoints all judges, and the
Government must approve the renewal of most judicial appointments.
The national police, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID),
and Kuwait State Security (KSS) are responsible for internal security
under the supervision of civilian authorities in the Ministry of
Interior (MOI). Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces; however, there were some instances in
which elements of the security forces acted independently of government
authority. Some members of the security forces committed a number of
serious human rights abuses.
The country has a small, relatively open, market-based economy
dominated by the oil industry and the government sector. Of a total
population of approximately 2.645 million, an estimated 1.7 million are
foreigners. Oil export revenues accounted for nearly half of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). The government sector accounted for 87.5
percent of citizen employment while foreigners constituted more than 90
percent of the private sector workforce. According to international
estimates, real GDP grew 2.3 percent in 2003 to $36.3 billion. Wages in
the public sector, which employs 90 percent of citizens, did not
increase with inflation. High citizen population growth coupled with a
large influx of foreign workers has caused GDP per capita to decline in
recent years. Domestic servants and unskilled workers often lived and
worked in poor conditions.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and serious
problems remained. Citizens do not have the right to change their
government. Some police and members of the security forces reportedly
abused detainees during interrogation. Overcrowding in the prisons
continued to be a significant problem. There were some reports of
mistreatment of noncitizen prisoners. The judiciary was subject to
government influence. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy
rights in some areas. The Government placed some limits on freedom of
speech and the press. The Government restricted freedom of assembly and
association. The Government placed some limits on freedom of religion
and freedom of movement. Violence and discrimination against women,
especially noncitizens, continued to be a serious problem. Judicial
authorities discriminated against non-citizens, especially foreign
laborers. The legal status of tens of thousands of ``bidoon'' Arabs
with residence ties but no documentation of their nationality remained
unresolved. The Government restricted worker rights to organize and
bargain collectively, and form unions. Domestic servants remained
marginalized and lacked a system to protect their rights, monitor
working conditions, and resolve labor disputes. Unskilled foreign
workers continued to suffer from the lack of a minimum wage in the
private sector, government failure to enforce some Labor Law provisions
effectively, and, at times, physical or sexual abuse at the hands of
their employers. Some worked under conditions that constituted
indentured servitude. Young boys, usually from South Asia, continued to
be used as jockeys in camel races.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the
Government or its agents.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The fate of 572 Kuwaitis (including 29 bidoon) and 33 other
residents taken prisoner during Iraq's occupation of the country in
1990-91 remained a highly emotional issue. The remains of more than 200
of these missing were identified by DNA tests from mass graves found in
Iraq after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. The Tripartite
Commission on Gulf War Prisoners of War (POWs) and Missing Persons
(TPC) resumed functioning with Iraqi participation shortly after the
end of major hostilities in Iraq.
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, some
police and members of the security forces reportedly abused detainees
during interrogation. Reported mistreatment included torture and other
physical abuse. 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 public either the findings of its
investigations or punishments it imposed.
In August, 14 Jihadi Islamists, detained on charges of recruiting
youths to conduct attacks against coalition forces in Iraq, threatened
to begin a hunger strike over claims that they had been coerced
physically and verbally into making confessions. An Interior Ministry
statement said that security officials ``convinced [the detainees] such
a step was not needed.''
In August, three policemen were arrested for allegedly raping a
runaway Asian maid at a police station and at another location. The
maid's country's Embassy reported the incident to the police, and an
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
In September, four freed Jihadists claimed to have confessed to
crimes after being tortured by security officials. They were reportedly
held in isolation and went on a hunger strike for 3 days. They further
claimed that they ended their strike upon further threats of abuse.
Government officials claimed that no reports of abuse relating to this
case were filed by lawyers representing Jihadi suspects and stated that
all inmates received fair and equal treatment. The Justice Minister
publicly supported investigations into the allegations of abuse against
Jihadi suspects.
In November 2003, three policemen reportedly raped a Filipina
domestic servant while she was in police custody at a district police
station. The Philippine Embassy filed a criminal case against the
officers in December 2003 on behalf of the domestic servant, which was
settled out of court this year.
In 2002, there were several allegations of police officials and
security personnel abusing detainees while in police custody; however,
there were no new developments in these cases during the year.
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
did not reveal their identities during interrogation, complicating
confirmation of abuse.
Prison conditions, generally met international standards, and the
Government permitted visits by independent human rights observers. A
new men's prison opened during the year, and prisoner transfers took
place reducing previously severe overcrowding conditions. The new
facility houses approximately 800 prisoners and meets all international
standards for prisons.
In recent years, credible reports from former inmates and the
National Assembly's Human Rights Defense Committee (HRDC) cited severe
overcrowding (13-15 inmates per cell), lack of beds, poor sanitation,
lack of clean toilet and washing facilities, poor ventilation, and
inadequate containment of infectious diseases as common problems. The
Government allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
access to all prisons and detention facilities (see Section 4).
There were some reports of mistreatment of non-citizen prisoners at
the Central Prison. In recent years, it has been reported that some
deportees at the deportation facility in Shuwaikh were incarcerated for
6 months or longer pending deportation. Deportees reportedly often wait
months for their former employers to cancel their residency and work
permits or to provide their travel documents.
The Government held men and women in separate detention facilities.
There were reports that prison conditions for non-citizens, including
women, were less favorable than conditions for citizens. The Government
held pretrial detainees separately from convicted prisoners. Juveniles
were incarcerated separately from adults in a Juveniles Prison.
Inmates undergo a routine medical exam before they are incarcerated
with other prisoners; however, a report by the HRDC in 2003 cited
tuberculosis infection among inmates and staff as a major problem.
During the year, four inmates were reportedly suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Drug-related offenders comprised a slight majority of the inmate
population. The Government provided educational and rehabilitation
programs for inmates, psychological counseling, and specialized courses
for inmates suffering from drug and alcohol addiction. An Islamic
educational facility under the supervision of the Ministry of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs with a capacity to accommodate 600 inmates and 3 other
specialized learning facilities provided religious, computer,
carpentry, and other practical skills training to inmates.
Local human rights monitors were allowed to visit prisons. The HRDC
closely monitored prison conditions throughout the year, the ICRC,
which maintains an office in the country, visited some detainees during
the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution 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 the arresting officer may
issue them. There were some credible reports of police arresting and
detaining foreigners without a warrant, based on accusation by a third
party. There were no reported deaths in detention from beatings or
severe mistreatment.
According to the penal code, those suspected of serious crimes may
be held for up to 4 days without charge, during which 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.
The police constitute a single national force under the purview of
civilian authorities of the Ministry of Interior.
During the year, there were credible reports of police corruption
and abuse of detainees during interrogation (see Section 1.c.). The
Government relieved several security officials of their duties during
2003 as a result of credible allegations of abuse of detainees during
interrogation. There were no reported Government efforts during the
year to reform the police or security forces.
On October 18, the Criminal Court began trial of 12 citizens
charged with involvement in the October 2002 attack that led to the
death of a foreign marine on Failaka Island. The Government released 2
of the 12 suspects on bail. In June, the Criminal Court sentenced a
citizen to death for shooting two foreign civilians, one fatally, in
January near Camp Doha. The citizen appealed the verdict and, on
October 28, the Court of Appeals commuted the death sentence to life in
prison, affirmed by the Court of Cassation in December despite the
Public Prosecutor's appeal to uphold the capital sentence. The Criminal
Court sentenced three accomplices to varying terms in prison.
Of the approximately 3,700 persons serving sentences or being
detained pending trial, approximately half were being held on security
grounds, including some held for collaborating with Iraq during the
occupation. There were approximately 500 foreigners including 28
bidoon, held in detention facilities. The Government did not return
deportees to their countries of origin forcibly, allowing those who
objected to remain in detention (see Section 2.d.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution 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, the majority of judges were non-citizens. Non-
citizen judges hold 1- to 3-year renewable contracts, which undermine
their independence. The Ministry of Justice 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. The
Court of Cassation (``Supreme Court'') is the highest level of judicial
appeal. There is also a specialized constitutional court, though its
members are all senior judges from the civil judiciary. It has the
authority to issue binding rulings concerning the constitutionality of
laws and regulations. The court also rules in election disputes.
Sunni and Shi'a Muslims have recourse to their own independent
courts for family law cases. Secular courts barred no groups from
testifying and considered male and female testimonies equally; however,
in the family courts, the testimony of a man was equal to the testimony
of two women. By law, criminal trials are public unless a court or the
Government decides that ``maintenance of public order'' or
``preservation of public morals'' necessitates a closed trial. There is
no trial by jury.
Defendants have the right to confront their accusers and appeal
verdicts. The Emir has the constitutional power to pardon or commute
all sentences. 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; however, in practice
very few indigent civil and commercial plaintiffs requested this
service.
Both defendants and prosecutors may appeal court verdicts to the
High Court of Appeals, which may rule on whether the law was applied
properly as well as on the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
Decisions of the High Court of Appeals may be presented to the Court of
Cassation, which conducts a limited, formal review of cases to
determine only whether the law was applied properly.
There were no reports of political prisoners during the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution 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
offers its advice (see Section 2.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution (Articles 36 and
37) provides for freedom of speech and the press ``in accordance with
the conditions and in the circumstances defined by law''; however, the
Government imposed some restrictions on these rights in practice.
Journalists continued to practice self-censorship.
The Press Law prohibits the publication of any direct criticism of
the Emir, official government communications with other states, and
material that serves to ``attack religions'' or ``incite people to
commit crimes, create hatred, or spread dissension among the public.''
For violation of the law, Article 28 provides a maximum imprisonment of
6 months, raised to 1 year if repeated. Administrative punishments are
also possible like confiscation, closure, and withdrawal of licenses
without a court ruling. The criminal law also contains an array of
charges which can be brought to bear, such as offense to religious
sensibilities, public morality, and destroying the ``basic convictions
of the nation.''
In May 2003, the Government presented a new draft press law that
would severely restrict press freedom by giving the Government power to
close printing presses, veto advertisements, suspend publication of
newspapers, and subject articles to pre-publication censorship (a
practice the Government banned in 1992). Local newspapers sharply
criticized the proposed law. The law was reintroduced this year, but
the National Assembly had not voted on it at years end.
In October, a new satellite television channel, Al-Rai, was
launched. The private satellite channel, affiliated with its sister
company Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper, will expand television broadcasting in
the country by introducing the first private news channel in the
country.
The Government, through the Ministry of Information, threatened to
impose penalties against individual publishers and editors believed to
have criticized government policies or discussed subjects deemed
offensive to Islam, tradition, or the State.
In June 2003, the Government filed charges against the publisher
and editor in chief of a prominent newspaper for ``challenging the
authority of the Emir'' after the editor stated publicly that unnamed
members of the ruling family were interfering in the parliamentary
election campaign (see Section 3). The case had not gone to court by
year's end. In December 2003, police arrested, detained, and
interrogated a citizen for producing and distributing an audiotape
allegedly defaming the Prophet Mohammed's companions and was sentenced
without being present at the trial to 10 years in jail in May.
The country has five Arabic and two English language daily
newspapers. All newspapers are independent and privately owned.
The Government ended prepublication censorship in 1992. However,
the Government still uses this form of censorship when it chooses, and
journalists continued to practice self-censorship.
In September, 25 advertisement magazines were suspended due to
violation of article 35 of the Press and Publication Law. The law gives
the Cabinet the right to suspend newspapers for a period not to exceed
2 years or to revoke its license if it is proved that it serves the
interests of a foreign state or organization or if what it publishes
contradicts the national interest. Further, according to article 25,
the Information Minister can subject periodical publications to pre-
publishing censorship. Violators can be penalized with imprisonment of
1 to 3 years and fined between $10,200 and $17,000 (3,000 to 5,000 KD).
In 2002, the Government closed down the offices of and expelled the
Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera on allegations of defaming the
Government.
Publishers must obtain an operating license from the Ministry of
Information to begin publishing a newspaper. There is no appeal to the
courts if the license is not granted. Publishers may lose their license
if their publications do not appear for 6 months, which prevents
publishers from publishing sporadically. Individuals also must obtain
permission from the Ministry of Information before publishing any
printed material, including brochures and wall posters.
There were no specific reports of security forces subjecting
journalists to violence or harassment during the year. In December
2003, security officials arrested a police officer for reportedly
verbally and physically assaulting a journalist. In 2002, police
confiscated film belonging to a press photographer covering a public
disturbance. Police officials did not provide any explanations
regarding the action taken toward the photographer.
Fawwaz Muhammad Al-Awadi Bessisso and Ibtisam Berto Sulaiman Al-
Dakhil, two journalists, were sentenced to life in prison in 1991
because of their work with a newspaper that published under Iraqi
occupation. The Government, which found the two guilty of cooperating
with the authorities of the Iraqi occupation, deported one of the
journalists to France in 2003 while the other reportedly departed the
country.
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 if the citizen believes that the
author has defamed Islam, the ruling family, or public morals. Often,
citizens filed such charges for political reasons.
The Government owns and controls local radio and five television
channels. Satellite dishes were widely available and operate without
restriction. However, the Ministry of Information censored all books,
films, videotapes, periodicals, and other imported publications deemed
morally offensive. The Ministry of Information censored media for
political content and did not grant licenses to political magazines.
The Ministry of Information controlled the publication and distribution
of all informational materials.
According to the latest statistics, there were an estimated 500,000
Internet users. The Government threatened to shut down private Internet
cafes for noncompliance with new restrictive regulations in 2002, which
required Internet service providers to block some political sites and
those deemed immoral. Following the 2002 raid of 19 Internet cafes, the
Ministry of Communications required cafe owners to obtain the names and
civil identification numbers of customers and to submit the information
to the Ministry upon request. The law provides for a $162,500 (50,000
dinar) bond.
The Constitution provides for freedom of opinion and of research;
however, academic freedom is limited by self censorship, and academics
were legally prohibited from criticism of the Emir or Islam.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly; however, the Government restricted
this right in practice. Public gatherings require government approval.
The Constitution protects informal weekly social and political
gatherings of men (diwaniyas). Most adult male citizens, including the
Emir, members of the Government, and members of the National Assembly
hosted or attended diwaniyas to discuss current events. The diwaniya
system provided an important forum for public debate on political,
social, and economic issues. Women were not precluded from holding
diwaniyas of their own; however, such diwaniyas were uncommon.
Traditionally, women do not attend male diwaniyas, although a few
diwaniyas are open to both sexes.
There were a few public demonstrations during the year.
Demonstrators were orderly and the police did not interfere in most
cases. In May, Islamic activists rallied to protest the sponsoring of a
pop music concert for 'Star Academy' performers. During the same month,
a gathering of citizens protested against environmental pollution and
liberal citizens protested to express their dissatisfaction over the
constraints imposed by the government on music concerts. On April 20,
approximately 700 persons held a peaceful protest march denouncing the
killings of HAMAS leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantissi.
The Ministry of Interior tightly controlled the march and banned
provocative banners and slogans.
The Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice. The law prohibits
associations from engaging in political activities. The Government
banned political parties; however, several unofficial blocs existed and
were active in the National Assembly. In 2003, candidates were allowed
to run for elections only as individuals and not with a party (see
Section 3); however, in many cases, a candidate's party affiliation was
well known and may have influenced electoral performance.
The Government used its power to license as a means of political
control. There are 54 licensed, official nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) in the country, including professional groups, a bar
association, and scientific bodies. The Ministry licensed only one NGO
during the year--the Kuwait Human Rights Society, an NGO with
approximately 500 members, which waited 12 years before being approved
for a license. There were 91 NGOs pending licensing by the Ministry;
many have been waiting years for approval.
Licensed NGOs received government subsidies for their operating
expenses, including travel and per diem expenses for participating in
international conferences. The ministry has rejected license requests
on the grounds that established NGOs already provide services similar
to those proposed by the petitioners. Members of licensed NGOs must
obtain permission from the ministry in order to attend international
conferences (see Sections 2.d. and 4).
There are hundreds of unlicensed civic groups, clubs, and
unofficial NGOs in the country. These unofficial associations do not
receive government subsidies and have no legal status.
The Government reportedly did not shut any unlicensed NGOs or
unregistered branches of Islamic charities during the year. Unlike in
previous years, the Government did not remove any unlicensed street-
side charity boxes during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government placed some limits on this right in
practice. The Constitution also provides that the State protect the
freedom to practice religion in accordance with established customs,
provided that it does not conflict with public policy or morals. The
Constitution states that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a
(Islamic Law) is ``a main source of legislation.''
The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has official
responsibility for overseeing religious groups. Officially recognized
churches must deal with a variety of government entities, including the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (for visas and residence permits
for pastors and other staff) and the Municipality (for building
permits). While there reportedly was no official government ``list'' of
recognized churches, seven Christian churches have at least some type
of official recognition that enables them to operate openly. These
seven churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican, National Evangelical, Greek
Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Catholic) have open
``files'' at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, allowing them to
bring in staff. In October 2003, the Government closed the National
Evangelical Church's file, reportedly due to its alleged failure to
comply with the National Manpower Support Law by employing the
requisite number of citizens of the country. At year's end, the
Government reinstated its open file status.
By tradition, three churches benefit from full government
recognition and are allowed to operate compounds officially designated
as churches. These are the Catholic Church (which includes two separate
churches, the Latin Catholic and the Maronite), the Anglican Church,
and the National Evangelical Church. However, there are quotas on the
number of clergy and staff that each church can bring into the country.
There were reports in previous years of at least two groups that
applied for permission to build their own churches; however, the
Government has yet to respond to their requests.
The Government continued to discriminate against the Shi'a
minority. There are approximately 300,000 Shi'a citizens (one third of
Kuwaiti citizens) and approximately 100,000 Shi'a non-citizen
residents. Shi'a remained disadvantaged in the provision of mosques,
access to Shi'a religious education, and representation in upper levels
of Government. There are approximately 30 to 40 Shi'a mosques and
approximately 1,200 Sunni mosques. There is no independent Shi'a
seminary. Shi'a must travel to Iran or Iraq for clerical training. Five
Shi'a were elected to the 50-seat National Assembly in July 2003,
compared to 6 Shi'a in the previous National Assembly. The Government
allows Shi'a to follow their own jurisprudence in matters of personal
status and family law at the first-instance and appellate levels. In
October 2003, the Government approved a long-standing Shi'a request to
establish a Shi'a Court of Cassation to handle Shi'a personal status
and family law cases.
Shi'a were free to worship without government interference, and the
overall situation for Shi'a improved somewhat during the period covered
by this report. Since 2000, the Government has granted licenses for and
has approved the construction four new Shi'a mosques. All four mosques
were still reportedly under construction.
Shi'a leaders have complained that Shi'a who aspire to serve as
imams are forced to seek appropriate training and education abroad due
to the lack of Shi'a jurisprudence courses at Kuwait University's
College of Islamic Law, which only offers Sunni jurisprudence. The
Ministry of Education reviewed a Shi'a proposal to establish a private
college to train Shi'a clerics within the country; however, at year's
end, no action had been taken on the proposal.
The country's Shi'a population has been allowed more public
celebrations of their religious traditions. During the year, Shi'a were
permitted for the first time to publicly reenact the Battle of Karbala,
and Shi'a clerics were granted television airtime during the Ashoura
day celebration.
Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran, such as Sikhs,
Hindus, Baha'is and Buddhists, are not permitted to build official
places of worship as these religions lack legal status. However, they
are allowed to worship privately in their homes without government
interference.
While some discrimination based on religion reportedly occurred on
a personal level, most observers agreed that it was not widespread.
There was a perception among some domestic employees and other members
of the unskilled labor force, particularly Asian nationals, that they
would receive better treatment from employers as well as society as a
whole if they converted to Islam.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic activity on behalf of the
Government. Examples of unofficial anti-Semitic commentary from the
media and from some mosque preachers did surface. The Government has
taken no action to enact laws relating to the protection of the rights
to religious freedom of Jews, although there is no significant Jewish
community present. There have been instances of anti-Semitic rhetoric
in government-sponsored education curricula, specifically in reference
to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Government prohibits proselytizing to Muslims; however, the
Government permits Christian churches to serve non-Muslim
congregations. The law prohibits organized religious education other
than Islam; however, the Government did not enforce this law rigidly,
and such education took place. Although informal religious instruction
occurred inside private homes and on church compounds without
government interference, there were credible reports that government
inspectors periodically visited public and private schools outside
church compounds to ensure that no religious teaching other than Islam
took place. There were also credible reports that government inspectors
periodically observed church worship services to monitor the content of
information for possible anti-Government or proselytizing rhetoric.
The Islamic Presentation Committee (IPC), under the authority of
the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, actively encouraged
proselytizing to non-Muslims.
The law prohibits the naturalization of non-Muslims; however,
citizens who were Christians before 1980 (and children born to families
of such citizens since that date) were allowed to transmit their
citizenship to their children.
By law, a non-Muslim man must convert to Islam when he marries a
Muslim woman if the marriage is to be legal in the country. The law
forbids marriage between Muslim women and non Muslim men (see Section
1.f.). By law, a non-Muslim woman does not have to convert to Islam to
marry a Muslim man, but it is to her advantage to do so. In practice,
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 children, even
those who most likely would have been left in the mother's custody if
she were Muslim. Failure to convert may also mean that as a non-Muslim
woman, she would not be eligible to inherit her husband's property.
A few Muslim converts to Christianity reported harassment and
discrimination by police and employers, including termination of
employment, repeated summonses to police stations for questioning,
verbal abuse, police monitoring of their activities, and imposition of
fines without due process.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution does not provide for
the rights of freedom of movement within the country, freedom of
foreign travel, or freedom to emigrate. 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 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, but he may prevent her departure from the country
by placing a 24-hour travel ban on her through immigration authorities.
After this 24-hour period, a court order is required if the husband
still wishes to prevent his 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. There were reports of citizen
fathers and husbands confiscating their children's and wives' travel
documents to prevent them from departing.
The Constitution 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 must
be deported after finishing their jail terms, and in certain
circumstances, citizens may have their citizenship revoked. This
provision includes citizens sentenced for felonies during the first 10
years of attaining citizenship, citizens discharged from a public job
for ``acts against integrity'' during the first 10 years of attaining
citizenship, and citizens who take up residence in a foreign country
and join an authority that is designed to undermine the country.
Citizens were largely free to emigrate and to return. Security
forces occasionally set up checkpoints to detain individuals for
immigration purposes and to apprehend undocumented aliens.
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 has resulted in many citizens and foreigners being prevented from
departing the country without investigation or a legal case being
brought before a local court. This practice has become less prevalent
in recent years, but it still persists. Although illegal, many citizen
employers routinely confiscate the passports of foreign employees,
which forces them to remain in the country against their will. There
does not appear to be any concerted government effort to prevent
employers from engaging in this practice.
Members of licensed NGOs must obtain government approval to attend
international conferences as official 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 pilgrimage.
The Government permitted the ICRC to verify if deportees objected
to returning to their countries of origin; it detained those with
objections until they either changed their minds or made alternative
arrangements to travel to another country.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or 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. The Constitution 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 U.N. 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 do not have the right to change their government. The
Constitution provides that the elected National Assembly has a limited
role in approving 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 new Crown Prince. The
only citizens who have the right to vote and seek election to the
National Assembly are males age 21 and over, who have been citizens for
at least 20 years, and are not members of the armed forces, police, or
other uniformed personnel of the Ministry of Interior.
Under the Constitution, the Emir holds executive power and shares
legislative power with an elected National Assembly. The Emir appoints
the prime minister, who presides over a 16-member Cabinet (Council of
Ministers), who he chooses in consultation with the Emir. In accordance
with the practice of the ruling family (but not specifically the
Constitution), the prime minister always has been the Crown Prince;
however, in an unprecedented development in July 2003, the Emir named
one of his brothers, who was then serving as Foreign Minister, as Prime
Minister who promptly formed a new Cabinet.
The Constitution empowers the Emir to suspend its provisions and to
rule by decree. The Constitution provides that cabinet members sit in
the National Assembly and vote on legislation. At least one member of
the Cabinet must be an elected member of the National Assembly.
There are 50 elected National Assembly members and 15 cabinet
members appointed by the Emir who sit as ex-officio members. Members of
Parliament (MPs) serve 4-year terms, and the most recent National
Assembly elections were held in July 2003. The Government banned
political parties; however, several well-organized and unofficial
blocs, acting much like political parties, existed and were active in
the National Assembly. Because of the ban on political parties,
National Assembly candidates must nominate themselves as individuals
and may run for election in any of the country's 25 constituencies. The
top two finishers in each constituency are elected in single-round
balloting.
The Constitution provides that the National Assembly can overturn
the Emir's decrees, but only those made when the National Assembly is
not in session. The National Assembly exercised this authority in
previous years in some cases; however, the National Assembly did not
amend any of the Emir's proposals during the year.
Members regularly require ministers to appear before the full
National Assembly for formal inquiries, known as ``grillings,'' when
MPs are dissatisfied with their or the ministry's performance. On
occasion, pressure exerted by the National Assembly, including through
votes of no confidence, has led to the resignation or removal of
ministers.
The July 2003 National Assembly elections were generally free and
fair, although there were some credible reports of government and
opposition vote buying, illegal and unevenly held tribal primaries (by-
elections), ballot box tampering in some constituencies, and lax
enforcement of some election laws. Recounts were ordered and undertaken
in 2 of the 25 electoral districts due to allegations of vote fraud.
During 2003, candidates from several constituencies filed court
petitions challenging the July 2003 National Assembly election results
on allegations of ballot box tampering. In December 2003, the
Constitutional Court dismissed these petitions.
Women continued to be denied the right to vote and to run for
office; they had little opportunity to influence the Government. There
were no women in the National Assembly and no women in the Cabinet.
Women held some relatively senior nonpolitical positions within some
ministries.
The new prime minister appointed one minority Shi'a member to the
16-member Cabinet as the Minister of Information. Of 50 elected
National Assembly members, 5 were Shi'a.
Several tribes conducted illegal primaries (by-elections) to select
candidates for participation in the National Assembly elections held in
July 2003. Such primaries are limited to tribe members and thus do not
include all eligible voters in a given electoral constituency. Some
Shi'a claimed that if they had held such primaries as other groups did
(in violation of election laws), they would have gained more seats in
the National Assembly. In December 2003, the National Assembly's
Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee approved requests from the
Public Prosecutor to lift the parliamentary immunity of four
parliamentarians suspected of participation in illegal tribal primaries
held before the July elections.
Allegations of corruption on the national level arose during the
year. In December, the Deputy Prime Minister faced various charges of
corruption including mismanagement and negligence resulting in the loss
of $260 million (77 million KD) to the Kuwait Municipality. The
government official was not found guilty of wrongdoing during a
grilling by Ministers of Parliament.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government permitted the existence of NGOs; however, it
continued to deny licenses to some NGOs. The only local human rights
NGO is the Kuwait Human Rights Society (KHRS), which was licensed
during the year as an officially recognized NGO. The KHRS produces an
annual report on human rights in the country, publishes a quarterly
magazine, and meets some senior government officials occasionally. It
reportedly paid for the legal fees and the return travel of an abused
Indian maid in 2002, who had been severely beaten by her employer in a
high-profile domestic abuse case.
The Government permitted international human rights organizations
to visit the country and to establish offices. Several organizations
conducted fieldwork and reported good communication with and reasonable
cooperation from the Government.
The Government has cooperated fully in the work of the U.N. 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 has not yet submitted the remaining two of eight
conventions from the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
Declaration of Basic Rights at Work to the National Assembly for
ratification (see Section 6).
The National Assembly has an active Human Rights Defense Committee,
which took testimony in 2003 from individuals regarding abuses,
investigated conditions in prisons and nursing homes, and made
nonbinding recommendations for redress. Despite its designation as an
advisory body, the HRDC has shown that, in practice, it is able to
mobilize government agencies to address significant human rights
problems.
During the year, the children of stateless bidoon were granted free
education in the school system, through the Ministry of Education. This
followed efforts in 2003 by the HRDC, which focused particular
attention on the issue of access to public education for bidoon
children. HRDC members questioned the Minister of Education before the
National Assembly on the issue. The committee also issued a report
critical of Central Prison conditions during the year. It did not issue
a human rights report during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, national
origin, language, and religion; however, in practice, the Government
did not uniformly or consistently enforce laws against discrimination.
Many laws and regulations discriminated against women and non-citizens.
There were no specific reports of any official or societal
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; however, the Government
tightly controlled HIV testing, and foreign workers who have HIV/AIDS
were often deported.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a serious and
overlooked problem. Certain provisions of the penal code reduce or
eliminate penalties for violent crimes committed by men against women.
Each of the country's 54 police stations reportedly received weekly
complaints of spousal abuse, approximately 60 percent of which involved
spousal abuse of non-citizen women. The police and the courts generally
sought to resolve family disputes informally, but they referred a few
serious cases to the Ministry of Health.
The courts have found husbands guilty of spousal abuse; however,
most domestic abuse cases are not brought to court, and abusive
husbands, if convicted, rarely face severe penalties. Typically,
husbands accused of domestic abuse must pay a nominal fine and sign a
pledge of good conduct. Police officials typically regard domestic
violence as a private family affair and are reluctant to bring such
cases to the attention of higher investigative authorities. In
February, police arrested a man for allegedly killing his wife in their
home during a domestic dispute.
There are no shelters or hotlines for victims of domestic violence.
Many non-citizen women married to citizen men 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 hospital
reports, eyewitness accounts, and social worker testimony), police
officials rarely take into custody perpetrators of domestic violence.
An abused woman may petition for divorce based on injury, but the law
provides no clear legal standard as to what constitutes injury, and a
woman must provide at least two male witnesses (or a male witness and
two female witnesses) to attest to the injury committed. There were
some reports of individuals bribing police officials to ignore charges
of domestic abuse. The law prohibits rape and provides that citizens
found guilty of crimes that violate moral integrity, such as rape or
incest, are forbidden from holding public jobs.
In October, a Kuwaiti man was arrested for assaulting his wife. He
was still beating his wife when police intervened.
Rape and sexual assault remained serious problems, particularly for
domestic servants and other foreign workers. Local newspapers
highlighted dozens of rape and sexual assault incidents during the
year, mostly involving 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. In October, police arrested five men,
three Kuwaitis and two citizens of the Dominican Republic, for
allegedly kidnapping and raping a Filipina maid in September. In
August, a female member of the U.S. Army accused an Egyptian man of
raping her inside her hotel room in Kuwait City in August. At years
end, the case was ongoing. In March, the Appeals Court upheld a verdict
of the Criminal Court sentencing a non-Kuwaiti man to life imprisonment
for the 2002 premeditated murder and attempted rape of a woman.
In December 2003, four Defense Ministry cadets were arrested for
raping a female citizen of minor age. In December 2003, a citizen
teacher reportedly raped an 11-year-old male pupil in a school
bathroom. In November 2003, the Public Prosecutor interrogated several
police officers accused of raping a Filipina housemaid in a police
station. The suspects were detained at year's end pending
investigation.
In January 2003, the Court of Appeals upheld a Criminal Court
verdict sentencing a Bangladeshi man to death for kidnapping, raping,
detaining, and forcing two foreign women into prostitution in Mangaf
district. Also in January 2003, the court upheld a 15-year prison
sentence handed down to a police officer who kidnapped and raped a
woman. In previous years, the Government imposed severe penalties,
including the death sentence, for particularly egregious rape cases. In
April, two Saudis and one Kuwaiti were sentenced to death for raping
and killing a girl.
The physical or sexual abuse of foreign women working as domestic
servants was a pervasive problem. Some employers physically abused
foreign women working as domestic servants, and, despite economic and
social difficulties for a domestic servant who lodged a complaint,
there were continuing reports of the rape of such women by male
employers. The local press devoted considerable attention to the
problem, and both the police and the courts have taken action against
employers when presented with evidence of serious abuse. Some rapes
resulted in pregnancies, and there were reports of illegal abortions.
Occasionally, domestic workers were charged with assaulting their
employers; in such cases, the workers claimed that they acted in
response to physical abuse or poor working conditions. There also were
dozens of reports of domestic workers allegedly committing or
attempting to commit suicide because of desperation over poor working
conditions or abuse.
In February, an Asian maid accused six citizens, four men and two
women, of assaulting her because of her refusal to withdraw a rape case
she filed against her sponsor's son.
In July, the Court of Appeals refrained from passing a sentence
against a man, but ordered him to sign a pledge of good conduct for a
year for raping his housemaid. In June, the Criminal Court found him
guilty but did not sentence him because of ``family circumstances'' and
also because he had no past criminal record.
In October, an Asian maid committed suicide by hanging herself with
a rope inside her sponsor's house. In August, an Indonesian maid jumped
to her death from the balcony of her sponsor's apartment. Another Asian
maid, in August, jumped from the second floor of her sponsor's villa
and was taken to a local hospital.
Human rights activists have characterized sexual harassment against
women in the workplace as a pervasive but unreported problem. In
October 10 adolescent males in the fifth grade were expelled from
school for allegedly sexually harassing their female teacher.
Foreign-born domestic employees have the right to sue their
employers for abuse, but few do so, fearing judicial bias and
deportation. Local news sources reported a few criminal cases filed
against abusive employers by domestics, but informal out-of-court
conciliation was attempted in most cases, usually with the assistance
of the domestic's source country embassy. The Government deported many
runaway domestics. A specialized police facility and a government
domestic labor office investigated and resolved some complaints. In
April 2003, the Government licensed a new union, the Kuwait Union of
Domestic Labor Offices, charged with monitoring the activities of labor
recruitment agencies and raising awareness among employers on the
treatment of domestics. During 2003, the union distributed educational
brochures to both employers and newly arrived domestics on their rights
and obligations.
In August, the Emir's private plane was used twice to repatriate
hundreds of stranded Sri Lankan citizens who had suffered abuse while
in the country. Hundreds of Filipina maids who managed to escape from
their sponsors' homes also were repatriated to Manila after seeking
refuge within the Philippine Embassy. During the year, nearly 200
Indonesian domestic workers were repatriated via Kuwait Airways charter
flights with the assistance of the Foreign and Interior Ministries. The
Ministry of Interior sometimes paid for return airline tickets for
runaway or abused domestic servants if their employers refused to
provide tickets. Some NGOs, such as the Kuwait Human Rights Society and
the Kuwait Friendship Society, also have paid for return airline
tickets or legal fees on behalf of runaway or abused domestics.
Employers often accused their runaway domestics of theft or other
crimes to avoid furnishing tickets. In such cases, the domestics often
were deported without owed compensation. The Ministry of Interior
blacklisted some delinquent employers, preventing them from sponsoring
additional domestics. In practice, some blacklisted employers were able
to hire new domestics due to their connections with police officials or
other authorities.
The Government prosecuted some employers accused of abusing their
foreign-born domestic servants. In March 2003, the High Court of
Appeals overturned the acquittal by the Criminal Court of a female
citizen charged with beating and burning her maid with an iron bar by
fining her approximately $3,400 (1,000 KD) and ordering her to sign a
pledge of good conduct. In practice, however, enforcement of such
pledges appears to be weak. In February 2003, police detained a male
citizen for allegedly raping his housemaid repeatedly over a period of
1 year. The maid took shelter in her source country embassy during the
year.
There were a number of cases still pending resolution in which
foreign-born domestic employees were tortured, severely beaten, or died
at the hands of their employers. There were no developments in the 2002
case of an Indian maid who was beaten severely and tortured.
Runaway servants, including many women alleging physical or sexual
abuse, often seek shelter at their country's embassy pending
repatriation or a change in employer (see Sections 6.c. and 6.e.). Of
an estimated 500,000 domestic servants in the country, approximately
1,000 women were reported to be in informal shelters run by source-
country embassies during the year. Many runaway domestics remained in
embassy shelters for months pending new employment or departure from
the country. The Government does not prevent runaway domestics from
seeking shelter in their host country embassies. There are no official
shelters for victims of domestic violence or abuse in Kuwait. There are
a few unofficial homes for abused children nominally run by the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
Some unemployed, runaway foreign domestic workers were susceptible
to recruitment into prostitution. In January 2003, a Bangladeshi man
allegedly detained three Asian women inside an apartment in a remote
district and forced them into prostitution. In May 2003, a Bangladeshi
man and two accomplices allegedly kidnapped two Asian women, detained
them inside an apartment, and forced them into prostitution. Police
arrested the man in May 2003. The police actively enforced laws against
pandering and prostitution, with arrests reported almost every week.
Prostitutes generally were deported to their countries of origin. In
recent years, procurers received stiff jail terms. There were several
reports during the year of procurers kidnapping maids off the street
and forcing them into prostitution.
``Honor crimes'' are prohibited; however, some provisions of the
penal code reduce penalties for these crimes.
In 2002, the High Court of Appeals upheld the original 2002
Criminal Court verdict sentencing a woman to life imprisonment and her
three male accomplices to death for a 2002 ``honor'' killing of a 6-
year-old girl. The citizens filed an appeal during the year, and the
Supreme Court of Appeals began considering their appeal in December
2003.
There were some reports of women, mainly from Asia, who were
trafficked into the country into situations of coerced labor, where
they often suffered from physical abuse or other extreme working
conditions. Some female domestic servants, who ran away from their
employers due to abuse or poor working conditions, were recruited or
kidnapped into prostitution.
Women continued to experience legal, economic, and social
discrimination. Women do not have the right to vote (see Section 3) or
run for election to the National Assembly. Their testimony is worth
half that of a man's in proceedings before the family courts (see
Section 1.e.). Married women require their husbands' permission to
obtain a passport (see Section 2.d.). The Government forbids marriage
between Muslim women and non Muslim men (see Sections 1.f. and 2.c.).
Inheritance is governed by Islamic law, 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 a plot of land and an approximately $238,000
(70,000 KD) interest-free government loan (``housing allowance'')
through the Credit and Savings Bank 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 rights 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 foreign national cannot, by law,
qualify for the government housing allowance.
The Government makes family entitlement payments approximately $170
(50 KD) per child up to the seventh child to the employed parent,
almost always the father. In divorce cases, the Government continues to
provide these payments to the divorced father, who is expected by law
and custom to provide for his children, although custody of minor
children is almost always awarded to the mother.
The law provides for female ``remuneration equal to that of a man
provided she does the same work.'' This provision often was not
generally respected in practice. 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 33 percent of female citizens of working
age were employed. Many women were employed as professors, attorneys,
physicians, bankers, engineers, and businesswomen. A few women have
been appointed to senior positions in the Ministry of Education,
Ministry of Planning, and the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
There was one female ambassador and two female undersecretaries;
however, there were no female judges or prosecutors. During 2003, the
Government appointed and assigned female diplomats overseas to expand
the public position of women.
There is no specific law that addresses sexual harassment; however,
serious problems remained.
The law discriminates against female citizens married to foreign
men. Unlike male citizens, such women are not entitled to government
housing subsidies. The law also requires women to pay residence fees
for their husbands and does not recognize marriage as the basis for
granting residency to foreign-born husbands. Instead, the law grants
residency only if the husband is employed. By contrast, male citizens
married to foreign-born women do not have to pay residency fees for
their spouses, and their spouses' right to residency derives from
marriage.
Many classes at Kuwait University are segregated by gender.
Construction is underway on a separate campus for female students, who
comprise approximately 70 percent of the total student body at the
university.
Polygyny is legal; however, it is more common among tribal elements
of the population.
Several organizations followed women's issues, among the most
active of which were the Women's Cultural and Social Society, the
Women's Affairs Committee, Kuwait Economic Society, Kuwait Human Rights
Society, and the Social Reform Society Women's Committee.
Children.--The Government is generally committed to the rights and
welfare of citizen children. Citizen boys and girls receive a free
education through the university level, often including advanced
degrees and the opportunity to study abroad. Primary education is
universal and compulsory. UNICEF estimates net primary enrollment at 66
percent. The Government provides free health care and a variety of
other services to citizen children; non-citizen children must pay a
small fee to be admitted into a health facility and pay additional fees
for specialized care.
Citizen parents also receive a monthly government allowance of
approximately $170 (50 KD) for each child up to the seventh child. The
Government makes these payments to the employed parent, usually the
father, and continues to provide these payments to the father even if
the parents are divorced and the father does not have custody of the
children. There is no legal requirement governing its use and anecdotal
evidence suggests that many non-custodial fathers were not using it to
contribute to the care and welfare of their children. There did not
appear to be any monitoring of how the funds are spent.
There was no societal pattern of abuse; however, there were some
cases of young children raped by men or gangs of youths. In September,
an Army first lieutenant allegedly kidnapped and molested a 10-year old
boy. The suspect has reportedly confessed to the crime. In April, the
Court of Cassation, the Supreme Court of Appeals, upheld a death
sentence for two Saudi brothers and a Kuwaiti for the 2002 kidnapping,
rape, and murder of a 6-year-old girl. In December 2003, the Public
Prosecutor referred to the Criminal Court the case of a citizen teacher
accused of raping an 11-year-old boy.
In February 2003, a police officer allegedly raped a 9-year-old
male citizen. In June 2003, the Criminal Court sentenced a male citizen
to death for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a Pakistani child. The
citizen appealed the verdict, and the High Court of Appeals began
hearing testimony in December 2003. There were incidents of arrests in
some child abuse cases but no reported convictions.
There are a few unofficial homes for abused children nominally run
by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. There are credible reports
that some caretakers abuse some of these children while they are living
in these homes, or that they are used for prostitution. The conditions
in these homes are reportedly very poor.
Some tribal groups continued to marry girls under age 17.
There were credible reports of underage South Asian and Southeast
Asian girls working as domestic servants.
Young boys, reportedly from South Asia and Africa, were trafficked
into the country to be used as camel jockeys. Many of the jockeys came
to the country from racing during the season in other Gulf nations.
Some boys as young as 5 or 6 years old were reportedly used as camel
jockeys. In response to growing criticism, the Government mandated in
2003 that all camel jockeys must be at least 18 years of age. In early
part of the year, camel races continued to take place involving young
boys approximately 5 or 6 years of age. In March, the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor issued a decree banning the employment of
children under the age of 18 and placing a minimum weight regulation of
45kgs (approximately 100 lbs). There was no indication that underage
children were used as camel jockeys after April.
There were no reported cases of sexual exploitation of youths used
as camel jockeys.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, although laws against slavery, prostitution,
forced labor, coercion, kidnapping, and other acts can be used
collectively to prosecute traffickers. The Government has ratified some
international conventions that commit it to apply these laws. The
country is a destination for internationally trafficked men, women, and
children. The problem principally is one of foreign workers, mostly
female, coming to work as domestic servants but being abused by their
employers or coerced into situations of debt bondage or involuntary
servitude.
During the year, the Government highlighted its efforts to combat
trafficking and improve protections for female workers. In January,
high-level government officials, labor representatives, and NGOs
participated in the first-ever public trafficking in person (TIP)
seminar held in the country to discuss the treatment of domestic
servants and propose solutions to improve protection of their rights
and welfare. The Interior Ministry (MOI) required all Kuwaiti sponsors
to sign a standardized contract with the labor recruitment agency,
outlining the rights and responsibilities of both parties. MOI
officials also claim that the Government has revoked the licenses of
556 poor performing and abusive labor recruitment agencies since 1993.
There are 514 licensed agencies currently operating.
In at least a dozen incidents reported by local newspapers during
2003, procurers kidnapped domestic servants and other foreign-born
female workers off the street and forced them into prostitution. Most
victims do not report these crimes. During 2003, there were several
reported incidents of police raiding prostitution rings and arresting
both organizers and prostitutes. In February 2003, the Criminal Court
fined an expatriate woman approximately $10,200 (3,000 KD) and
sentenced her to 3 years in jail, followed by deportation, for running
a brothel and forcing other expatriate women into prostitution. In
March 2003, police arrested six men and seven foreign prostitutes in a
2-hour crackdown in Farwaniya district. In April 2003, police raided
three prostitution ``houses'' and arrested 10 Asian female prostitutes
in an outlying district, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, populated mainly by
expatriate workers.
In January 2003, the High Court of Appeals upheld the verdict of
the Criminal Court and sentenced a Bangladeshi man to death for
kidnapping, raping, and forcing two foreign women into prostitution.
The man reportedly bought one of the women for $850 (250 KD) from
another unidentified man. In February 2003, the Court of Appeals upheld
the verdict of the Criminal Court and sentenced a woman to 3 years in
prison and imposed a $10,200 (3,000 KD) fine for running a prostitution
ring and holding several foreign women captive. In 2002, a foreign
development agency report on female foreign workers in the country
revealed that in most trafficking cases, local manpower agents or visa
traders had promised women domestic work. However, upon arrival,
numerous migrants were expected to provide sexual services in addition
to their domestic duties, and some were forced to engage in
prostitution exclusively.
The Government took some measures to help combat trafficking. A
conciliation center attached to a district police station processed
some complaints filed by domestic servants or their source country
embassies against abusive or exploitative employers. A government
domestic labor office, under the authority of the Ministry of Interior,
investigated and resolved some labor complaints. The Government formed
an inter ministerial committee of representatives from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor to discuss strategies for protecting the rights of domestic
employees. The committee held its first meeting in May 2003. In April
2003, the Government approved the establishment of a new association,
the Kuwait Union of Domestic Labor Offices, to monitor more closely the
activities of domestic labor recruitment agencies in the country and to
educate employers and domestics about their rights. At year's end, 50
labor recruitment agencies, reportedly representing about 70 percent of
all domestic servants in the country, were members of the association.
There were no specific reports of government or police involvement in
trafficking during the period covered by this report.
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. There was no reported discrimination against persons
with disabilities in employment, education, or in the provision of
other state services. In 1996, the National Assembly passed legislation
on the rights of persons with disabilities. The law mandates access to
buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government generally
enforced these provisions in practice The Government paid stipends to
citizens with disabilities, which covered transportation, housing, job
training, and social welfare. There were no similar provisions for non-
citizens.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The legal status of tens of
thousands of bidoon residents remained unresolved. The bidoon (an
Arabic term meaning ``without'' as in ``without citizenship'') are
Arabs who have residency ties to the country, some persisting for
generations and some for briefer periods, but who either lack or have
failed to produce documentation of their nationality. The exact number
of bidoon residents is unknown, but has been estimated at upwards of
100,000. Since the mid-1980s, the Government has actively discriminated
against the bidoon in areas such as education, medical care, employment
and mobility.
In a positive change from the past, this year, the Ministry of
Education approved free education for all children of bidoon parents.
This change took effect with the September opening of the school year.
During the year, it was also announced that bidoon would receive free
health care starting at the beginning of 2005. Reportedly, the Health
Ministry will no longer ask for fees from bidoon. The Waqf Health Fund,
a partially government-funded program, has signed contracts with
several insurance companies to pay the fees for bidoon health services.
Although the Government eliminated the bidoon from the census rolls
and discontinued their access to most government jobs, some bidoon work
in the armed forces and are now being accepted in the institutions of
the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The Government
has denied the bidoon official documents such as birth certificates,
marriage certificates, civil identification, and drivers' licenses,
which made it difficult for many unregistered bidoon, particularly
younger bidoon, to find employment. The Government does not issue
travel documents to bidoon routinely, and, if bidoon travel abroad
without documentation, they risk being barred from returning to the
country unless they receive 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 at least 40 to 50 percent of the bidoon were
concealing their true identities. While the law allows up to 2,000
registered bidoon to be naturalized each year, the Government only
granted citizenship to approximately 1,600 in 2003. However, an
additional 5,500 bidoon in 3 categories, wives of citizens, sons of
female citizens married to bidoon, and those whose male relatives are
citizens, have been permitted to apply for citizenship beyond the 2,000
per year limit.
Many bidoon are unable to provide documentation proving sufficient
ties to the country or present evidence of their original nationality,
as they are truly stateless. Others (the Government claims 26,000 over
the past several years) have disclosed their true nationalities and
have 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.
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 5 percent of
the population have rendered the issue highly divisive. Some National
Assembly members have threatened to question cabinet ministers,
including the Minister of Education and Prime Minister, publicly over
the issue. During 2003, the Ministry of Defense approved granting
citizenship to an estimated 400 bidoon who participated in the
liberation of the country from Iraqi occupation. The Minister of
Interior proposed that deceased bidoon among the ``Kuwaiti missing
persons'' whose remains had been identified in Iraq be naturalized,
thereby allowing their surviving bidoon family members to gain
citizenship. This proposal had not yet been approved at year's end.
In 2002, the Government mandated that those who did not register by
the June 27, 2000 cut-off date and did not rectify their nationality
status by either disclosing their true nationality or furnishing
evidence of their citizenship would be subject to deportation as
illegal residents. However, no such action was taken. There were no
reports during the year of the Government deciding the nationality of
any bidoon without a hearing. As a result of what allegedly were
fraudulent citizenship applications, the Government brought forgery
charges against several bidoon applicants since July 2001. The only
reported forgery conviction was in 2001. There continued to be reports
of bidoon obtaining false documents in order to apply for citizenship.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. Right of Association.--The law provides that most workers have
the right to join unions. Foreign laborers employed as domestics
constitute a third of the foreign labor force and are specifically
excluded from the right to associate and organize. However, for those
workers who can join unions, the Government restricted the right of
freedom of association to only one union per occupational trade, and
permitted unions to establish only one federation.
Approximately 60,000 persons, less than 4 percent of a total work
force of 1.55 million, were organized into unions, of which 14 were
affiliated with the Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF), the sole
legal trade union federation. 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 whom must
be citizens. Both the ILO and the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) 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. Only about 12.5
percent of employed citizens worked in the private sector during the
year. Despite KTUF complaints about the need for an updated law, draft
proposals for a new labor law have stalled for more than 10 years.
The Government licensed 20 new unions during the year, including
EQUATE Petrochemicals Company Workers Union, the Kuwait Company for
Gulf Oil Workers Union, the Kuwait Ports Authority Workers Union, and
the National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters Workers Union.
In 2003, the Government implemented the National Manpower Support
Law, a new law aimed at increasing the number of citizens employed in
the private sector. During the year, the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor reported that Article 15 of this law, requiring the establishment
of a bank account for every foreign worker to ensure that workers are
paid in a timely and transparent manner, had been ratified and is
enforced. Interviews with foreign embassy officials representing some
of the largest numbers of laborers in the country, as well as
interviews conducted with a large cross section of domestic and
unskilled foreign laborers indicated that, in practice, Article 15
often was not enforced.
Also in 2003, the Government overturned a 1985 Council of Ministers
decree prohibiting the licensing of new associations (NGOs, syndicates,
and unions). The former Social Affairs and Labor Minister licensed 18
new worker ``syndicates'' in the presence of ILO officials the same
year. There is a workers syndicate for the Health Ministry, the
Education Ministry, and various other ministries. Syndicates, referring
to a sector-specific grouping of workers, collectively, comprise
unions, such as the Government Worker's Union, although these terms can
be used interchangeably. Workers' unions are essentially treated as
para-statal organizations (NGOs in local parlance), which receive large
government subsidies for infrastructure and operating costs after
vetting and approval by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. The
expanded unions tend to benefit only citizen laborers employed in the
public sector, while expatriate workers continue to face restrictions.
The ILO has urged new syndicates, and all unions, to expand their
membership base and raise their own funds in order to preserve their
independence from government interference. As a result, many of the
syndicates and unions are pressing for greater GOK subsidies, the
Government is reluctant to license additional syndicates or NGOs.
The Government's pervasive oversight powers further eroded union
independence. The Government subsidizes as much as 90 percent of most
union budgets and may inspect the financial records of any union. 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 Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor 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
has been dissolved.
The most recent government statistics cite approximately 1.26
million foreigners as employed in the country, comprising over 80
percent of the labor force. However, foreign workers constitute less
than 5 percent of the unionized work force. The labor law discriminated
against foreign workers by denying them voting rights and permitting
them to join unions only after 5 years of residence, although the KTUF
stated that this requirement was not widely enforced in practice. Any
foreign worker covered under the labor law, which excluded maritime
workers and an estimated 500,000 domestic servants, could submit a
grievance to the Labor Office regardless of union status; however, such
services were not utilized widely.
The labor law prohibits antiunion discrimination. Any worker who
alleges antiunion discrimination has the right to appeal to the
judiciary. There were no reports of discrimination against employees
based on their affiliation with a union. Employers found guilty of such
discrimination must reinstate workers fired for union activities.
Unions may affiliate with international bodies. The KTUF belonged
to the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions and the
formerly Soviet-controlled World Federation of Trade Unions.
In August, the Government commissioned the KTUF to examine the
issues involved in establishing formal representation of foreign
workers in the country. Although no action has been taken on this
measure, such a move would dramatically alter the nature of labor in
the country, permitting across-the-board demands for wage increases and
better working conditions.
b. Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--With the notable
exceptions of the country's approximately 500,000 domestic servants and
maritime employees, the labor law provides workers with the rights to
organize and bargain collectively, subject to certain restrictions, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. Domestic servants
may not organize or bargain collectively; they suffer from low wages
and often abuse at the hands of their employers. The labor law does not
provide for a minimum wage for either domestic servants or private
sector workers. Foreign private sector workers are allowed to join
unions, but they are barred from leadership positions.
The labor 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 Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for mediation. If
mediation fails, the dispute is referred to a labor arbitration board
composed of officials from the High Court of Appeals, the Attorney
General's Office, and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
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 generally determined benefits
in consultation with civil service unions. Union officials resolved
most issues at the working level and had regular access to senior
officials.
The law limits the right of workers to strike. It 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 Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor has been responsive to sit-ins or protests by workers
who faced obvious wrongdoing by their employers. In June, supervisors
of the Social Correction House staged a sit-in to protest its failure
to provide enough protection against minor criminals and to seek better
working conditions. In September, the Justice Ministry Workers Union
staged a sit-in to protest workplace discrimination. Also in September,
lawyers staged a sit-in at the Palace of Justice to protest alleged
professional violations against a fellow attorney. During 2003, there
were two partial strikes by employees of the Kuwait Municipality and
the Finance Ministry; both were reportedly resolved amicably, and the
employees attained most of their demands.
The Government cooperated closely with the ILO, which maintained a
representative office in the country. The ILO Regional Director for
Arab States visited the country during 2003 and met with the Minister
of Social Affairs and Labor to discuss labor reform issues. The ILO
sent two senior officials in November 2001 to advise the Government on
how to improve the country's labor situation. At the ILO's urging, the
Government agreed to ratify the remaining two of eight conventions from
the ILO's Declaration of Basic Rights at Work, but it has not yet
submitted them to the National Assembly for ratification. The remaining
two are #98 regarding freedom of association and collective bargaining
and #100 regarding equal remuneration. These ILO conventions are a long
way from ratification, as the recommendation has not yet been sent to
the Cabinet for review and presentation to the National Assembly.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced labor ``except in cases specified by law for national
emergency and with just remuneration''; however, many unskilled foreign
workers were treated like indentured servants (see Section 6.e.). The
Constitution prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children;
however, there were credible reports early in the year of young boys
being used as camel jockeys, as well as of underage girls working as
domestic servants (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
Foreign workers generally may not change their employment without
permission from their original sponsors unless they have been in the
country for more than 2 years. Domestic workers are particularly
vulnerable to abuses stemming from restrictions on transferring
sponsorship because the labor law does not protect them. In many cases,
employers exercised control over their servants by withholding their
passports, although the Government prohibits this practice and, in some
instances, acted to retrieve the passports of maids involved in
disputes.
Some foreign workers, especially unskilled or semiskilled South
Asian workers, lived and worked much like indentured servants. They
frequently faced poor working conditions and, at times, encountered
physical or sexual abuse (see Sections 5 and 6.e.). Domestic servants
who run away from their employers as a result of abuse or poor working
conditions are routinely treated as criminals under the law as they
fall under the purview of the Ministry of Interior rather than the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. There were dozens of reports
during the year of police arresting and charging domestic servants with
crimes such as violating immigration procedures, for attempting to
escape from abusive employers. The police typically regarded such
problems as matters of law and order, and not as legitimate labor
conflicts. Employers or local labor recruitment agencies routinely
withheld wages from domestic servants to cover the costs involved in
bringing them to the country.
There were credible reports of illegal visa trading, a system by
which local sponsors agree to extend their sponsorship (in name only)
to foreign workers in exchange for a fee in the range of $1,500 to
$4,000 (450 to 1,200 KD). Middlemen, generally foreigners, attracted
workers from economically depressed countries, took a commission, and
remitted the balance to the nominal sponsor. Once in the country, such
agents transfered workers to employers in the informal sector or to
parties that would otherwise be unable to sponsor them. Foreign workers
recruited with traded visas not only faced possible prosecution for
being engaged in illegal employment (that is, working for an employer
other than their sponsor), but also were extremely vulnerable to
extortion by employers, sponsors, and middlemen.
Visa and residence trading has resulted in a growing number of
unemployed foreign workers in the country. Many are unable to earn
enough money to pay the illegal fees often charged by their local
sponsors or local labor recruitment agencies in exchange for residency
and work permits. Many suffered from abuse or mistreatment at the hands
of their unofficial employers. Abused foreign workers employed on the
basis of illegally traded visas typically failed to report incidents of
abuse or poor working conditions to authorities due to their illegal
immigration status. Government efforts to stop visa trading, such as by
closing front companies for visa traders, have not made significant
progress. There are laws aimed at curbing visa trading, with penalties
against both employers and visa traders; however, the Government seldom
enforced these laws.
The Labor Inspection Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor was responsible for carrying out routine inspections of all
private firms to ensure that all registered foreign workers are
actually employed by their legal sponsors. The Ministry suspended the
files of employers caught violating labor regulations. During its most
recent review, the Ministry of Labor reported 5,154 labor violations
from 1,200 firms. There were 826 work permit dispute complaints and
1,078 individual labor-related work complaints. Many of these
``violations'' involved occupational health, environmental, and safety
problems, and poor working conditions. The ministry has reportedly
suspended over 1,500 employer files to date for possible labor
violations.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Labor Law prohibits child labor, forced or compulsory labor, and
exploitation of workers. Child labor was not a significant problem;
however, there were credible reports of some South and Southeast Asian
children under 18 years of age working as domestic servants. Such
underage workers reportedly falsified their ages in order to enter the
country. Some very young boys (reportedly from the Sudan, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Eritrea, and Yemen) also were used as camel jockeys (see
Sections 5 and 6.c.). In March, the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor issued a decree banning the employment of children under the age
of 18 and placing a minimum weight regulation of 45 kilograms
(approximately 100 pounds). The decree, however, references parental
consent implying that employment and not participation is being banned.
Despite this legal loophole, there was no indication that underage
children were used as camel jockeys after April. Some businessmen
employed their children on a part-time basis.
The legal minimum age is 18 years for all forms of work, both full-
and part-time. Employers may obtain permits from the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor to employ juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 in
certain trades. Juveniles may work a maximum of 6 hours a day on the
condition that they work no more than 4 consecutive hours followed by a
1-hour rest period.
The Government has ratified 18 ILO conventions, including 6 of the
8 core conventions. Among the ratified conventions are those
prohibiting servitude and forced labor, and Convention 182 concerning
the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor. The
Labor Inspection Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
inspected private firms routinely during the year to monitor compliance
with labor laws, including those against child labor. There were no
reported Government programs to prevent exploitative child labor or
remove children from such labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor is responsible for enforcing all labor laws. An
institutionalized two-tiered labor market ensured high wages for
citizen employees, most of whom were in government white collar or
executive positions, while foreign workers, even those in skilled
positions, received substantially lower wages. Some Bangladeshi
domestic workers reportedly earned as little as $71 (21 KD) per month.
There was no legal minimum wage in the private sector. In the public
sector, the monthly legal minimum wage was approximately $771 (227 KD)
for citizens and approximately $306 (90 KD) for non-citizens. However,
non-citizens do not receive the same social benefits as citizens and
must pay fees for education and health care, which are provided free
for all citizens. The Government maintains a two-tier health care
system that provides substantially lower quality care to non-citizens.
The best, most effective medicines, even for serious illnesses, and
certain kinds of specialized treatment officially were reserved for
citizens.
Private sector wages ranged from $10,200 (3,000 KD) each month for
top managers of large companies to between $510 to $2,550 (150 to 750
KD) for other skilled professionals and workers. The public sector
minimum wage provided a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Wages of unskilled workers in the private sector did not always
provide a decent standard of living, with housemaids often making less
than $119 (35 KD) per month. To be eligible to sponsor family members
for residency, government and private sector workers must receive a
minimum wage of $1,360 (400 KD) per month. Many foreign workers who met
or exceeded the minimum income threshold often waited months for
government approval to sponsor their immediate family members to the
country. During 2003, the Government exempted public school teachers
from the minimum salary threshold for sponsoring family members.
The labor law establishes general conditions of work for the
private sector, with the oil industry treated separately. The Civil
Service Law also prescribes additional working conditions for the
public sector, which consisted almost entirely of citizen workers. The
labor law limits the standard workweek to 48 hours with 1 full day of
rest per week, 1 hour of rest after every 5 consecutive hours of work,
provides for a minimum of 14 workdays of leave each year, and
establishes a compensation schedule for industrial accidents. In 2000,
the Government implemented an unemployment allowance program for
citizens unable to find jobs in the public sector or with private
companies. The program provides regular allowance payments averaging
$340 (100KD) to unemployed citizens until they found jobs. There were
no reported cases of abuse of this program during the year. Domestic
servants, who specifically are excluded from the labor law, and other
unskilled foreign workers in the private sector frequently worked
greatly in excess of 48 hours, often with no day of rest and no annual
leave.
In amendments to the Labor Law in the Private Sector implemented in
1997, the Government extended the weekly 24 consecutive-hour rest
period to temporary workers employed for a period of less than 6 months
and workers in enterprises employing fewer than five persons. 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.
During the year, the Interior Ministry's Domestic Labor Department
implemented new measures designed to protect the welfare of domestic
servants. The first was an extension from 3 to 6 months during which
labor recruitment agencies are responsible for resolving labor disputes
involving domestic servants. If problems occur after the 6-month
period, the sponsor or employer is responsible by law to resolve them.
The Interior Ministry has implemented a new arrangement whereby a
ministry officer investigates and resolves labor disputes in
cooperation with the laborers' representative embassies. Officers have
been assigned within the Domestic Labor Department to liaise
specifically with the Indonesian, Philippine, Sri Lankan, and Indian
Embassies on labor problems.
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 had 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 in the event that the
temperature rises above 120 degrees Fahrenheit; however, there were
allegations that the Government's Meteorological Division falsified
official readings to allow work to proceed. The Meteorological Division
consistently denied these allegations. In the past, recorded
temperatures reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit, but work reportedly
continued at many outdoor locations.
Employers often exploited workers' willingness to accept
substandard conditions. Some foreign workers, especially unskilled or
semiskilled South Asian workers, lived and worked much like indentured
servants, were unaware of their legal rights, and generally lacked the
means to pursue legal remedies. They frequently faced contractual
disputes and poor working conditions, and sometimes physical and sexual
abuse (see Sections 5 and 6.c.). Most were in debt to their employers
before they arrived in the country, and they had little choice except
to accept the employer's conditions, even if they breached the
contractual terms. It was not uncommon 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. Workers were housed 10 or more to a room in
squalid conditions, many without access to adequate running water. The
workers were only allowed off the camp compound on company transport or
by permission of the employer. Many foreign workers went heavily into
debt and could not afford to return home.
The labor law discriminates against foreign workers by limiting
their ability to join unions (see Section 6.a.). 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. Any foreign worker
could submit a grievance to the labor office regardless of union
status.
The Labor 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 filed a claim, the
courts decided the amount of compensation, which was typically paid in
a lump sum rather than in monthly payments. Workers, especially
foreigners, have had difficulty enforcing such decisions. The law also
requires that employers provide periodic medical examinations to
workers exposed to environmental hazards on the job, such as chemicals
and asbestos. Adequate and affordable health care is a serious problem
for many foreign workers. Official health policies discriminated
against foreigners in the provision of medicines and treatment.
Foreigners must pay yearly medical coverage fees to the Ministry of
Health and additional fees each time they received medical care,
required tests, specialized procedures, or medication. Many employers
deducted the medical fees from employees' salaries. Foreign workers and
their family members must pay these yearly government-mandated medical
coverage fees to obtain or renew residency or work permits. In
September 2003, more than 1,000 foreign workers protested at the
Ministry of Health against reported delays in processing their medical
claims (see Section 2.b.). The Ministry reportedly called in security
officials to disperse the crowd. There were no reports of violence or
arrests.
It was common for employers to confiscate and withhold the
passports of their domestic servants illegally, preventing them from
departing the country. Maids paid the same amount or more than other
unskilled or semiskilled workers for visas to work in the country.
Runaway servants often sought refuge at their source country
embassies for either repatriation or assistance in dealing with
employers. The number of runaway servants in need of assistance
remained significant during the year as conditions for domestic
employees remained poor.
Although most such workers sought shelter due to contractual or
financial problems with their employers, some women also alleged
physical or sexual abuse. Some embassies continued to report the steady
occurrence of physical abuse and mistreatment involving domestic
servants, including withheld salaries, overwork, and inadequate food.
Each Government has attempted to register its nationals who arrive to
work in the country as domestic employees and to regulate recruiting
agents in their home countries, with some success. Limited services
provided by the police facility designated to mediate among embassies,
domestic workers, and employers made it very difficult for domestic
servants to file complaints, receive withheld salary, or reach
settlement in cases of mistreatment. Domestic servants must deal with
neighborhood police stations, whose personnel are untrained and
inexperienced in handling such cases and often side with the employer.
Source country embassies reported widespread police harassment of and
discrimination against domestic servants during the year (see Sections
5 and 6.c.).
Some countries warned their female citizens about the risks of
exploitation or banned them altogether from working in the country as
domestic servants. Some years ago, the Government of India temporarily
banned its nationals from working in the country as domestic employees,
but Indian nationals continued to buy visas and enter the country as
domestic workers. The Government of India limits the granting of
domestic work permits for the country to women over age 30 and only
from specific states, which has helped reduce some employment problems.
The embassy reported that it received approximately 40 calls per month
from Indian workers, including domestic servants, complaining of
employment problems. The Embassy of Bangladesh estimated that 90
percent of the approximately 160,000 Bangladeshi workers in the country
were unskilled laborers and that 30 percent of these workers received
no salaries from their private sector employers, while 10 percent of
Bangladeshi domestics were paid nothing beyond room and board. The
embassy reported that it received approximately 100 calls per month
from Bangladeshi workers, including domestic servants, complaining of
serious employment problems. Of the approximately 130 runaway Filipina
domestic servants in the Philippine Embassy shelter, on average, at any
given time during the year, approximately 30 percent reported some form
of mistreatment by their employers and 6 percent reported sexual abuse.
The courts rule in favor of employees in an estimated 90 percent of
the labor disputes they hear; however, no legal mechanism exists to
enforce judgments. There is no compulsion for employers to obey court
rulings, and workers often do not receive court ordered compensation.
Employers also reportedly use 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 them for fabricated
crimes, such as theft.
__________
LEBANON
Lebanon 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 took
office in 1998 after an election by Parliament that was heavily
influenced by Syria. In September, in a locally unpopular move, Syria
pressured parliamentarians to pass a Constitutional amendment to extend
President Lahoud's term for 3 additional years; it will now end on
November 24, 2007. The Parliament consists of 128 deputies, equally
divided between Christian and Muslim representatives. In the 2000
parliamentary elections, incumbent Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss lost
his seat in a contested election, and former Prime Minister Rafiq
Hariri then was named Prime Minister by President Lahoud. According to
international observers, the elections were flawed; however, there
reportedly were fewer voting irregularities than in the 1996
parliamentary elections. The Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary; however, in practice, it was subject to political pressure.
Syrian military and Lebanese and Palestinian militias, particularly
Hizballah, retained significant influence over much of the country.
Approximately 15,000 Syrian troops were stationed in locations
throughout the country, excluding the area bordering on Israel in the
south of the country. In September, Syria claimed to have carried-out a
redeployment of its troops in the country, withdrawing approximately
3,000; however, the actual number is believed to be less than 1,000. An
undetermined number of Syrian military intelligence personnel in the
country continued to conduct their activities independently. In 2000,
following the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) withdrawal from the south,
the Government deployed more than 1,000 police and soldiers to the
former Israeli security zone. However, the Government has not attempted
to disarm Hizballah, a terrorist organization operating in the region,
nor have the country's armed forces taken sole and effective control
over the entire area. Palestinian groups, including armed factions,
operated autonomously in refugee camps throughout the country.
The security forces consist of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)
under the Ministry of Defense, which may arrest and detain suspects on
national security grounds; the Internal Security Forces (ISF) under the
Ministry of the Interior, which enforce laws, conduct searches and
arrests, and refer cases to the judiciary; and the State Security
Apparatus, which reports to the Prime Minister and the Surete Generale
(SG) under the Ministry of the Interior, both of which collect
information on groups deemed a possible threat to state security. These
security forces committed numerous, serious human rights abuses,
sometimes acting independently, and other times on instruction of
senior government officials. Syrian and Palestinian security forces
operated independently of Lebanese security forces and also committed
numerous, serious human rights abuses. There were credible reports that
Lebanese security forces personnel detained individuals on the
instruction of Syrian intelligence agencies.
The country maintained a free market economy, with no controls on
the movement of capital and foreign exchange. The country's population
of approximately 4.4 million, had an estimated active labor force of
1.5 million, the majority of which were employed in the service sector
and in a small industrial sector. Real gross domestic product continued
to grow at 2 to 2.5 percent annually. While there were no reliable
government statistics, most analysts estimated unemployment at 20 to 25
percent.
The Government's overall human rights record remained poor;
although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems
remained. The right of citizens to change their government remained
significantly restricted by the lack of complete government control
over parts of the country, shortcomings in the electoral system, the
flawed 2000 elections, and Syrian influence. Members of the security
forces used excessive force and tortured and abused some detainees.
Prison conditions remained poor. The Government also arbitrarily
arrested and detained persons who were critical of government policies.
Lengthy pretrial detention and long delays in trials remained problems.
The courts were subject to political pressure, seriously hampering
judicial independence. During the year, the Government infringed on
citizens' privacy rights and continued surveillance of political
activities. The Government limited press and media freedom. The
Government continued to restrict freedom of assembly and imposed some
limits on freedom of association. Domestic violence against women and
children remained problems. There were some restrictions on freedom of
religion. The Government imposed some limits on freedom of movement.
Discrimination against women in some areas and widespread, systematic
discrimination against Palestinians, forced labor, including by
children, child labor, and the mistreatment of foreign domestic
servants remained problems. Trafficking in persons 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.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
On February 11, Mohammad Shreidi, brother of Abdallah Shreidi,
leader of the Asbat al-Nur Sunni Islamic extremist group, was shot and
killed by unidentified gunmen near his home in Ayn al-Hilwe. Abdallah
Shreidi had been critically injured and died 3 months after militant
Islamists and Palestinian gunmen clashed in May 2003. At year's end,
there were no arrests in either case.
On July 6, Hussein Jamil Ramadan was found dead in a detention
facility run by the SG. The SG claimed that Ramadan committed suicide
and, in a communique, said that the Prosecutor's office ordered an
investigation into the matter. Hussein's family doubted the suicide
story and requested a detailed investigation. At year's end, a final
report had not been issued.
On July 19, a man identified as Hizballah member Ghalib Awwali was
killed by a bomb planted in his car in the Mu'awwad area of the
southern suburbs of Beirut. Hizballah Secretary General Hassan
Nasrallah accused Israel of masterminding the killing; at year's end,
there were no arrests.
On May 27, the General Confederation of Labor called for a general
strike to protest high fuel prices. The protest turned violent when
protestors in Beirut closed roads with burning tires. LAF troops
attempted to open roads; however, protestors pelted them with stones,
and LAF troops opened fire on demonstrators killing 5 persons and
wounding at least 17 others (see Section 2.b.). Several of the
protesters were arrested and sentenced to 30 to 60 days in jail for
disturbing the peace and resisting the army; however, no legal action
was taken against any of the soldiers. at least 17 others (see Section
2.b.). Several of the protestors were arrested and sentenced to 30 to
60 days in jail for disturbing the peace and resisting the army;
however, no legal action was taken against any of the soldiers.
On August 2, 2003, a man identified as 42-year-old Hizballah member
Ali Hussein Saleh was killed in a car bomb explosion in Beirut's
southern suburbs. Some government officials and Hizballah accused
Israel of carrying out the killing; at year's end, there were no new
developments in the case.
No group claimed responsibility for the 2002 killing of American
citizen missionary Bonnie Weatherall; however, on September 22,
security forces arrested 14 people they claimed were members of the al-
Qaeda network, and the Prosecutor General announced that the leader of
the group, Ahmad Mikati, played a role in the Weatherall killing.
There were no developments in the 2002 killing of Ramzi Irani, the
officer-in-charge of the banned Lebanese Forces.
During the year, violent cross-border incidents since the 2000 IDF
withdrawal, involving Hizballah, Palestinian, and other unidentified
armed elements, continued.
In January, Hizballah fighters fired on an Israeli military vehicle
in South Lebanon after it crossed the international border in the town
of Marwaheen in the western sector and killed an Israeli soldier.
Israeli warplanes bombed Hizballah bases in Southern Lebanon in
retaliation.
On March 22, Hizballah fired rockets and mortars at Israeli army
positions in the Sheba' farms and adjacent areas. This attack followed
eight incursions into Lebanese airspace by Israeli aircraft.
On March 23, Israeli helicopters targeted guerrillas preparing to
fire rockets into Israel near Hula. Two members of the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFPL-GC) were killed
and one was wounded.
On May 5, a cycle of armed exchanges across the Blue Line began.
Israel carried out more than 20 air sorties over the country.
Subsequently, Hizballah fired several anti-aircraft rounds with
shrapnel landing inside Israel. On May 7, Hizballah attacked IDF
positions in the Sheba' farms with heavy rocket, mortar, and small arms
fire. One Israeli soldier was killed and five others were wounded in
the attack. Lebanese authorities asserted that the Hizballah firing had
been preceded by an Israeli army foot patrol crossing the Blue Line.
On June 7, unidentified armed operatives, presumed to be
Palestinians, fired three rockets toward Israel. Two of the rockets
landed on Lebanese territory and one fell into the sea. In retaliation,
the Israeli air force attacked a Palestinian installation near Naameh,
10 kilometers south of Beirut, which was maintained by the PFLP-GC. No
casualties were reported.
On July 20, Hizballah snipers fired on an Israeli outpost near
Chetula, killing two Israeli soldiers. The IDF retaliated with tank
fire directed at a Hizballah position, killing one operative manning
the post. That night, there were multiple Israeli flights over Lebanon,
two of which generated powerful sonic booms over Beirut.
In October, unknown persons made an attempt on the life of former
Minister and Druze politician Marwan Hamadeh, allied with Druze leader
Walid Junblatt in calling for a redirection in Syrian influence in
Lebanon. A bomb exploded near his car injuring his driver and killing
his bodyguard. Hamadeh escaped with serious injuries. At year's end, a
government investigation was underway, but there were no arrests.
The country's landmine and unexploded ordinance (UXO) problem was
estimated by the National Demining Office at over 550,000 landmines and
UXOs throughout the country, with as many as 400,000 of these in the
former Israeli occupied security zone in the south. From the late 1990s
to the present, 150,000 landmines and 80,000 UXO's have been destroyed.
One million square meters of land were cleared during the year, much of
it returned to productive use. According to the National Demining
Office, there have been a total of 2,793 landmine victims in the
country since 1990. During the year there were nine landmine victims,
most of whom were deminers. Foreign governments continued to support
these demining efforts.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In January, Hizballah and Israel carried out the first phase of a
prisoner exchange. As a result, 21 Lebanese prisoners were returned to
the country on January 29, followed by the January 30 repatriation of
the remains of 59 Hizballah fighters killed in guerilla operations
during the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon. Hizballah for its part
returned the remains of three Israeli soldiers and released IDF
reservist Elhann Tannenbaum, who was kidnapped in 2000. A second phase,
a promised Hizbollah investigation into the fate of Israeli airman Ron
Arad and the release of additional Lebanese prisoners by Israel, which
was the result of secret negotiations, had not materialized at year's
end.
At year's end, the Government had not yet disclosed the findings of
a 2000 report investigating cases of disappearance during the 1975-89
civil war.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution does not specifically prohibit torture,
and there continued to be credible reports that security forces abused
detainees and, in some instances, used torture. Human rights groups
reported that torture was a common practice. The Government
acknowledged that violent abuse usually occurred during preliminary
investigations conducted at police stations or military installations,
in which suspects were interrogated without an attorney. Such abuse
occurred despite laws that prevented judges from accepting any
confession extracted under duress.
Methods of torture reportedly included beatings and suspension by
arms tied behind the back. Some former Southern Lebanese Army (SLA)
detainees reported that they were abused or tortured. Amnesty
International (AI) and other human rights organizations reported that
some detainees were beaten, handcuffed, blindfolded, and forced to lie
face down on the ground.
In September, Ismail al-Khatib died in custody a week after being
arrested as a suspected leader of al-Qaeda in Lebanon. The Government
coroner reported al-Khatib, who was 31 years old, died of a massive
heart attack, but speculation attributed his death to torture. An
independent investigation was undertaken by local human rights
organizations; however, at year's end, no findings had been released.
During the year, there were credible reports that army intelligence
held detainees blindfolded and handcuffed in the ``farouj'' position
(Arabic for ``chicken''). Individuals reportedly were handcuffed with
their hands at their ankles in a hunched over position for days at a
time while being interrogated.
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 conditions were poor and did not meet minimum international
standards. Prisons were overcrowded, and sanitary conditions in the
women's prison, in particular, were poor. There were no serious threats
to health, but indirect threats were noted, such as skin conditions and
physical and mental stress; the latter was especially noteworthy in
Yarze prison. The Government did not allocate funds for prison reform;
however, it allocated funds to build a new detention facility in the
Biqa' area. The total number of prisoners was estimated at about 5,000,
of whom one third have yet to be tried or convicted. The Government
made a modest effort to rehabilitate some inmates.
During April, the parliamentary Committee for Human Rights carried
out inspection visits to most of the detention facilities with the
exception of the facilities run by the Ministry of Defense. The head of
the delegation stated that the ``central prison of Roumieh faces some
problems that could be easily resolved.'' However, commenting on the
women's prisons, he said these prisons do not deserve to be considered
as stables for animals, and called for their immediate closure.
Describing the prison in Baabda, he said, ``there are only 5 cells and
95 inmates and the cells are infested with cockroaches and rodents and
prisoners are not even exposed to sun.''
In November, the First Lady inaugurated a renovation in Roumieh
prison, which was funded by a human rights organization. During June
2003, she awarded certificates to 44 women held in Baabda prison who
completed training in hairdressing, cosmetics, and knitting. During May
2003, 40 prisoners were awarded certificates for computer skills they
acquired at Roumieh central prison. The ISF donated 20 used computers
to provide training for more inmates.
Men, women, and juveniles were held separately in government
prisons. Although there was some effort to keep pretrial detainees
separate from convicted prisoners, overcrowding often prevented such
separation.
The SG, which is in charge of border posts, operated a detention
facility for detainees, mostly Egyptians and Sri Lankans, pending
deportation. Their detention was supposed to be for 1 to 2 months,
pending the regularization of their status. However, some persons,
primarily asylum seekers, were detained for more than a year and
eventually deported.
Former Lebanese Forces leader Samir Ja'Ja, who is serving four life
sentences for the murder or attempted murder of various political
figures during and after the civil war, was kept in solitary
confinement in a prison in the basement of the Ministry of Defense.
Government officials stated that his solitary confinement was necessary
for his own protection, but they moved him to a more comfortable ground
level cell in September.
During the year, local journalists and human rights organizations
were given access to all prisons except the Yarze prison controlled by
the Ministry of Defense. During the year, Yarze was visited by members
of the Human Rights Committee of the Parliament. Any former SLA
soldiers still in prison were treated as normal prisoners. In September
2002, the Cabinet ordered that International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) representatives should be allowed to visit all prisons,
including the one under the control of the Ministry of Defense.
However, by year's end, the Ministry of Defense continued to refuse
permission for the ICRC to visit Yarze.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law requires the ISF to
obtain warrants before making arrests; however, the Government used
arbitrary 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 approximately 5,000
persons being held in prison, one third had not been convicted of any
crime.
The Code of Criminal Procedure provides legal protection to
suspects, including the right to a lawyer, to a medical examination,
and to inform next of kin. Under the code, arresting officers are
required to refer a subject to a prosecutor within 48 hours of arrest.
If a suspect 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.
Under the code, bail is available in all cases regardless of the
charges. Many provisions of the code were not observed in practice.
Defendants have the right to legal counsel, but there was no state-
funded public defender's office. The bar association operated an office
for those who could not afford a lawyer, and the court panel on many
occasions asked the bar association to appoint lawyers for defendants.
Security forces continued the practice of arbitrary arrest and
detention. On several occasions during the year, security forces
detained and arrested citizens on grounds of national security.
Protestors were also arbitrarily detained and arrested (see Section
2.b.). The Government also detained, interrogated, and harassed
journalists (see Section 2.a.); however, in contrast to previous years,
there were no instances of physical abuse.
In September 2003, the SG detained and questioned Samira Trad,
executive manager of Frontiers Center, a private company that conducted
studies and advocates for the rights of marginalized people, for her
human rights activities. Authorities questioned her concerning
slandering the country and operating an illegal association.
Subsequently, Trad was released without charges, and has not been
further harassed.
The Government initially held incommunicado most of the 3,000 SLA
members who surrendered to the authorities following the IDF's
withdrawal in 2000; however, lawyers and family members have since been
provided access. Most SLA members have served their sentences and have
been released; others continued to serve their sentences as regular
prisoners.
The authorities often detained without charge for short periods of
time political opponents and opponents of the Syrian Government.
Palestinian refugees were subject to arrest, detention, and
harassment by state security forces, Syrian forces, and rival
Palestinians. For example, Palestinian refugees living in camps were
not allowed to bring in construction material to repair damaged houses.
Lebanese security services use this circumstance as leverage to recruit
informers and buy their allegiance.
Again, during the year, there were no allegations that the
Government transferred citizens to Syria, and the nine persons arrested
by Syrian Forces during and after the civil war and turned over in 2000
to the Government reportedly were released quietly at the end of the
year. Abu Haytham Karara, an official of the Progressive Socialist
Party, who was one of the nine, was deported to Egypt. No formal
charges were brought against any of the nine. Human rights activists
believed that there were numerous Lebanese, Palestinians, and
Jordanians in prolonged and often secret detention. According to a 2002
AI report, Syrian forces operating in the country carried out searches,
arrests, and detentions of citizens outside any legal framework. Syrian
forces in the country continued to influence citizens through
extralegal means, such as questioning and the threat of detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, it was subject to political pressure.
The Constitution provides for a Constitutional Council to determine the
constitutionality of newly adopted laws upon the request of 10 members
of Parliament and stipulates that judges shall be independent in the
exercise of their duties; however, influential politicians as well as
Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officers at times intervened and
protected their supporters from prosecution.
In a speech on September 6, President Lahoud criticized political
interference in the judiciary and said, ``The judiciary ought to be
immune from political interference.'' He pledged to fight political
interference during the next 3 years of his extended mandate.
The judicial system consists of the regular civilian courts; the
Military Court, which tries cases involving military personnel and
civilians in security-related issues; the Judicial Council, which tries
national security cases; and the tribunals of the various religious
affiliations, which adjudicate matters of personal status, including
marriage, divorce, inheritance, and child custody (see Section 5).
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. Verdicts from this tribunal are irrevocable and
may not be appealed.
The Ministry of Justice appoints all other judges based on the
religious affiliation of the prospective judge. A shortage of judges
impeded efforts to adjudicate cases backlogged during years of internal
conflict. Trial delays were aggravated by the Government's inability to
conduct investigations in areas outside of its control.
Trials were generally public, but judges had the discretion to make
a court session secret. There is no trial by jury. 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 in practice.
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.
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.
During the year, there were several reports that Hizballah
subjected former SLA operatives who returned to their villages to
regular harassment including arrest. In July, one parliamentarian
publicly criticized Hizballah for detaining Fouad Mazraani on the
accusation of cooperating with the Israelis. Although Mazraani was
released, the parliamentarian argued that any such action was the
responsibility of the Government.
During the year, the Military Court concluded the cases of the
remaining SLA militiamen who surrendered to the Government following
the IDF withdrawal. Domestic human rights groups and international
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that the trials were open
to journalists and members of the public but were not fair. The
standard defense presented by lawyers was that the Government had been
unable to defend citizens living under Israeli occupation, and the
residents had no choice but to work with the occupiers.
Approximately one-third of the former SLA members received 11-year
prison sentences and approximately one-third received sentences of 3 to
4 weeks. The Military Court denied every recommendation for the death
sentence. Most SLA members have served their sentences and have been
released; others continued to serve their sentences as regular
prisoners (see Section 1.d.).
In 2002, Mahmoud Salim Mahbouba filed a claim that armed
individuals broke into his house and kidnapped his son, Mohammed, a
former SLA member who was released from Roumieh prison after serving a
2-year sentence. Subsequently, Mohammed Mahbouba was released, but by
year's end, no action had been taken to determine who committed the
crime.
In 2001, the bar association lifted the immunity of lawyer Muhammad
Mughrabi to permit Mughrabi's prosecution for criticizing the country's
judicial system at a press conference. Subsequently, five different
penal cases were started against him, but no action was taken on any of
them during the year.
There was no action taken in the 77 military and civilian cases of
Aoun and Ja'Ja supporters. The cases of Nadim Lteif and Hikmat Deeb,
who were charged with defaming the Lebanese and Syrian armies, were
referred to both military and civilian courts (see Section 1.d.). At
year's end, their case remained pending. The court continued to
schedule sessions, but it repeatedly postponed action.
In February, in an unprecedented verdict, the penal judge of Beirut
dismissed charges against 13 anti-Syrian activists (11 Aounists and 2
Lebanese Forces supporters arrested in August 2001, saying that,
``having opposing views does not constitute a violation of the law.''
Palestinian groups in refugee camps operated an autonomous and
arbitrary system of justice. 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.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution provides for the inviolability of the
domicile; however, 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; however, the
law was not respected in practice.
The Government and Syrian intelligence services used informer
networks and monitored telephones to gather information on their
perceived adversaries. The Army Intelligence Service monitored the
movements and activities of members of opposition groups (see Section
2.b.). The Government conceded that security services monitored
telephone calls but claimed that monitoring occurred only with prior
authorization from competent judicial authorities.
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 the monitoring
of telephones to obtain information regarding their perceived
adversaries. Despite a 2000 law regulating eavesdropping, security
services continued to eavesdrop without prior authorization.
Politicians and human rights advocates reported increasing and more
overt government intelligence services' surveillance of political
meetings and political activities across the religious and political
spectrum.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government limited
these rights in practice, particularly by detaining and charging
activists critical of government policies and by intimidating
journalists and broadcasters into practicing self-censorship. The
Government censored television and radio broadcasts on a case-by-case
basis.
Despite repeated attempts to restrict freedom of opinion and speech
during the year, daily criticism of government policies and leaders
continued. Dozens of newspapers and hundreds of periodicals were
published throughout the country and were financed by various local and
foreign groups. The press was privately owned, and press content often
reflected the opinions of financial backers.
The Government continued to restrict radio and television
broadcasts in a discriminatory manner. There were 7 television stations
and 30 radio stations. The Government owned one television and one
radio station; the remaining stations were owned privately. Inexpensive
satellite television was available widely.
Although the Government did not censor broadcasts directly,
government officials effectively exerted pressure on journalists to
practice self-censorship. The Government had several legal mechanisms
at its disposal to control freedom of expression. The SG was authorized
to censor all foreign magazines and non-periodical works, including
plays, books, and films, before they were distributed in the market.
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, a special tribunal empowered to
try such matters. Moreover, the 1991 security agreement between the
Government and Syria contained a provision that effectively prohibits
the publication of any information deemed harmful to the security of
either state. In view of the risk of prosecution, journalists censored
themselves on matters related to Syria.
In March, the Surete Generale censored a video clip entitled ``Why
Are You Emigrating?'' by Najwa Karam, a well-known singer. The
censorship department at the SG linked the content of the video clip to
the clashes that occurred between security forces and some students who
were protesting against youth emigration.
In September, the SG acted on a recommendation from the Catholic
Center for Information and banned the distribution of the Arabic
translation of the book, ``The Da Vinci Code.'' The SG issued a
communique stating that the printing law banned the introduction and
distribution of any foreign printed material that could incite
sectarian tension, harm security, or offend national feelings. As a
result, local booksellers removed all French, English, and Arabic
copies.
In August, Syrian intelligence officials pressured Lebanese
religious clerics to delete a clause from an official statement that
called for respecting the Constitution during the presidential
elections. The clause was omitted from the local printed press although
most local radio and television stations repeatedly broadcast the full
text.
The Government continued to harass, abuse, and detain journalists.
In March 2003, Adonis Akra, author of a book entitled ``When My Name
Became 16: 15 Days in Detention,'' was banned from attending the
signing ceremony at a book festival. The Prosecutor General, Adnan
Addoum, indicated that Akra signed a petition pledging neither to
publish his book nor to participate in any advertising activity for the
book. Akra was among those arrested during a 2001 opposition crackdown.
Akra and the owner of the publishing house were referred to the
Publication Court for harming the army, the judiciary, the political
authority, and the country's relations with a sisterly nation. The
court had begun a hearing process, and several court hearings were
conducted; however, at year's end, it was unclear when a verdict would
be issued.
In July 2003, on the instructions of the Prosecutor General, Beirut
Public Prosecutor Joseph Maamari charged Amer Mashmushi, the managing
director of the daily al-Liwa, with defaming the President of the
Republic. If convicted, Mashmushi could serve a sentence of up to 2
years imprisonment and a fine of up to $60,000 (90 million pounds). At
year's end, Mashushi had not been jailed, but the case was still
pending in court.
In November 2003, Beirut Chief Investigating Judge Hatem Madi
formally indicted self-exiled former general Michel Aoun and charged
him under Article 288 of the Penal Code for making statements
unauthorized by the Government which could harm the country's relations
with a sisterly nation, spreading false news abroad, aggravating
sectarian tensions, and impersonating a high civilian government
official when he testified before a foreign government. If convicted,
Aoun could face imprisonment for up to 15 years and be banned from
returning to the country. The case was referred to court at the end of
2003 and, at year's end, a court hearing was scheduled for February 8,
2005.
There were no new developments in the 2002 censorship lawsuits
against the International Herald Tribune for a pro-Israeli
advertisement of the Anti-Defamation League. In February 2003, the
Beirut investigating judge issued a permanent search warrant to
disclose the names of persons responsible for running the
advertisement. At year's end, the warrant was not cancelled, but
authorities have said it would not be pursued, and the case was
regarded as closed.
On July 13, the Publication Court in Beirut dropped the 2002
censorship lawsuit against the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat and its
responsible editor, stating that there was not an intention to ``insult
the President of the Republic nor to disturb civil order.''
Still pending was the 2002 lawsuit by the Beirut Public Prosecutor
against the chairman and news editor of Lebanese Broadcasting
Corporation International for having ``instigated sectarian discord and
threatened civil peace'' during its coverage of a shooting incident
during which eight employees of the Ministry of Education were killed.
Similarly, still pending was the 2002 case against the Murr Television
Station (MTV), its political news director, and the host of the
``Referendum'' political talk show with ``broadcasting material whose
nature is to damage ties to a sisterly nation'' (Syria) and ``assailing
the dignity of the President, slandering the security services, and
undermining social order.''
At year's end, MTV and Radio Mount Lebanon (RML) remained closed.
In April 2003, the Lebanese Publication Court of Cassation ruled
against reopening MTV and RML, marking the end of a series of appeals
to reverse the September 2002 closure decision. Both had been closed in
2002 under the Parliamentary Election Law, which stipulates closure for
broadcasting election propaganda during campaigns.
During 2002, State Prosecutor Addoum announced that he would
examine declarations, including television interviews and press
statements, made by opposition members in the country and abroad after
the Christian Maronite World Congress held in Los Angeles in June 2002
in search of incriminating elements. This included statements about
Syria and the Syria Accountability Act. Addoum ordered security
agencies to gather information about opposition activities outside of
the country.
In general, the Government did not restrict Internet access, and it
was used widely.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom, and the country
had a strong private educational system.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly; however, the Government restricted
this right in practice. Any group that wished to organize a rally had
to obtain the prior approval of the Ministry of Interior, which did not
render decisions consistently. Groups opposing government positions
sometimes did not receive permits.
On several occasions during the year, military personnel used
excessive force to disperse protesters of government political and
economic policies and the Syrian presence in the country, sometimes
detaining or arresting them (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.).
During March, there were several demonstrations and sit-ins. On
March 8, there were clashes between residents of Beirut's southern
suburbs of Jnah and Lebanese security forces after residents prevented
technicians from the national power company, Electricite du Liban, from
removing illegal electricity connections. LAF and ISF personnel fired
into the air to disperse protestors. Ricocheting shrapnel injured three
persons.
On March 10 and 12, the anti-Syrian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM)
organized two separate demonstrations in Beirut. These demonstrations
were carried out despite an order from the Governor of Beirut banning
demonstrations until the municipal elections were completed in May. The
first, at the St. Joseph University, protested Syrian occupation, which
it claimed was leading to youth emigration. When the students attempted
to take their protests outside the university campus, they were
prevented by the security forces, which beat the students back with
rifle butts and batons. Several students and security personnel,
including a senior ISF officer, were injured. Three students were
arrested but released shortly thereafter. The second demonstration was
organized by the FPM to mark the 15th anniversary of the ``war of
liberation'' launched during 1989 by exiled General Michel Aoun against
Syrian troops stationed in the country. Riot police, backed by army
troops, beat protestors and used water canons to break up the
demonstration. At least 10 students were injured, and 4 were detained
briefly.
On April 4, reportedly 10 persons were injured after security
forces attacked and beat with batons demonstrators attempting to march
to the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia building in
Beirut. The protestors reportedly sought to submit a petition calling
for release of Lebanese held in Syrian prisons; the demonstrators
defied a ban on demonstrations issued by the Governor of Beirut.
On May 27, the General Confederation of Labor called for a general
strike to protest high fuel prices. The protest, carried out mostly by
van and taxi drivers, turned violent when protestors closed roads with
burning tires in the neighborhood of Hay el-Sullum in the southern
suburbs of Beirut. When LAF troops attempted to open roads, protestors
pelted them with stones. LAF troops opened fire on demonstrators
killing five persons and wounding several others. After the shootings,
demonstrators stormed the nearby Ministry of Labor and set it on fire.
The seven-story building was severely damaged. On May 31, the
Government held a special session to denounce the riots and announced
compensation for the victims' families, with payments of $33,000 (50
million Lebanese pounds) each. Forty-eight persons were arrested and
charged by a military investigator with incitement to riot, resisting
security forces, and assisting rioters (see Section 1.a.). The military
tribunal conducted the trial and, on June 19, sentenced all of those
arrested to imprisonment ranging from 21 to 30 days in jail.
In June, security services allegedly asked the owner of a Beirut
hotel not to provide the hotel premises as a venue for an opposition
meeting. The opposition planned to release the ``Beirut Declaration''
that called for the application of the Taif accords that ended the
civil war, genuine national reconciliation, and national sovereignty.
The Constitution 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 Ministry of Interior,
which issues a receipt. In addition to what is provided by law, the
Ministry of Interior 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 December 2003, the State Consultative Council ruled in
favor of a complaint lodged by a human rights group, ADEL (Justice),
and annulled a Ministry of Interior circular that turned the
notification process into an approval process. The council ruled that
the circular violated the constitutional principle of freedom of
association and the law of 1909 that provides for the free
incorporation and management of associations without interference by
the government. However, in practice, the violations continued at
year's end. In January, ADEL launched a campaign for the proper
implementation of the association law.
Organizations must invite Ministry 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 opposition groups
(see Section 1.f.).
During the year the Government granted licenses to several
political parties.
The Government closely monitored groups critical of Syrian
policies, and their members were subject to harassment and arrest by
the Government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, there were some restrictions. Discrimination based
on religion is built into the system of government. The Government
subsidized all religions, and all Muslim religious judges received
monthly salaries from the Government.
There is no state religion; however, politics are based on the
principle of religious representation, which was applied to every
aspect of public life.
A group that seeks official recognition must submit its dogma and
moral principles for government review to ensure that such principles
did not contradict popular values and the Constitution. The group must
ensure that the number of its adherents is sufficient to maintain its
continuity.
Alternatively, religious groups may apply to obtain 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. State recognition is
not a legal requirement for religious worship or practice. For example,
although Baha'is, Buddhists, Hindus, and some evangelical denominations
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 have complained that the Synod has
refused to accept new members since 1975, thereby crippling their
clergy's ability to administer to communities with their beliefs. The
last time a group was registered was the Coptic Church in 1997. Other
groups, such as the Pentecostal Church, encountered difficulty in
registering. The Pentecostal Church applied for recognition from the
Evangelical Sect, but the leadership of the Evangelical Sect refused to
register new groups in contravention of Lebanese law. The Pentecostal
Church is pursuing recourse through the Ministry of Interior; however,
at year's end, it was still not 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 resulted in 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. Christians and Muslims
were represented equally in the Parliament. Seats in the Parliament and
Cabinet and desirable posts in the civil service were distributed
proportionally among the 18 recognized groups (see Section 3).
The Government required that religious affiliation be encoded 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. There is no law that
permits civil marriages, although such ceremonies performed outside the
country were recognized by the Government. Only religious authorities
may perform marriages.
There were no legal barriers to proselytizing; however, traditional
attitudes and edicts of the clerical establishment strongly discouraged
such activity. In 2002, there were reports that members of the Maronite
Christian community in Kesirwan, with the knowledge of local clergy,
occasionally verbally harassed church leaders and persons who attended
an unrecognized Protestant evangelical church.
The Arab-Israeli conflict and Israel's occupation of the southern
part of the country nurtured a strong antipathy toward Israelis, and
Lebanese media often reflected that sentiment. Hizballah, through its
media outlets, regularly directed strong rhetoric against Israel and
its Jewish population and characterized events in the region as part of
a ``Zionist conspiracy.''
The television series, Ash-Shatat (``The Diaspora''), which
centered on the alleged conspiracy of the ``The Protocols of the Elders
of Zion'' to dominate the world, was aired in October and November 2003
by the Lebanon-based satellite television network Al-Manar, owned by
Hizballah.
Writing a new curriculum for the public schools was one of the
requirements included in the Taif Accord of 1989 that ended the
country's civil war. The new curriculum, which began to be implemented
during the year, included anti-bias and tolerance education. There is
no specific reference to or designation of crimes as hate crimes in
legislation.
In December 2002, a bomb blast destroyed a mosque and shrine in
Anjar near the border with Syria but injured no one. The shrine
reportedly was 800 years old and a popular pilgrimage site for Sunni
Muslims. Local residents stated that a Muslim charitable endowment that
owned the mosque grounds had been involved in long-running disputes
with local persons over land ownership in the area. Authorities
investigated the attack; however, at year's end, no juridical action
had been taken. Also at year's end, no one had been arrested in
connection with the 2002 bombing of a Greek Orthodox church in Tripoli
and the Saint Elias Maronite church in Sidon and the burning of a
mosque.
Also in 2002, a Sunni army conscript shot a Christian conscript.
The security forces chased the culprit and killed him in an exchange of
gunfire. Security forces arrested a Sunni cleric associated with
stimulating the attack and charged him with inciting confessional
violence in connection with the incident; however, he was released
without prosecution.
During 2002, an American citizen missionary affiliated with the
Christian and Missionary Evangelical Alliance was killed in Sidon. No
group claimed responsibility for the killing, but on September 22, the
Prosecutor General said that members of the al-Qaeda played a role in
the assassination (see Section 1.a.).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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;
however, there were some limitations. The law prohibits travel to
Israel. The LAF and Syrian troops maintained checkpoints throughout
much of the country. All men between 18 and 21 years of age are subject
to compulsory military service and are required to register at a
recruitment office and obtain a travel authorization document before
leaving the country. Married women can obtain a passport without their
husband's signature and approval. Spouses may obtain passports for
their children who are less than 7 years of age after obtaining the
approval of the other spouse. To obtain a passport for a minor child
between 7 and 18 years, the father or legal guardian needs to sign the
request to obtain a passport (see Section 5).
The law does not provide for forced exile, and it was not practiced
regularly.
There were no legal restrictions on the right of citizens to return
to the country. However, many emigres were reluctant to return for a
variety of political, economic, and social reasons. The Government
encouraged the return to their homes of over 600,000 persons internally
displaced during the civil war. Although some persons began to reclaim
homes abandoned or damaged during the war, the vast majority had not
attempted to reclaim and rebuild their property. The resettlement
process was slowed by tight budgetary constraints, destroyed
infrastructure, political feuds, a lack of schools and economic
opportunities, and the fear that physical security still was inadequate
in some parts of the country.
In 2000, approximately 6,000 SLA militiamen and their families fled
to Israel; approximately 3,000 eventually returned to the country. Of
the former SLA personnel who returned, all received prison sentences
(see Section 1.e.). The Government continued to welcome SLA militia to
return to the country, but stated they would face trial.
Most refugees were Palestinians. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) reported that the number of Palestinian refugees in the country
registered with the UNRWA was approximately 390,000. This figure, which
represented refugees who arrived in 1948 and their descendents, was
presumed to include many thousands who reside outside of the country.
Most experts estimated that the actual number in the country was
between 150,000 and 200,000. According to SG records, the number of
registered Palestinian refugees was approximately 418,000. 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). In May 2003, the State
Consultative Council invalidated the 1994 naturalization decree in
which several thousand Palestinian nationals were naturalized. As a
result, approximately 4,000 cases, some of which are families including
several siblings, will lose their Lebanese citizenship. The Council
referred the issue to the Ministry of Interior to review the files and
decide their legal status. The Ministry continued to review the files;
however, it had not issued a decision by year's 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.
On several occasions, Hizballah operatives interfered with the
freedom of movement of U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
personnel. According to the U.N. Secretary General's report, at year's
end, no action had been taken against the 15 Hizballah operatives who
injured 3 UNIFIL observers in April 2002, despite government assurances
that the perpetrators would be arrested and brought to trial.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. Although the law does not
provide for granting refugee status, 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
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government
also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify
as refugees under the 1951 Convention/1967 Protocol to approximately
3,000 persons during the year. In September 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
have to do so within 2 months of arriving in the country. The SG issues
residence permits, valid for 3 months, during which time UNHCR must
make a refugee status determination. The SG extended residency permits
for up to a total of 12 months for those accorded refugee status by
UNHCR. The Government granted admission and temporary (6 months) refuge
to asylum seekers, but not permanent asylum. The Government generally
cooperated with the offices of UNHCR and UNRWA.
According to the UNHCR, there were nearly 2,500 non-Palestinian
refugees, primarily Iraqis, Somalis and Sudanese, residing in the
country. The SG detained few, and the UNHCR was granted access to them.
On June 6, the 30 Iraqi Kurds who had been stranded in Naquora on
the Lebanese-Israeli border were voluntarily repatriated to Iraq after
3 years spent in limbo. The return was organized in coordination with
UNHCR, the U.N., the SG, and foreign embassies.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides that citizens have the right to change
their government in periodic free and fair elections; however, Syrian
influence in local politics is a practical barrier to the exercise of
this right. Lack of control over parts of the country, defects in the
electoral process, and corruption in public office significantly
restricted this right.
The Constitution provides that elections for the Parliament must be
held every 4 years. In turn, the Parliament elects the president every
6 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 a Shi'a
Muslim (see Section 2.c.).
The parliamentary elections in 2000 showed fewer incidents of voter
fraud and tampering with ballots than previous elections; however, the
process was flawed with serious shortcomings, including Syrian
government influence on the electoral law and candidate selection,
progovernmental media manipulation, and improper activities of security
services.
In May, municipal elections were held in approximately 750
municipal boards. Voter turnout was high in most villages and cities
with the exception of Beirut where participation was low. Voting was
orderly with no reports of major disturbance or fraud.
On September 3, amid evidence of heavy Syrian manipulation and
coercion, Parliament voted for a constitutional amendment extending the
term of President Lahoud for 3 years; 96 parliamentarians voted in
favor of extension, 29 opposed, and 3 were absent from the session.
In September 2003, a by-election held in the Baabda-Aley district
for a Maronite Christian seat reportedly took place in a calm
atmosphere, without government pressure to vote for a particular
candidate or government interference in campaigning; however, there
were a few technical irregularities.
There was a widespread perception of corruption at all levels of
government, including foreign involvement, however, no steps were taken
to address the problem.
There are no laws regarding public access to government documents,
either allowing or denying access. In practice, the Government does not
respond to requests.
Women have the right to vote, and there are no legal barriers to
their participation in politics; however, there were significant
cultural barriers. Prior to October, no woman had held a Cabinet
position; however, at that juncture, two women were named to the
Cabinet. Since 1992, there have been only 3 women in the 128-seat
Parliament. As the political system is based on confessionalism, all
parliamentary seats are assigned by religious group. Even the smallest
officially recognized confessions are allotted at least two seats in
Parliament.
Palestinian refugees had no political rights (see Section 5). 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.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Several local 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,
and the National Association for the Rights of the Disabled,
investigating and publishing their findings. In general, government
officials were cooperative, except when some of these groups sought to
publicize the detention in Syria of hundreds of citizens. The bar
association and other private organizations regularly held public
events that included discussions of human rights issues. Some human
rights groups reported harassment and intimidation by government,
Syrian, or Hizballah forces.
The Government generally cooperated with international NGOs and met
with them during the year. In 2002, the U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights met with senior government officials. The ICRC and AI
maintained offices in the country. During the year, government
officials discussed human rights problems with representatives of
foreign governments and NGOs.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution 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.
There was credible evidence that foreign domestic servants 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 common problem. There were no
authoritative statistics on the extent of spousal abuse; however, most
experts agreed that the problem affected a significant portion of the
female population. Cases reported were believed to be only a fraction
of the actual number. Despite a law prohibiting battery with a maximum
sentence of 3 years in prison for those convicted, some religious
courts legally may require a battered wife to return to the house in
spite of physical abuse. Many women were compelled to remain in abusive
marriages because of social and family pressures. Possible loss of
custody of children and the absence of an independent source of income
also prevented women from leaving their husbands.
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
and 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 the 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 sentence for a person
convicted of rape is 5 years in prison. The minimum sentence for a
person convicted of raping a minor is 7 years. During the year, the
courts issued several sentences in cases involving rape; most offenders
received 5 to 7 years in jail.
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 1 to 7 years imprisonment. Several
honor crimes are reported in the media every year. No person has been
convicted in a case legally considered an honor crime.
The 1931 law on prostitution requires that brothels be licensed and
that sex workers be tested regularly for disease. The law remains on
the books and technically in effect. However, government policy since
the late 1960s was to stop issuing new licenses for brothels in an
attempt to gradually eliminate legal prostitution in the country;
however, as a result of the civil war and the weakness of government
institutions, illicit prostitution spread. In practice, most
prostitution is unlicensed and illegal. Thousands of foreign women,
primarily from Russia and Eastern Europe, traveled to the country to
work as ``artistes.'' The SG actively investigates adult clubs
employing ``artistes'' and issues warnings to those that do not comply
with regulations regarding employee working schedules and documentary
requirements. 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. Women had varying employment opportunities in government,
medicine, law, academia, the arts, and to a lesser degree, business.
However, 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 of 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.
The law gives women working for the Government the same rights as men
in terms of medical coverage and hospitalization, meaning that women
serving in government can claim reimbursement for medical coverage,
hospitalization, and family allowances in cases when they are single or
their husband is unemployed or does not otherwise have coverage.
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.--The plight of children was a growing concern for the
Government. Education was free in public schools and compulsory until
age 13. However, public schools generally were inadequate, lacking
proper facilities, equipment and trained staff. A 2003 study indicated
that 70 percent of Arabic teachers in public schools were not
sufficiently literate in Arabic. The cost of private education was a
significant problem for the middle and lower classes. UNICEF reported
that in the 2000 school year, approximately 85 percent of children
between the ages of 3 and 5, and approximately 98 percent of children
between the ages of 7 to 11 were enrolled in school. In some families
with limited incomes, boys received more education than girls. The
illiteracy rate was approximately 11.6 percent. It was 7.7 percent
among men and 15.4 percent among women. An undetermined number of
children were neglected, abused, and exploited. There are periodic
reports that parents force children to beg in the streets or work in
the fields to help support the family. Poor children often were
compelled by their parents to seek employment and often took jobs that
jeopardized their safety (see Section 6.d.). The normal procedure for
adoption was through religious homes or institutions authorized to
arrange adoption; however, the demand to provide infants for adoption
abroad resulted in illegal international adoptions. There were no
statistics available concerning the prevalence of the illegal adoption
of infants. The Government did not have specific child protection laws
to remove children from abusive situations and did not grant NGOs
adequate legal standing to litigate on behalf of abused minor children.
Again, during the year, NGO's throughout the country reported that
child prostitution was a problem. The authorities discovered and broke
up three child prostitution rings. In two of the cases, the
perpetrators were charged with facilitation, in the third, with child
prostitution. At year's end, the cases were pending prosecution.
Trafficking in Persons.--Trafficking in persons was a problem. The
law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons. 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''; however, during the year, the Government did not apply
this code to trafficking cases. Prostitution was legal and regulated by
the Government. The country was a destination for African and Asian
women, contracted as household workers, and East European and Russian
women, contracted as dancers in adult clubs. Evidence indicates that
many of these women are coerced or recruited into prostitution once in
the country. Most of these women came voluntarily with legitimate work
permits, but an unknown number entered the country illegally, and many
of those with work permits ended by working illegally. Based on
complaints registered with embassies, NGOs, and the Government, members
of these groups often found themselves in coercive work situations with
little practical legal recourse.
If forced prostitution or forced rendering of sexual services
occurred as a result of an abduction, the Penal Code stipulates that
the abductor be sentenced to at least 1 year in prison; however, this
law was applied inconsistently. During the year, the media reported
upwards of 60 cases of suspects sentenced on charges of forced
prostitution.
Many women became illegal workers because their employers did not
renew their work and residency permits. Unscrupulous employers sometime
falsely accused the employee of theft to relinquish responsibility for
the employee as well as the taxes and airline ticket home (see Section
6.e). Restrictions of movement and withholding of passports were common
practice. A small number of exploited foreign workers won cases against
their employers. Nonjudicial action resolved the majority of these
cases. As a result of that process, workers frequently were repatriated
without further judicial action on their cases. A few cases were
referred to the judiciary for further action, although the Government
took minimal steps to prosecute traffickers.
Among cases of abuse reported to one NGO dealing with migrant
worker abuse, the Government took the following actions: 23 were
dropped for insufficient evidence; at year's end, 8 were in the process
of administrative settlement between the victim and the employer or
agent; in 2 cases, the victims did not want to pursue the matter; the
status of 3 had not been determined; and 5 were being actively pursued
or prosecuted.
In addition, four Filipinas working as migrants died during the
year. In the case of Herra Olandres, who died on August 24, two medical
reports acknowledged signs of rape 24 hours prior to her death. At
year's end, the case was under investigation by the Detectives' Bureau
of the ISF. In the case of Luz Pacuan, who died on May 8, the file was
closed because the presiding judge considered the death accidental. The
Government closed the case of Catherine Bautista, who died on May 5,
finding no evidence that her employer sexually abused her. The case of
Luella Montenegro, who died on February 25, is still under
investigation. The press reported that three of the four women were
believed to be attempting to flee abusive work environments when they
died.
In April, the SG closed a nightclub at which there were 60 illegal
Ethiopian migrant workers; 18 were arrested for engaging in
prostitution.
In August, the SG closed two agencies bringing migrant workers into
the country illegally. One proprietor was indicted; prosecution is
pending. In February, two other such agencies were closed; however,
there is no report of prosecutions stemming from these closures.
In October 2003, a judge sentenced an employer to 3 months'
imprisonment and ordered him to pay approximately $500 (800,000
Lebanese pounds) in compensation for failing to pay the salary of his
Ethiopian maid. The judge exempted him from imprisonment in exchange
for paying an additional penalty of $200 (300,000 Lebanese pounds) and
$500 (800,000 Lebanese pounds) for all other expenses related to the
case.
During 2003, 131 suspects were arrested for smuggling persons.
Authorities also closed 5 drinking establishments and a massage parlor
and issued 51 warnings to 30 adult clubs for noncompliance with
regulations, including prostitution.
The country has made modest 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; however, the Government cooperated with NGOs and allowed them
access to detention facilities. In November 2003, the Ministry of Labor
required employers to provide higher-value insurance to cover
repatriation expenses of trafficking victims. A number of NGOs provided
legal assistance and counseling to trafficking victims at no cost to
the victims.
During 2003, the Ministry of Labor enacted regulations defining
employment agencies and household employers' responsibilities with
regard to the treatment of domestics.
The Government has taken some steps in the area of prevention. In
January, the government prohibited advertisements offering the services
of foreign maids. However, this regulation is not uniformly applied.
In September, the Ministries of Justice and Interior published
pamphlets, which defined trafficking, and informed potential victims on
how to contact embassies, the ISF, the Red Cross, and NGOs for
assistance. The pamphlets are being distributed to migrant workers upon
arrival at Beirut International Airport.
During 2003, the Government signed a protocol of understanding with
the Sri Lankan Ministry of Labor to ensure better working conditions
for Sri Lankan workers and to provide legally for their rights.
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
application from disabled persons. The Disability Law mandates disabled
access to buildings; however, the Government failed to take steps to
amend building codes to conform to the law. Approximately 100,000
persons became disabled during the civil war. Families generally cared
for persons 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 of the position; however, there was no evidence that the
law was enforced in practice.
In 2002, joint committees composed of the National Committee for
the Disabled and the Ministries of Health, Labor, and Education were
formed to implement the law on persons with disabilities. 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 in practice.
Many persons with mental disabilities are cared for in private
institutions, many of which are subsidized by the Government.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the UNRWA, an
estimated 390,000 Palestinian refugees were registered in the country
(see Section 2.d.); however, it was believed that approximately 150,000
to 200,000 Palestinians actually resided 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 Israeli invasion of the country, and during on-going camp
feuds. The Government generally prohibited the construction of
permanent structures in the camps on the grounds that such construction
encouraged the notion of permanent refugee settlement in the country.
Refugees feared that the Government might reduce the size of the camps
or eliminate them completely. Very few Palestinians received work
permits, and those who found work usually were directed into unskilled
occupations. Palestinian incomes continued to decline. The law
prohibited Palestinian refugees from working in 72 professions.
Palestinian refugees do not have the right to own property in the
country. Palestinians no longer may purchase property and those who
owned property prior to 2001 will be 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. The Government did
not provide health services or education to Palestinian refugees, who
relied on UNRWA for these services.
Palestinian children reportedly were forced to leave school at an
early age to help earn income. The U.N. estimated that 18 percent of
street children in the country were Palestinian. Poverty, drug
addiction, prostitution, and crime reportedly were increasing in the
camps, although reliable statistics were not available.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
unnatural sexual intercourse, which is punishable by up to 1 year in
prison; however, homosexuality is not specifically illegal. Citizens'
sexual preferences reflect 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. There are no reasonable estimates as
to the number of persons in the active labor force, but it is estimated
that 5 to 7 percent of workers were members of some 450 to 500 labor
unions and associations. Most of these unions formed federations. At
year's end, 37 federations were voting members of the General
Confederation of Labor (GCL). However, 24 of the 37 confederations, all
created in the 1990s, remained ``virtual,'' that is, created by
political interest groups to offset the votes of the 13 established
labor confederations that actually represent workers. The GCL remained
the only organization recognized by the Government as an interlocutor
that represented workers.
Antiunion discrimination appeared to be widespread. In October, two
labor leaders were fired from the Lebanese Postal Service for union
activities. Labor unions interceded on numerous occasions to address
the firing of unionists from companies. On December 15, the head of the
GCL participated in a sit-in to protest firings at the Postal Service.
Palestinian refugees may organize their own unions; however,
because of restrictions on their right to work, few Palestinians
participated actively in trade unions.
Unions were free to affiliate with international federations and
confederations, and they maintained a variety of such affiliations.
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. There were no government mechanisms to promote voluntary
labor-management negotiations, and workers had no protection against
antiunion discrimination.
The law provides for the right to strike. In May, the General
Confederation of Labor called for a general strike to protest the high
price of fuel and gasoline. The demonstration become violent, and
clashes with the security forces resulted in the death of five persons
(see Section 2.b.).
In December 2003, Lebanese University (LU) professors and students
staged the largest demonstration in the country since 1992 when more
than 15,000 people marched to protest threats to LU's autonomy,
administrative shortcomings, and shrinking budgets.
In October 2003, the GCL called a general strike to protest high
unemployment, deteriorating social benefits, high taxes, planned
privatization, and frozen minimum wages. An estimated 4,000 to 8,000
people participated in a peaceful march.
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. These include article 569 of
the penal code, which prohibits deprivation of personal freedom, clause
5 of article 569, which prohibits using a person deprived of personal
freedom to ``perform a task,'' and article 11 of the labor code, which
limits the scope of work agreements. The country adheres to
International Labor Organization conventions 29 and 105 that
prohibiting forced labor, and these conventions have the force of law.
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, minors are defined as children aged between 14
and 18 years. 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 workers under
the age of 18 for more than 6 hours per day, and requires 1 hour of
rest if work is more than 4 hours. The law also entitles juveniles 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
Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing these requirements;
however, it did not apply the law rigorously. In 2002, a law was passed
regarding the protection of juveniles exposed to danger. In September,
the Government took steps to implement the law. In cooperation with the
U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, the Government
inaugurated the Center for Juvenile Victims of Physical Abuse. As such,
juveniles will no longer be interrogated at police stations but rather
at the center, which is equipped according to international norms, in
the presence of a social worker.
According to the final report on the ``State of the Children in
Lebanon 2000'' released by the Central Statistics Administration in
2002 in collaboration with UNICEF, the percentage of working children
between the ages of 10 and 14 was 1.8 percent. The percentage of
working children between the ages of 15 and 18 was 11.3 percent.
According to the report, 90 percent of child laborers were not covered
by any health insurance.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government set a legal
minimum wage; during the year, it was approximately $200 (300,000
Lebanese pounds) per month. The law was not enforced effectively in the
private sector. The minimum wage was insufficient to 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 labor law prescribes a standard 6-day workweek of 48 hours,
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 Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing these
regulations, and it did so unevenly. Labor organizers reported that
workers did not have the right to remove themselves from hazardous
conditions without jeopardizing their continued employment.
Foreign domestic workers, mostly of Asian and African origin, often
were mistreated, abused, raped, or placed in situations of coerced
labor or slavery-like conditions (see Section 5). Recruitment agencies
and employers generally signed employment contracts requesting a
foreign worker; the prospective foreign workers rarely were party to
such contracts or, if they were, might not know what the contract
stipulated because it was written in Arabic.
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.
During 2003, the Ministry of Labor enacted new regulations defining
employment agencies and household employers' responsibilities with
regard to the treatment of domestics. The Ministry of Labor regularly
met with source country embassies to ensure that foreign laborers and
domestic workers were aware of the new employment agency regulations
and of the Ministry of Labor's complaint office for reporting
violations.
The labor laws do 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; their average wage was approximately $100 (150,000 Lebanese
pounds) per month. 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 does not release information on legal
actions filed, but NGOs have indicated that fewer than 10 legal actions
were undertaken during the year, with only 1 perpetrator believed to be
in prison.
The Ministry of Labor referred cases of abuse reported to its
complaint office to law enforcement for investigation and prosecution.
It also enacted regulations prohibiting employment agencies from
withholding foreign workers' passports for any reason and specifically
defined sponsors' responsibilities with regard to the treatment of
domestics. In 2003, 15 employment agencies were closed for
noncompliance with these regulations, and closures of fraudulent
employment agencies abusing foreign migrant workers continued during
the year.
__________
LIBYA
The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya\1\ is an
authoritarian regime ruled by Colonel Mu'ammar Al Qadhafi since 1969,
when he led a military coup that overthrew King Idris I. Borrowing from
Islamic and pan Arab ideas, Qadhafi created a political system that
rejects Western democracy and political parties and claims to have
established a ``third way'' superior to capitalism and communism. The
country's governing principles are derived predominantly from Qadhafi's
``Green Book'' Ideology. In theory, the citizenry rules the country
through a series of popular congresses, 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 monopolize political power. According to
the U.N. Development Program, the legislative branch is composed of the
unicameral General People's Congress (GPC) with 760 members elected
indirectly for a 3 year term. The most recent election or ``renewal''
of the GPC was in March. Revolutionary Committees are nominally extra
governmental organizations that regulate many aspects of citizens'
lives; however, in practice, the Government controls the committees.
The judiciary is not independent of the Government. Government
corruption was a problem.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The U.S. Government re-established direct diplomatic relations
with Libya in June 2004. Accordingly, some of the information contained
in this report is based to a large extent on nongovernmental sources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 multi layered, pervasive surveillance
system that monitors and controls the activities of individuals. The
civilian authorities maintain effective control of the security forces.
Security forces have the authority to impose sentences without trial,
and the various security forces committed numerous, serious human
rights abuses.
The country has a centrally directed economy, with a growing
private sector. The population is approximately 5.7 million. The
Government exercised complete control over the country's oil resources,
which accounted for approximately 95 percent of export earnings and an
estimated 23 percent of the gross domestic product. The estimated
growth rate was 2.4 percent. The Government's mismanagement of the
economy has led to a decline in the standard of living for most of its
citizens in recent years.
On March 6, in an effort to address economic shortcomings, the GPC
passed numerous laws aimed at liberalizing the economy. Foreign
governments lifted travel, commercial, and economic sanctions against
the country during the year. However, the country remained subject to
sanctions related to past sponsorship of terrorism.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. Citizens did
not have the right to change their government. Prison conditions were
poor. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained persons, and
prisoners were held incommunicado. Many political detainees were held
for years without charge or trial. The Government controlled the
judiciary, and citizens did not have the right to a fair public trial.
Official impunity was a problem. The Government used summary judicial
proceedings in many cases. The Government infringed on citizens'
privacy rights; restricted freedom of speech, press, assembly,
association, and religion; imposed limits on freedom of movement;
continued to ban political parties; and continued to prohibit the
establishment of independent human rights organizations. Domestic
violence against women was a problem. Traditional attitudes and
practices continued to discriminate against women. There were reports
of trafficking in persons. The Government continued to repress banned
Islamic groups and discriminated against ethnic and tribal minorities.
The Government restricted labor rights, denied basic worker rights, and
discriminated against foreign workers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--According to
available information, there were no reports of the arbitrary or
unlawful deprivation of life committed by the Government or its agents;
however, poor prison conditions have contributed to an unknown number
of deaths in custody (see Section 1.c.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
During the year, tensions again flared between the Government and
the Government of Lebanon over accusations of the country's
responsibility for the 1978 disappearance of Lebanese Shi'a leader Imam
Musa Al Sadr and two of his companions. In October, Italian authorities
handed over to the Lebanese Government passports allegedly belonging to
Sadr and one of his companions. The media subsequently reported that
the Lebanese Government planned to question Qadhafi in Lebanon about
the case. There were no further developments by year's end.
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law does not prohibit such practices, and there were
reports that government officials employed them. Security personnel
reportedly 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 because many prisoners were held
incommunicado.
The reported methods of torture 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; deprivation of food and water; hanging by the wrists;
suspension from a pole inserted between the knees and elbows;
cigarettes burns; threats of being attacked by dogs; and beating on the
soles of the feet.
According to Amnesty International (AI), the foreign defendants,
who were charged with deliberately infecting children in a hospital in
Benghazi, reported that they had been tortured through electric shock
and beatings to extract their confessions. Two of the police officers
accused of inflicting the torture denied the allegations. On May 6, the
Benghazi court determined it did not have jurisdiction to try the
officers accused of torture in the health workers' case (see Section
1.e.).
In April, Qadhafi called for the abolition of torture and urged the
GPC to ratify anti torture agreements; however, no actions were taken
during the year.
According to foreign diplomats, prison conditions generally were
poor. In February, the Government permitted AI to visit the country
following a 15 year absence. The AI delegation visited some prisons,
and spoke with some inmates they considered to be ``prisoners of
conscience.'' The authorities prevented the group from seeing selected
prisoners despite repeated requests. The Government did not permit
other human rights monitors to visit the prisons.
During its visit, AI raised concerns with the Government about the
health of 86 men in Abu Salim prison who undertook a 7 day hunger
strike, in October 2003, to protest lengthy delays in their appeal
process and to call for the abolition of the People's Court. The Abu
Salim detainees were believed to be members of the Libyan Islamic
Group, also known as the Muslim Brotherhood. At least eight of the
hunger strikers reportedly were taken to a hospital, but there were no
details about any medical attention afforded to the others.
Security forces reportedly subjected political detainees to cruel,
inhumane, or degrading conditions, and denied adequate medical care,
which led to several deaths in custody.
In at least three cases known to AI, the Government issued death
certificates that stated the prisoners had died of natural causes,
without further explanation or any evidence. In each case reported to
AI, the authorities refused to return the detainee's body to the
family.
Male and female prisoners were held separately, and juveniles were
separated from adults. Pretrial detainees and convicts were held
together in the same facilities. More than half the prisoners in the
country were reportedly pretrial detainees. Prison officials frequently
held pretrial detainees for long periods of time (see Section 1.d.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government did not observe these
prohibitions. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained
citizens. The Government held many political detainees incommunicado
for unlimited periods in unofficial detention centers controlled by
members of the Revolutionary Committees.
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 6 days under investigation. Detainees must then be brought
before a judicial authority at regular intervals of 30 days to renew
their detention order.
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 in Tripoli. Some human
rights organizations estimated the number of political detainees to be
as high as 2,000. Many detainees reportedly have been held for years
without charge. Hundreds of other detainees may have been held for
periods too brief (3 to 4 months) to permit confirmation by outside
observers.
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.
On March 12, the Government released Fathi Al Jahmi in response to
international pressure. Al Jahmi originally had been sentenced to 5
years imprisonment in 2002 after calling for democratic reforms. On
March 26, the Government detained Al Jahmi again, along with his wife,
Fawzia Abdullah Gogha, and son, Mohammad. Al Jahmi had given several
international media interviews, in which he again called for reform.
The Government did not file new charges against Al Jahmi, asserting
that his detention was for his own protection. Fawzia Abdullah Gogha
and Mohammad were released later. Mohammad reported that Al Jahmi was
in poor health, and he did not receive adequate medical treatment.
According to AI, the Government denied Al Jahmi access to legal
counsel, and his whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
On April 7, the appeals resumed for 152 Muslim Brotherhood
activists. The appeals originally had started in 2002 after sentences
were issued ranging from the death penalty to life imprisonment and 10
years imprisonment (see Section 1.e.).
The London based newspaper, Al Sharq Al Awsat, reported that the
Government arrested human rights activist, Ashur Al Warfalli, on
December 8 for issuing a statement against the Government's human
rights policy. Al Warfalli's statement called for the release of
political detainees, amnesty for exiles and dissidents, and the freedom
of expression for all citizens. His whereabouts remained unknown at
year's end.
On March 2, the Government pardoned 1,059 prisoners in celebration
of the anniversary of the Declaration of the People's Authority.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was not independent.
Security forces had the authority to pass sentences without trial,
particularly in cases involving political opposition. The Government
used summary judicial proceedings to suppress domestic dissent. Qadhafi
was empowered to interfere in the administration of justice by altering
court judgments or replacing judges. The judiciary failed to
incorporate international standards for fair trials and standards for
detention and imprisonment.
The judicial system is composed of a four tiered hierarchy. The
Summary Courts hear cases involving misdemeanors of lesser value. 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 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, one each for civil and commercial, criminal,
administrative, constitutional, and Shari'a. The Supreme Court sits in
chambers of five judges and rules by majority decision. The GPC elects
the presiding president and other members of the Supreme Court.
Special revolutionary or national security courts, such as the
People's Court, try political offenses. Such trials often are held in
secret or even in the absence of the accused. The People's Court system
also focuses on administrative, civil, and criminal offences. The court
contains its own prosecution service, in addition to courts of first
instance (composed of a three judge panel) and courts of appeal
(composed of a five judge panel). In April, Qadhafi called for the
elimination of the People's Court; however, the court was still in
existence at year's end.
The law provides for the presumption of innocence. Defendants must
be informed of the charges brought against them, and they have the
right to legal counsel; however, defense lawyers automatically are
appointed, even if the defendant declines to have one. In some cases
involving large numbers of defendants, it is reportedly common for the
accused not to know who his or her lawyer is. There is usually very
little contact, if any, between the lawyer and client.
On December 1, the People's Court confirmed the sentences of 86
activists, known as the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2002, 2 defendants
received death sentences, 73 received life imprisonment, and 11
received 10 years' imprisonment for forming an illegal political
organization.
On May 6, a court sentenced to death 6 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
had serious concerns about the lack of investigation into allegations
of torture and delays in bringing the case to a conclusion. Appeals
still were pending at year's end.
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 also routinely monitored telephone calls.
The security agencies and the Revolutionary Committees oversaw an
extensive network of informants. Foreign observers estimated 10 to 20
percent of the population was 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. In the past, citizens reported that the Government
warned members of the extended family of government opponents that they
too risked the severe punishment. Exiles reported that family members
of suspected government opponents were harassed and threatened with
detention.
The law provides for the collective punishment of families or
communities that aid, abet, or do not inform the Government of
criminals and oppositionists. Punishments range from the denial of
access to utilities (water, electricity, telephone), fuels, food
supplies, official documents, participation in local assemblies, and
the termination of new economic projects and state subsidies.
Collective punishment also can be inflicted on the relatives of
individuals, particularly oppositionists, who are convicted of having
committed certain crimes. In such cases, the punishment could be
expulsion of the family from their homes and demolition of the homes.
There were no reports of collective punishment being implemented during
the year.
The Purge Law 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.'' During the
year, there were no reports of confiscation.
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, the Government severely limited the freedoms of
speech and of the press, particularly any criticism of Qadhafi or
government policy. The Government tolerated some difference of opinion
in People's Committee meetings and at the GPC.
On March 26, the Government re detained Fathi Al Jahmi after Al
Jahmi spoke out against the regime to the foreign media (see Section
1.d.).
On December 8, the Government arrested Ashur Al Warfalli for
releasing a statement in which he called for a number of human rights
reforms.
The Government prohibited all political activities not officially
approved, enacted laws so vague that many forms of speech or expression
may be interpreted as illegal, and operated an extensive system of
informants that created an atmosphere of self censorship at all levels
of society (see Section 1.f.).
The Government owned and controlled the print and broadcast media.
There were no privately owned radio or television stations. Local
Revolutionary Committees published several small newspapers. The
official news agency, JANA, was the designated conduit for official
views. The Government did not permit the publication of opinions
contrary to its policy. Some foreign publications were available;
however, the Government routinely censored them and, at times,
prohibited their distribution. The publications law governs the
operation of the press, reserving all rights for publishing to two
public entities: The General Corporation of Press, Professional Unions,
and Syndicates, and the Ad dar Al Jamahiriya.
Satellite television was widely available, although foreign
programming was censored at times. Internet access was limited due to
the existence of a single service provider; however, the number of
Internet users increased during the year.
The Government severely restricted academic freedom. Professors and
teachers who discussed politically sensitive topics faced the risk of
government reprisal.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law does not
provide for the freedom of assembly or association, and the Government
severely restricted these rights in practice. Public assembly was
permitted only with the Government's approval and in support of the
Government's positions.
On April 7, government security forces disrupted a demonstration by
members of the Muslim Brotherhood. They were protesting the prolonged
detention and adjournment of appeals of 152 members (see Section 1.e.).
The Government restricted the right of association; it granted this
right only to institutions affiliated with the Government. The
formation of groups based on a political ideology was banned (see
Section 3). Political activity deemed treasonous by the Government is
punishable by death. An offense may include any activity that is
``opposed to the principles of the Revolution.'' On December 1, an
appeals court upheld the sentences of 86 prisoners convicted in 1998
for establishing a political organization (see Section 1.e.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right with some
restrictions. The Government was tolerant of other faiths, with the
exception of militant forms of Islam, which it viewed as a threat to
the regime. Because the wearing of a beard was associated with
fundamentalist Islam, some Muslims reportedly shaved their beards to
avoid being harassed by security forces. The Government also controlled
mosques and Islamic institutions and heavily censored clerics.
The World Islamic Call Society (WICS) was the outlet for the state
approved form of Islam. The Government prohibited Islamic groups whose
views were contrary to the authorized teachings. The WICS was
responsible for relations with other religions, including Christian
churches in the country.
Christian churches operated openly and were tolerated by the
authorities; however, the Government imposed a limit of one church per
denomination per city. There were no official places of worship for the
practitioners of minority religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and the
Baha'i Faith.
A noncitizen female that marries a Muslim citizen is not required
to convert to Islam; however, a noncitizen male must convert to marry a
Muslim woman.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, Repatriation, and Exile.--The law does not provide these
rights, but the Government generally did not restrict the freedom of
movement within the country.
The Government requires citizens to obtain exit permits for travel
abroad, and limits their access to hard currency. Authorities routinely
seized the passports of foreigners married to citizens upon their entry
into the country. A female citizen must have her husband's permission
and a male escort to travel abroad (see Section 5, Women).
The law does not provide for or prohibit forced exile, and the
Government did not impose forced exile as a form of punishment. The
Government continued to encourage the return of citizen dissidents
abroad, promising to ensure their safety. According to AI, some
citizens were subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention upon their
repatriation. Students studying abroad reportedly have been
interrogated upon their return.
The law prohibits the extradition of political refugees; however,
in practice, the Government did not provide protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. There was no established system to deal with refugees and
asylum seekers, or national legislation to determine refugee and asylum
status. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
the Government considers refugees and asylum seekers as ``foreigners
residing in country without any specific distinction.'' The country is
not a party to the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, it is a party to the
Organization of African Unity's Convention Governing the Specific
Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. The Government has not signed a
formal cooperation agreement with the UNHCR, which reported that there
were approximately 12,000 urban refugees registered with its Tripoli
office and 43,000 total refugees in country.
The Government expelled noncitizens arbitrarily. On July 21, the
Government deported more than 110 people to Eritrea who reportedly had
fled from military service or evaded conscription. AI reported that
they then were held incommunicado in military camps. In August, the
authorities deported 76 Eritrean asylum seekers who later reported
being mistreated and denied medical attention while in custody. The
Government continued to deport family members of suspected al Qa'ida
members during the year. In February, the Government extradited a human
trafficker to Italy upon the Italian Government's request (see Section
5, Trafficking).
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''
provides that direct popular rule is the basis of the political system
and that citizens play a role in popular congresses; however, Qadhafi,
his close associates, and committees acting in his name controlled
major government decisions. Corruption and favoritism, based on tribal
origin, were major problems that adversely affected government
efficiency.
The Government prohibits the creation of and subsequent membership
in political parties. The only party structure that exists is the
official Arab Socialist Union, created in 1971 to encourage political
involvement among citizens. Revolutionary Committees, composed
primarily of youths, guarded against political dissent and ensured that
citizens followed sanctioned ideology within society. These committees
approved all candidates in elections for the GPC.
The people exercise their authority through people's congresses,
people's committees, trade unions, vocational syndicates, and the GPC,
which is the Parliament. The General People's Committee manages the
daily affairs of the Government. Elections occur every 3 years, when
the People's Congresses, the local bodies comprised of all citizens,
choose their leadership committees. The election process continues up
the hierarchy of people's congresses, until the GPC chooses the General
People's Committee. The last election of people's congresses took place
early in the year.
There was one woman in the 760 seat GPC. One woman occupied a seat
in the GPC. There were no women in the cabinet. There was no reliable
information on the representation of minorities in the Government.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were numerous charitable associations approved by the
Government, and operating 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 imposed imprisonment for
forming or joining international organizations without government
authorization (see Section 2.b.). The government body known as the
Libyan Arab Human Rights Committee was not known to have published any
reports.
In February, AI visited the country for the first time in 15 years
and later published its report ``Time To Make Human Rights A Reality,''
which included recommendations pertaining to detention, the judiciary,
and torture. Qadhafi later called for a number of human rights reforms
such as the abolition of the People's Court and the abolition of
torture. No reforms were implemented by year's end.
During the year, Qadhafi condemned the use of torture by
governments and called on all countries to ratify international
treaties that ban torture. He also called for continued cooperation
with AI and other human rights organizations. However, in December, the
Government refused to issue visas to a Human Rights Watch (HRW)
delegation. The HRW observers were scheduled to begin a 3 week visit
that would have been the organization's first visit to the country.
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
effectively these prohibitions, particularly with regard to women and
tribal minorities.
Women.--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 young girl must
marry the girl, with her agreement, or serve a prison term of up to 25
years. There was no further information available on punishments for
rape.
The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM). There
were reports that FGM may have been performed on girls in remote areas
of the country due to a large expatriate community of women from
countries where FGM widely was practiced. The law prohibits
prostitution; however, the authorities tolerated it.
The 1969 Constitutional Proclamation granted women total equality;
however, traditional attitudes and practices continued to discriminate
against women. Shari'a law governs inheritance, divorce, and the right
to own property. A woman must have the permission of her husband or
another close male relative to travel abroad.
The Department of Women's Affairs, under the GPC secretariat,
collected data and oversaw 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, addressed
women's employment needs. The opportunity for women to make notable
social progress increased in recent years; however, lingering
traditional restrictions, that discourage women from playing an active
role in the workplace, often inhibited employment gains by women. Women
comprised 22 percent of the labor force. There were four times as many
working women as there were in 1970, according to a report by the
National Center for Information and Verification. 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 subsidized primary, secondary, and
university education, and primary education was compulsory until age
15. Ninety six percent of school age children attended primary school,
and most reached at least a 6th grade level. Only 53 percent of girls
and 71 percent of boys attended secondary school. The Government
subsidized medical care, and it has improved the welfare of children;
however, declining revenues and general economic mismanagement have led
to cutbacks, particularly in medical services.
Trafficking in Persons.--There was no information available
regarding whether the law specifically prohibits trafficking in
persons; however, the penal code prohibits prostitution and related
offenses, including sexual trafficking.
There were reports of trafficking in persons. Several hundred
Moroccan women reportedly were trafficked to the capital to work as
prostitutes. The country was also a place of transit for women
trafficked from Africa to Central Europe. In previous years, Sri Lankan
women also were trafficked through the country. The extent of the
Government's efforts to fight trafficking was not clear, but its joint
and active collaborations with other affected countries indicated that
the country is making significant efforts to fight human trafficking.
In February, the Government extradited a major Eritrean human
trafficker to Italy, after the Italian Government issued a warrant for
her arrest. The Government repeatedly called for the lifting of the
European Union (EU) arms embargo, stating that the embargo prevented it
from obtaining equipment necessary to fight trafficking. The EU lifted
the embargo on October 11.
Persons With Disabilities.--No information was available on any
government efforts to assist persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Arabic speaking Muslims of
mixed Arab Amazigh ancestry constituted 97 percent of the population.
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.
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 National Trade Unions' 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 does
not provide for collective bargaining. The Government must approve all
agreements made between unions and employers.
The law does not provide workers with the right to strike, and
there were no reports of strikes during the year.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--There was no
information regarding whether the law prohibits forced or compulsory
labor, including by children, or whether such practices occurred.
There were credible reports that the Government arbitrarily forced
some foreign workers into performing subversive activities against
their own nationals.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment of children was 18 years. There was no
information available on the prevalence of child labor, or whether
forced or compulsory labor by children was prohibited or practiced (see
Section 6.c.).
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. The legal maximum
workweek was 48 hours.
Wages, which are forbidden by the ``Green Book'' and actually are
paid in the form of ``entitlements,'' frequently were in arrears. A
public sector wage freeze imposed more than a decade ago continued,
particularly in the face of consistently high inflation. The average
family lived on $170 (86.9 dinars) a 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, oil, and food staples.
Labor inspectors were assigned to inspect places of work for
compliance with occupational 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 risking employment.
Foreign workers constituted 1.6 million of the workforce; however,
the labor law does not accord them equality of 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 home countries. They were subjected to arbitrary
pressures, such as changes in work rules and contracts, and had little
option but to accept such changes or to depart the country.
__________
MOROCCO
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament;
however, ultimate authority rests with the King, Mohammed VI, who
presides over the Council of Ministers, appoints or approves members of
the Government, and may, at his discretion, terminate the tenure of any
minister, dissolve the parliament, call for new elections, and rule by
decree. The bicameral legislature consists of a lower house, the
Chamber of Representatives, which is elected through universal
suffrage, and an upper house, the Chamber of Counselors, whose members
are elected by various regional, local, and professional councils
(members of whom are elected directly). The lower house of parliament
also may dissolve the Government through a vote of no confidence. In
September 2002, the country held parliamentary elections for the lower
chamber that were widely regarded as free, fair, and transparent. In
September 2003, elections were held for local government councils. The
elections were widely recognized as well administered; the Government
limited the participation of the Islamist Party of Justice and
Development (PJD). The Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary; however, it remained subject to government influence and
corruption. The Government abolished the Ministry of Human Rights in a
June cabinet reshuffle and folded human rights responsibilities into
the Ministry of Justice.
The security apparatus includes several overlapping police and
paramilitary organizations. The National Police (DGSN), the National
Intelligence Service (DST), and the Auxiliary Forces are departments of
the Ministry of Interior. The Royal Gendarmerie reports to the Ministry
of Defense. The Department of Royal Security reports to the Palace.
Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security
forces. Some members of the security forces continued to commit serious
human rights abuses.
The market based economy was led by a sizable services sector with
a strong tourism component, a growing manufacturing sector, a diverse
agricultural and fisheries sector, and large phosphate reserves. The
population was approximately 28.9 million. Citizens working abroad were
a source of substantial remittances. Overall, the gross domestic
product was expected to increase by 5.3 percent, and inflation by 1.9
percent for the year. One in five citizens lived in poverty.
Although progress continued in some areas, the human rights record
remained poor in other areas. Citizens lacked the full ability to
change their government. While citizens may elect representatives to
Parliament and to municipal and regional councils, the King has
discretionary authority to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister, and
Cabinet, and to dissolve Parliament. The Constitution may not be
changed without the King's approval. Since the May 2003 terrorist
attacks in Casablanca, authorities detained several thousand persons
for possible involvement with terrorist groups and sentenced more than
400. In May 2003, an antiterrorist law passed by the Parliament, very
broadly defined terrorism as an act or acts intended to create fear and
discord in society and threaten its safety. During the year, there were
specific charges by Human Rights Watch (HRW) of torture, mistreatment,
and denial of rights during the judicial process of detainees in the
aftermath of the May 2003 terrorist attacks. The Government generally
rejected these allegations. Impunity remained a problem. Human rights
groups did not believe that the Government disclosed all the
information available about citizens who were abducted from the 1960s
through the 1980s. At times, authorities arbitrarily arrested and
detained persons. Authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights.
Prison conditions remained extremely poor. The judiciary lacked
independence and was subject to government influence and corruption.
While there was considerable freedom of the press, journalists
regularly practiced self censorship, and two were sentenced to prison
and remained in prison at year's end. The police violently dispersed
several peaceful demonstrations during the year. The Government
generally respected freedom of religion; however, there were some
limitations. Violence and societal discrimination against women were
problems. The protection of unaccompanied, repatriated children was a
problem. Trafficking in persons remained a problem. Child labor was a
problem, principally the practice of the illegal employment of young
girls who were subjected to exploitative domestic servitude.
In January, the Parliament approved a new Code of Family Law to
improve the status of women and children. Authorities implemented the
reforms throughout the year.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
In 2003, according to human rights groups and press reports,
several detainees died in police custody with little or no serious
investigation into the circumstances. There were no further
developments in the cases of Abdelhaq Bentasser, Mohamed Bouannit, and
Driss Dida.
b. Disappearance.--There were no new cases of confirmed
disappearances. During the year, there were no further developments in
the case of Mohamed Damir, who disappeared after the May 16, 2003
attacks.
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) continued to claim
that the practice of incommunicado detention without informing family
members of those detained confirmed the persistent practice of forced
disappearance (see Section 1.d.). According to a June report by Amnesty
International (AI), the DST practice was to deny holding the person in
question, particularly those held in the DST detention center in
Temara. In such cases, family members and lawyers usually learned of
the detention after the detainee was brought before a magistrate,
charged, and placed in pretrial detention; in this context, the secret
detention amounted to a period of disappearance.
The forced long term disappearance of individuals who opposed the
Government and its policies occurred during several decades. In 1997,
the Government pledged that such activities would not recur, and that
it would disclose as much information as possible about past cases.
Authorities stated that they released information on all 112 confirmed
disappearance cases. However, human rights groups and families
continued to claim cases of disappearances, many from the Western
Sahara. Associations that sought information regarding those who have
disappeared called upon the Government for full disclosure of events
surrounding cases that date back to the 1960s.
In January, an Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) began
work to settle definitively serious violations of human rights,
including compensation for all outstanding cases of arbitrary detention
and disappearance, prior to the King's assumption of the throne in
1999. The IER organized public hearings on torture and disappearances,
which began on December 21 in Rabat. The IER compiled 22,000 complaints
and interviewed petitioners at the rate of 5 per day as part of a
process to catalogue the full range of abuses and to determine
compensation. The IER also organized a range of activities including
visits to former secret detention centers, to villages where a number
of inhabitants were persecuted, and seminars for the public, academics,
and journalists on literature, covering state violence, written by
former prisoners (see Section 4).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture, and the Government denied the
use of torture; however, some members of the security forces tortured
or otherwise abused detainees. The penal code in force during the year
stipulates sentences up to life imprisonment for public servants who
use or oblige the use of violence against others in the exercise of
their official duties. By law, pretrial investigating judges must, if
asked to do so or if they themselves notice physical marks that so
warrant, refer the detained person to an expert in forensic medicine.
However, according to human rights groups, judges often ignored this
requirement in practice, which called into question the Government's
commitment to resolving the problem.
On December 28, the Government announced a new draft law to
criminalize torture, to include severe physical and mental pain and
suffering. If approved, the new law would define torture in accordance
with the International Convention Against Torture. It also proposes
civil penalties and fines for those who encourage, accept, or hide such
incidents. Under the proposed law, anyone convicted of torture would
face 5 to 30 years in prison, and a fine of $1,100 to $3,300 (10,000 to
30,000 dirhams).
In October, HRW reported that lawyers and family members of
prisoners claimed interrogators had subjected prisoners to physical and
mental abuse in order to extract confessions or oblige prisoners to
sign statements they had not made.
Attorneys for some persons who were convicted under the 2003
antiterrorism law claimed their clients were convicted on the basis of
confessions coerced by torture. Some attorneys claimed that almost all
of the suspects, accused in the May 2003 attacks, were convicted on the
basis of signed confessions taken on police premises, sometimes
following torture. There was no indication that the Government took any
further action in response to claims of torture, made at the Court of
Appeal in Fez, by 29 persons accused of terrorism, and reportedly
judicial authorities refused to order any medical examinations.
In June, AI published a report that accused security authorities of
systematic torture and ill treatment of suspects held at the Temara
detention center. AI noted a sharp rise over the past 2 years in such
cases in the context of ``counter terrorism'' measures as well as the
failure of government authorities to investigate these reports. As of
June 3, according to the Government, 1,748 persons had been charged
with terrorism since May 2003, including 315 cases still under
investigation, 199 cases still ongoing before the district court or the
court of appeals, and 1,234 cases in which sentence had been
pronounced. The Government pledged to investigate each of the alleged
cases in the AI report.
On March 7, the Minister of Human Rights, Mohamed Oujjar, stated
that a body composed of officials from the Ministries of Human Rights,
Justice, and the Interior were investigating reports that persons
detained in connection with the May 2003 Casablanca explosions had been
subjected to torture and human rights violations.
AI and other human rights organizations reported torture and ill
treatment during initial interrogations of prisoners, including
beatings, electric shocks, and sexual abuse. Former detainees reported
that they were held in secret detention and denied contact with lawyers
or family. The AI report also documented accusations of arbitrary
detention and forced confessions of detained terrorism suspects.
Prison conditions remained extremely poor, and generally did not
meet international standards, despite some improvements in medical care
and efforts to expand capacity. Extreme overcrowding, malnutrition, and
lack of hygiene continued to aggravate the poor health conditions
inside prisons. There were separate facilities for men, women, and
minors. Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicts.
In July, the Commission of the Royal Advisory Council on Human
Rights (CCDH) issued its first annual report, which mainly addressed
prison overpopulation and poor prison conditions.
In a speech following release of the report, Minister of Justice
Mohamed Bouzoubaa said that prison overcrowding was a major concern and
that many detentions were unnecessary. Bouzoubaa said that his ministry
was considering alternatives to prison sentences.
In September, the NGO Moroccan Prison Observatory (OMP) reported
that the population in the country's 46 prisons, which were designed to
hold 39,000, had reached 54,542 prisoners. However, including
detentions and subsequent releases and pardons, a total of 82,537
persons spent time in prison during the year. The OMP reported that
food, hygiene, and medical conditions were grossly inadequate, with a
daily budget of only 70 cents (6 dirhams) per prisoner.
The OMP continued to call attention to problems of corruption,
maltreatment, malnutrition, sexual abuse, lack of training and
education, drug abuse, and violence within the prisons, as well as the
issue of incarcerating first time offenders with hardened criminals.
The Government permitted some OMP monitors to visit prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution does not
prohibit arbitrary arrest or detention, and police continued to use
these practices.
Although legal provisions for due process were revised extensively
in recent years, reports indicated that authorities sometimes ignored
them. Although police usually made arrests in public and during the
day, they did not always identify themselves, and did not always obtain
warrants.
Under the antiterrorism law, administrative detention has increased
from 48 to 96 hours, with two additional 96 hour extensions allowed at
the prosecutor's discretion. Some defendants were denied access to
counsel or family members during this initial period, which is when the
accused is interrogated, and abuse or torture is most likely to occur.
Some members of the security forces, long accustomed to indefinite
access to detainees before charging them, continued to extend the time
limits. In November 2003, AI reported that some of those arrested had
been held incommunicado for up to 5 months. A large increase in
detainees and prisoners led to an increase in allegations of
incommunicado detentions that were difficult to confirm. In 2003, the
Government announced that several thousand persons had been detained
for links with terrorist groups, including involvement in the May 16
suicide attacks. Human rights activists and local attorneys estimated
the number of detainees to be more than 4,000.
The police were required to notify a person's next of kin of an
arrest as soon as possible; however, lawyers were not always informed
promptly of the date of arrest, and thus were not able to monitor
compliance with the administrative detention limits.
The law provides for a limited system of bail; however, it rarely
was granted. The law does not require a written release to be issued
for a person to be released from detention. In some instances,
defendants were released on their own recognizance. Under a separate
military code, military authorities may detain members of the military
without warrants or public trial.
Although accused persons generally are brought to trial within an
initial period of 2 months, prosecutors may request up to five
additional 2 month extensions of pretrial detention. Thus, an accused
person may be kept in detention for up to 1 year prior to trial.
The National Police (55,000 personnel) and the Mobile Intervention
Corps (5,000 personnel) are part of the Ministry of the Interior. The
National Police contains the border and immigration services, which
have responsibility for matters concerning the frontiers and
immigration laws, and also contains the main federal investigative
body, the National Brigade, which is responsible for investigating
violations of the federal penal code, such as terrorism, organized
crime, and white collar crime. The DST (8,500 personnel) part of the
Ministry of Interior, has security functions, and the Auxiliary Forces
(25,000 personnel) are also part of the Ministry of Interior. The Royal
Gendarmerie (29,000 personnel) is a paramilitary force reporting to the
Ministry of Defense and is responsible for law enforcement in rural
regions, including national highways.
Police impunity remained a problem. Bribery and smuggling were
prevalent. During the year, the Government acted against smuggling
rings and police corruption in Sale and in the northern regions of the
country.
On May 3, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) reported
that Hassan Essidiq was arrested on April 26 upon his arrival at
Mohamed V Airport. According to his family, Essidiq was taken to a
police station and later moved to an unknown destination. His
whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year.
According to the NGO Reporters Without Borders, on December 13,
journalist Mohamed Bouhcini was jailed after being accused by a
convicted drug trafficker that Bouhcini had delivered hashish to him
during Bouhcini's research trip to the Rif Mountains. Bouhcini has
reportedly been jailed in the same prison as his accuser, and no
complaint was filed against him by year's end.
On March 9, the AMDH reported that several Islamist prisoners,
adherents of the Salafia Jihadia, were living in isolation, deprived of
medical care and decent food, and not allowed private visits with
relatives in the Kenitra jail. Relatives, holding a protest on March 8
outside of the jail, were forcibly dispersed and removed by police (see
Section 2.b.). There was no official government action or investigation
by year's end.
Several attorneys, representing defendants who were arrested under
the antiterrorism law, charged that authorities falsified arrest
records to cover up periods of detention that exceeded the legal
requirement. Many of the defendants attempted to recant the confessions
in court, saying that they had not read them. Most defendants did not
have access to counsel until shortly before trial, and the detainees
usually did not know the contents of the alleged confessions until they
were introduced as evidence in court. Judges uniformly dismissed
motions to recant confessions and often did not allow evidence and
witnesses for the defense.
The law provides for the right to a fair trial; however, some human
rights groups criticized the conduct of trials, which proceeded very
quickly for some defendants, including mass trials of 50 persons.
According to law, all defendants have the right to be represented by
attorneys and, if a defendant could not afford private counsel, a court
appointed attorney was to be provided.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the courts were subject to
extrajudicial pressures, including government influence. Some members
of the judiciary were corrupt. Efforts continued with very limited
success to increase efficiency and to end corruption, which, according
to most observers, remained a routine cost of court business.
In a July report, Transparency Morocco described bribery of
officials, including the judiciary, as a grave impediment to humane
progress. In August, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary initiated
disciplinary proceedings against 14 judges and eventually dismissed 2
of them and retired 4 more judges (see Section 3). Delays were lengthy
in some court cases.
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 $33.00 (300 dirhams) may be appealed to the
courts of first instance (regional courts). The regional courts are
subdivided into rabbinical, civil, commercial, administrative, and
penal sections. Cases may be appealed from the regional courts to the
appeals court.
The highest court is the Supreme Court, which is subdivided into
five chambers: constitutional, penal, administrative, social, and
civil. The constitutional chamber is composed of the First President of
the Supreme Court, three judges appointed by the king, and three judges
appointed by the president of the Chamber of Representatives.
In theory, there is a single court system under the Ministry of
Justice; however, other courts also operated including administrative
courts, commercial courts, and the military tribunal. In January, the
Council of Ministers approved a draft law dismantling the Special Court
of Justice and transferring trials of government officials to the
Appeals Courts. The Special Court of Justice, begun in 1972 to sanction
government officials involved in bribery and other abuses of power, was
widely perceived as lenient and discriminatory. At the Government's
discretion, serious state security cases such as those relating to the
monarchy, Islam, or territorial integrity (advocating independence for
the Western Sahara) may be brought before a specially constituted
military tribunal, responsible to the military and the Ministry of
Interior.
In October 2003, the Minister of Justice established family courts
to adjudicate divorce and child custody cases in anticipation of
proposed reforms to the Moudawana (personal status code). These courts
addressed family issues for Muslim citizens, and the judges were
trained in Shari'a (Islamic law) as applied in the country. By
February, 160 judges had completed training in the reforms of the
personal status code, and the Government reported that 20 family courts
were operational. Plans called for the establishment of 70 family
courts with 1 for each province. Jewish citizens dealt with family
matters in their own courts.
In general, detainees were arraigned before a court of first
instance. If the judge determined that a confession was obtained under
duress, the law requires him to exclude it from evidence. However,
human rights activists alleged that cases often were adjudicated on the
basis of forced confessions, especially in cases of Islamists accused
of terrorism (see Section 1.c.).
While appeals court may in some cases be used as a second reference
for courts of first instance, they primarily handled cases involving
crimes punishable by 5 years or more in prison. In practice, defendants
before appeals courts who are implicated in such crimes consequently
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. Therefore, the
absence of appeals for defendants in such crimes were more problematic
given the fact that an investigation into the case, by an examining
magistrate, was mandatory only in those crimes punishable by sentences
of life imprisonment or death.
Resource constraints also affected the court system. Although the
law provides for the Ministry of Justice to provide an attorney at
public expense for serious crimes (when the offense carries a maximum
sentence of more than 5 years), attorneys were not always appointed,
were poorly paid, and often were provided inadequate representation. In
addition, there were reports that judges sometimes denied defense
requests to question witnesses.
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; however, AI identified 60 persons
whom it considered to be political prisoners. In January, King Mohammed
VI pardoned 33 persons who were identified as the last 33 remaining
political prisoners. However, Mohamed Abadi, member of the leadership
committee of the Justice and Charity Organization (JCO), remained
imprisoned and the group's spiritual leader, Cheik Abdessalam Yassine,
remained under round the clock police surveillance.
Various international human rights groups' estimates of the number
of persons in prison for advocating independence for the Western Sahara
was as high as 700; however, there was no consensus on a definitive
number. Conditions in the Western Sahara complicated attempts to
confirm whether Sahrawis were imprisoned solely for their political
affiliation, for open advocacy of independence, or for other actions in
violation of the law.
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. The
law stipulates that a prosecutor may issue a search warrant on good
cause, particularly in cases of terrorism. There were reports that
plainclothes security officers, who did not identify themselves or
present search warrants, conducted home searches.
Government security services monitored certain persons and
organizations, both foreign and domestic, and government informers
monitored activities on university campuses.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of expression; however, the antiterrorist law and the press
code permit prison sentences and financial penalties for journalists
and publishers who violate the restrictions on defamation, libel, and
discussion of the monarchy, territorial integrity (advocating
independence for the Western Sahara), and Islam. The press code lists
threats to public order as one of the criteria for the censor to
consider. Within these limits, newspapers and weeklies were published
across the political spectrum and were sometimes critical of government
policies.
In January, parliament members of the Socialist Union of Popular
Forces Party (USFP) proposed amending the press code to remove prison
penalties for violations of the law's restrictions. However, during the
year, there was no action to change the law.
The Government generally controlled the media through directives
and guidance from the Ministry of Interior, subsidies, and advertising
allocation. Publications that were judged offensive could be
confiscated or indefinitely suspended. The Government may censor
newspapers directly by ordering them not to report on specific items or
events. The Government registered and licensed domestic newspapers and
journals, and could use the licensing process to prevent the
publication of materials that exceeded its threshold of tolerable
dissent. The Ministry of Interior controlled foreign publications by
removing banned publications from circulation.
In January, journalist Narjis Erraghay was fined 11 cents (1
dirham) for charges of defamation brought against her for a 1999
article she wrote for the Al Bayanne newspaper in which she named
Minister Mahmoud Archane as a torturer during the years that he worked
at the Commissariat at Derb Moulay Cherif in Casablanca. Erraghay
appealed and the case was still pending at the end of the year.
On January 7, King Mohammed VI pardoned 33 political prisoners
including 7 journalists. Among the journalists was Ali Lmrabet who had
been sentenced in May 2003, under the press code, to 4 years
imprisonment, later reduced to 3 years on appeal, and fined $2,000
(20,000 dirhams) for disrespect to the King, disparaging the Monarchy,
and challenging the country's territorial integrity. However, Lmrabet's
newspapers, the French language Demain and the Arabic language Doumain,
remained banned under the provisions of the press code.
Also among the pardoned were Mustapha Alaoui, Abdel Majid Ben
Taher, Mustapha Kechnini, Mohamed Al Herd, Abdelaziz Jallouli, and
Miloud Boutrigui. All had been convicted in 2003 of offenses related to
the government's handling of the May 16 terrorist attacks.
In May, two Norwegian journalists were deported from the country
after attempting to contact Sahrawi dissident Mohamed Daddach and
others located in Western Sahara. The Government contended that the
journalists had falsely stated the pretext for their visit to the
country.
On June 23, Rabat police assaulted journalist Rachid Nini and
numerous demonstrators during a sit in of unemployed university
graduates outside the Rabat railway station (see Section 2.b.).
On December 9, the police assaulted journalist Lacen Aouad during a
march on the Parliament by unemployed high school graduates. Aouad was
reportedly beaten for photographing police beatings of demonstrators
(see Section 2.b.).
The law requires the Ministry of the 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 3 to 5 year jail sentences, fines, and payment of
damages for newspaper officials found guilty of libeling public
officials.
There were approximately 2,000 domestic and foreign newspapers,
magazines, and journals in circulation during the year. The Government
owned the official press agency, Maghreb Arab Press, and the Arabic
daily newspaper, Al Anbaa. The Government also supported two
semiofficial dailies, the French language Le Matin and the Arabic
language Assahra Al Maghribia. In addition, the Government subsidized
the press through price controls for newsprint and office space. The
Government generally tolerated satirical and often stinging editorials
in the opposition parties' dailies. The media continued to engage
regularly in self censorship to avoid possible sanctions.
The Government owned Moroccan Radio Television. Another major
broadcaster was the French backed Medi 1, which operated from Tangier.
While nominally private and independent, Medi 1 practiced self
censorship, as did other media outlets. A government appointed
committee monitored broadcasts. The Government owned the only
television stations whose broadcasts could be received in most parts of
the nation without decoders or satellite dish antennas. Satellite dish
antennas were in wide use throughout the country. The Government did
not impede the reception of foreign broadcasts during the year.
During the year, the Government continued to block the distribution
on newsstands of the JCO newspaper, Rissalat Al Foutuwa; however, the
newspaper was available on university campuses.
The press also published unflattering and critical articles that
would have been censored previously. The press reported on topics such
as government corruption and financial scandals, sensitive human rights
cases, harsh prison conditions, torture, poverty, prostitution,
violence against women, exploitation of child maids, and sexual abuse
of children. There were also articles critical of the country's
diplomatic efforts on Western Sahara, and at least one interview with a
person who espoused views on the Western Sahara conflict contrary to
those of the Government.
Books that openly criticized the country's past sold freely except
for several that related to disappearances and the regime of King
Hassan II. Many other books written by political prisoners were on sale
in local bookstores.
The Government generally did not block Internet access; however, it
continued to block the JCO website.
The Government restricted academic freedom. There was no open
debate on the Monarchy, Islam, or the country's incorporation of the
Western Sahara; however, there was considerable criticism of the
Government's handling of the Western Sahara dispute. Government
informers monitored campus activities, mostly Islamist, and the
Ministry of Interior approved the appointments of rectors.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly, and during the year, most meetings
and marches took place peacefully without government interference;
however, the law also permits the Government to suppress peaceful
demonstrations and mass gatherings, and at times the police forcibly
prevented and disrupted gatherings. Most conferences and demonstrations
required the prior authorization of the Ministry of Interior,
ostensibly for security reasons. However, local observers generally
agreed that authorities required a declaration of a public meeting and
their own authorization in order for public venue meetings or peaceful
sit ins to proceed, and authorities only allowed such events to take
place if they were considered non threatening to government policy.
Throughout the year, the Government broke up a number of peaceful
demonstrations on topics ranging from the Iraq War to domestic issues.
On January 3, police raided the law faculty at Moulay Ismail
University in Meknes in search of students belonging to the leftist
Stage by Stage movement at the university. Police reportedly detained a
number of students and injured others. The university expelled 12
students belonging to the movement.
On January 20, authorities denied permission for a sit in at the
French Consulate in Rabat, in which female activists of the PJD were
planning to protest a French law banning the wearing of the Islamic
headscarf and other religious symbols in schools and public places.
On January 28, police forcibly broke up a sit in of approximately
30 persons, including well known artists, doctors, and human rights
activists, outside the Parliament. The demonstrators were protesting
provisions of a free trade agreement that would regulate importation of
generic drugs.
On February 3, police violently broke up a demonstration by
fishermen outside the Ministry of Maritime Fisheries. The fishermen
were demanding removal of fishing quotas. According to news reports,
police injured dozens of fishermen.
Also on February 3, police forcibly broke up a demonstration by
unemployed persons near the Rabat train station and injured several
persons.
On March 8, police forcibly dispersed a protest demonstration by
relatives of jailed Islamist prisoners outside the Kenitra jail. Police
reportedly escorted the demonstrators to the bus station and
commandeered buses to escort them away (see Section 1.d.).
On June 23, police assaulted a journalist and numerous
demonstrators during a sit in of unemployed university graduates
outside the Rabat railway station (see Section 2.a.).
On August 22, police in Zakoura forcibly broke up a sit in outside
the municipal building by unemployed university graduates and their
families that began on July 5.
In November, the Moroccan authorities broke up a demonstration of
unemployed persons with disabilities in Rabat.
On December 9, Rabat police beat demonstrators and journalist
during a march on the Parliament by unemployed high school students
(see Section 2.a.).
The Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the
Government limited this right in practice. Under a decree restricting
civil society organizations, persons who wish to create an organization
are required to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Interior before
holding meetings. In practice, the Ministry generally only used this
requirement to prevent persons suspected of advocating causes opposed
by the Government from forming legal organizations. Historically,
extreme Islamist and leftist groups encountered the greatest difficulty
in obtaining official approval. Although there were numerous active
Islamist groups, the Government prohibited membership only in the JCO
due to its anti Monarchist orientation. However, the Government
tolerated some JCO activities, such as meetings and conferences. The
Ministry of Interior, which has used this power to control
participation in the political process, also must approve political
parties. However, individual Islamists were not barred from
participating in recognized political parties.
The Government circulated a draft law on political parties that is
designed to limit the proliferation of political parties, currently 36,
by requiring parties to hold a national congress each year. Public
funding of parties would be based on the number of members confirmed at
the congress and by numbers represented in the Parliament. If approved,
the law would increase transparency of private donations to the
parties, allow authorities to disband political parties for 30 days
during a national emergency, and authorities could prohibit party
meetings or activities. Members of Parliament and established political
parties were provided with drafts of the law; however, it was not
submitted to the Parliament by the end of the year.
Prior to the September 2002 parliamentary elections, the Government
decreed that any existing political party that had not participated in
at least two elections would be dissolved and that public aid would not
be granted to any party that did not hold a congress every 4 years. To
create a new party, a declaration must be submitted to the Ministry of
Interior and signed by at least 1,000 co founding members from all
regions of the country.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice, with some restrictions. The Constitution provides that Islam
is the official state religion; however, non Muslim communities openly
practiced their faith. The Constitution characterizes the country as an
Islamic state, and designates the King as Commander of the Faithful.
Jewish and Christian communities openly practiced their faiths;
however, the Government placed certain restrictions on Christian
religious materials and proselytizing, and tolerated several small
religious minorities with varying degrees of official restrictions.
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.
Beginning in June 2003, several preachers and religious counselors
were accused of exploiting mosques for political purposes, such as
promoting Islamist parties. During the year, the Ministry of Islamic
Affairs and Endowments took charge of and monitored the activities of
mosques, placed other restrictions on Muslims and Islamic organizations
whose activities were deemed to have exceeded the bounds of religious
practice or become political in nature, and began to provide religious
training for imams. The Government strictly controlled the construction
of new mosques; persons wanting to build a new mosque had to obtain
permission. Authorities said that all of these measures were put in
place in order to avoid exploitation of mosques for political
propaganda, such as distributing pamphlets and raising funds.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs monitored Friday mosque sermons and
the Koranic schools to ensure the teaching of approved doctrine. At
times, the authorities suppressed the activities of Islamists, but
generally tolerated activities limited to the propagation of Islam,
education, and charity. Security forces sometimes closed mosques to the
public shortly after Friday services to prevent the use of the premises
for unauthorized political activity.
The Government barred the Islamic JCO as a political party and
subjected prominent members to constant surveillance and, at times,
refused to issue passports to them. The Government continued to block
JCO websites and publication of newspapers (see Sections 1.f., 2.a.,
2.b., and 3).
The Government provided funds for the teaching of Islam in public
schools. The annual budget also provided funds for religious
instruction to the small parallel system of Jewish public schools.
Representatives of the Jewish minority generally lived throughout the
country in safety; however, in September 2003, a Jewish merchant was
murdered in a religiously motivated killing. Authorities arrested three
persons for the crime.
During the May 2003 terrorist attacks, members of the Salafiya
Jihadia targeted a Jewish community center in Casablanca. After the
attacks, Muslims marched in solidarity with Jews to condemn terrorism.
Annual Jewish commemorations normally took place in the country, and
Jewish pilgrims from the region regularly came to holy sites in the
country. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assisted
the Government in designing a course on tolerance and international
humanitarian law, which was introduced in schools.
The small foreign Christian community operated churches,
orphanages, hospitals, and schools without any restriction or licensing
requirement. Missionaries, who conducted themselves in accordance with
cultural norms, were largely left unhindered. However, those who
proselytized publicly faced expulsion. Islamic law and tradition called
for punishment of any Muslim who converted to another faith. Any
attempt to induce a Muslim to convert was illegal.
The Government permitted the display and sale of Bibles in French,
English, and Spanish, but not in Arabic. The Government continued to
refuse licenses for the importation and sale of Bibles in Arabic,
despite the absence of any law banning such books. Nevertheless, Arabic
Bibles were sold in local bookstores. During the year, there were
reports of police questioning foreign missionaries because they were
carrying Christian materials.
There are two sets of laws and courts one for Muslims and one for
Jews pertaining to marriage, inheritance, and family matters. The
family law courts are administered, depending on the law that applies,
by rabbinical or Islamic authorities who are also court officials.
Under the new family law, which applies to Muslims, judges were being
retrained and new civil judges were being recruited. 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.
In 2002, the Shiite organization Al Ghadir asked for official
status, the first such request for a Shiite association. No response
was received from the authorities by year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, Repatriation, and Exile.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of movement; however, the Government restricted this right in
certain areas. In the government administered Western Sahara,
authorities restricted movement in areas regarded as militarily
sensitive.
The Ministry of Interior restricted freedom to travel outside the
country in certain circumstances. In addition, all civil servants and
military personnel must obtain written permission from their ministries
to leave the country. The OMDH and AMDH compiled lists of individuals
who reportedly were denied passports or who had passports but were
denied permission to travel. The OMDH contended that the Government, in
resorting to arbitrary administrative delays, continued to harass
former political prisoners who sought to resume normal lives.
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 departed the country due to the conflict in the Western
Sahara, provided that they recognized the Government's claim to the
territory. The Government did not permit Western Saharan nationalists
who were released from prison to live in the disputed territory.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In November 2003, the Government
adopted the Law on Emigration and Immigration that provides for the
rights of asylum seekers and the temporary residency of persons who do
not qualify for refugee status or asylum. The U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) is currently the sole agency in the country
entitled to grant refugee status and verify asylum cases. The
Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees.
In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and has provided refugee status and asylum; however, there
were reports that persons with possible claims to refugee status were
turned away at the country's borders.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides for periodic, free elections on the basis
of universal suffrage; however, 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, but
the King may nominate ministers himself and has the power to replace
any minister at will. The Parliament has the theoretical ability to
change the system of government; however, the Constitution may not be
changed without the King's approval. The Ministry of Interior appoints
the provincial governors (walis) and local district administrative
officials (caids). However, the King also may nominate provincial
governors. Municipal and regional councils are elected. The Government
consists of 35 cabinet level posts, including 5 sovereign ministerial
posts traditionally appointed by the King (Interior, Foreign Affairs,
Justice, Islamic Affairs, and Defense).
In September 2003, there were elections for positions on
approximately 25,000 municipal councils. Official turnout was listed at
54 percent. By most accounts, the balloting was well organized;
however, there were allegations of corruption and vote buying in some
of the races. The Government limited the participation of the PJD. It
was the only Islamist party that participated in the elections;
however, it ran 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 September 2002, the first free and fair parliamentary elections
in the country's history were held. According to observers, the absence
of fraud and manipulation generally enhanced the credibility of reform
efforts. The election took place under a revised electoral code,
including a proportional list system, plus a national list of 30 seats
reserved for women. Twenty six parties ran candidates and, according to
government statistics, 52 percent of those eligible voted.
The Parliament included 30 women who gained seats reserved for
women on the national list, plus 5 who won seats in their local
districts. There were three female members of the upper house. Several
proposed parties were not allowed to form during the year. The JCO
never has been granted legal status as a political party (see Section
2.b.).
In its July report, Transparency Morocco described bribery of
officials, including the judiciary, as a grave impediment to human
progress. The report claimed that bribery was increasing, and that
senior officials lacked the will to combat it. Some human rights
activists said that authorities made scapegoats of a few prominent
cases. In August, the Supreme Council of the Judiciary initiated
disciplinary proceedings against a number of judges (see Section 1.e.).
The country has 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
The Government cooperated with and was generally responsive to
local human rights monitors operating within the accepted boundaries of
political discourse in the country. 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. Some AMDH activists were arrested at a
demonstration of unemployed college graduates. The Government, at
times, harassed and restricted the activities of the AMDH and OMDH;
however, during the year, some former OMDH leaders occupied high level
posts in the Government. Since 2000, OMDH and LMDDH have had government
subsidies in recognition of their serving the public interest. There
were also numerous regional human rights organizations.
The FVJ and the OMP were two additional prominent national human
rights NGOs included. 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 improving the
treatment and living conditions of prisoners. These groups maintained
fairly regular contact with government authorities throughout the year.
In June 2003, authorities dissolved the Western Sahara branch of
the FVJ on the charge that the organization had undertaken illegal
activities that were likely to disturb public order and undermine the
territorial integrity of the country. AI suggested FVJ activities were
the peaceful expression of views on the issues of self determination
and human rights.
The Government's attitude toward international human rights
organizations depended on the sensitivity of the areas of the NGO's
concern. The Government generally was cooperative on disappearances and
abuses by security forces. Although government officials met in June
2002 with the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Victims
of Torture (a Danish NGO), the Government did not agree to its
recommendation to permit the U.N. Committee Against Torture to make
confidential investigations in the country and to consider individual
complaints. There were no visits by the U.N. Committee during the year.
Human rights training, based on an agreement between AI and the
Government for a 10 year human rights education program, continued. The
Ministry of Human Rights, until it was abolished in June and its
functions absorbed by the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of
Education provided human rights education for teachers and, in
cooperation with the ICRC, provided a curriculum for teaching
international humanitarian law in schools. Increased human rights
training was provided to prison officials, military officers, police,
and medical personnel. The CCDH counseled the Palace on human rights
issues, and was charged by the King to resolve cases related to persons
who had disappeared.
In 2002, the CCDH was mandated to produce an annual report on the
human rights situation in the country, and it delivered its first
edition in July. The CCDH report dwelt at length with prison conditions
and prison overpopulation. In December 2002, the King established a
nonjudicial ombudsman whose aim was to consider citizen allegations of
governmental injustices and thereby ensure respect for the rule of law
and justice. Its annual report will be reviewed by the CCDH.
In January, the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) began
work. The authorities tasked the IER with making reparations for
families of disappeared persons and other victims, restoring the
dignity of victims, providing for their rehabilitation and medical
care, and creating a thorough accounting of the events which led to
human rights abuses and the circumstances of the crimes. The IER, which
was headed by Driss Benzekri, a former political prisoner, had a 1 year
mandate that was extended to March 30, 2005, due to the larger than
expected number of petitions.
By August, the IER reported that it had received approximately
20,000 complaints. IER staff interviewed petitioners at the rate of 50
per day and prepared for public hearings on torture and disappearances.
Staff also visited former prisons and met with victims in regions that
were particularly victimized. The IER's activities were widely reported
in the local press.
The IER public hearings started December 21, with six testimonies,
and also were broadcast on two TV channels and a satellite TV channel.
Members of the national and foreign press and NGOs were allowed to
attend. Participants were given 20 minutes each to present their
testimony. Under agreement with the IER, participants did not disclose
the names of persons they considered responsible for violations. Around
200 victims, families of victims, and witnesses of violations were
scheduled to participate in future hearings, throughout the country,
over a period of 10 weeks.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and 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. In January,
both houses of Parliament unanimously approved a new law governing
personal status with 110 amendments, after the Cabinet approved it
without amendment in December 2003. The reforms to the ``Moudawana''
personal status code were designed to make the law more free of gender
discrimination.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence
against women, but the general prohibitions of the criminal code
address such violence. Spousal abuse was common, but there were no
reliable statistics regarding its extent. Spousal abuse was more
frequent in rural than urban areas and among less educated persons.
Although a battered wife had the right to file a complaint with police,
as a practical matter she would do so only if prepared to bring
criminal charges. Physical abuse legally was grounds for divorce;
however, for legal and societal reasons, few women reported abuse to
authorities.
There was substantial progress in making the public aware of
problems concerning women, children, persons with disabilities, and
minorities. On July 15, the Ministry of Family set up toll free numbers
for victims of domestic violence in 20 centers throughout the country.
There was no information available on the effectiveness of this
initiative by year's end.
The Criminal Code provides for severe punishment for men convicted
of rape or sexual assault. The defendants in such cases bear the burden
of proving their innocence. However, sexual assaults often go
unreported because of the stigma attached to the loss of virginity.
While not provided for by law, victim's families may offer rapists the
opportunity to marry their victims in order to preserve the honor of
the family. Spousal rape was not a crime.
The law is more lenient toward men with respect to crimes committed
against their wives. Honor crimes, a euphemism that refers to violent
assaults with intent to kill a woman for her perceived immodest or
defiant behavior, remained extremely rare.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, it was prevalent,
especially in urban centers. The Government did not prosecute women who
were coerced into providing sexual services. Trafficking in persons was
a problem (see Sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.c.).
There is no law against sexual harassment and there were no
reliable statistics from which to report on the extent of the problem.
The changes to the personal status code introduced a number of
changes to the status of women. The new law increased the marriage age
for women from 15 to 18 years, placed the family under the joint
responsibility of both spouses, rescinded the wife's duty of obedience
to her husband, eliminated the requirement of a marital tutor for women
to marry, created divorce by mutual consent, and imposed limitations on
the practice of polygamy. However, citizenship still passed through the
father, and single mothers were heavily stigmatized.
The reforms were predicated on the establishment of 70 family
courts and the training of judges to implement the reforms (see Section
1.e.). The new personal status code will relies much more heavily on
the court system than the previous law. Under the reforms, time limits
were established for the family courts to pronounce judgments; for
example, 1 month for alimony cases and 6 months for divorces.
Under the criminal code, women generally were accorded the same
treatment as men; however, the personal status code governs family and
estate cases. Even in cases in which the law provides for equal status,
cultural norms often prevented a woman from exercising her rights. For
example, when a woman inherited property, male relatives could pressure
her to relinquish her interest.
While many well educated women pursued careers, few rose to the top
echelons of their professions. Women constituted approximately 35
percent of the work force, with the majority in the industrial,
service, and teaching sectors. The Government reported that the
illiteracy rate for women was 62 percent in urban areas (82 percent in
rural areas), compared with 41 percent for men (50 percent in rural
areas). Women in rural areas were most affected by inequality. Women
who earned secondary school diplomas had equal access to university
education.
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 of which advocated enhanced political and civil rights.
There were numerous NGOs that provided shelters for battered women,
taught women basic hygiene, family planning, and childcare, and
promoted literacy.
Children.--The Government remained committed to the protection of
children's welfare and attempted to do so within the limits of its
budgetary resources. The law provides for compulsory education for
children between the ages of 6 and 15, although the Government
increasingly sought to enforce the law. There were 92.2 percent of
children, ages 6 to 11, in primary school, and 97.6 percent of
children, ages 4 to 5, were in pre school and kindergarten. However,
the dropout rate for middle and high school students was nearly 20
percent. A May report from the Secretariat for Literacy and Non Formal
Education estimated that as many as 1.5 million children, between the
ages of 9 to 15, were not in school. As many as 600,000 children under
the age of 15 were presumed to be working. However, over 140,000 were
enrolled in government remedial and vocational education programs.
Many children worked in the informal and farming sectors due to the
economic difficulties of their families. The Government had difficulty
addressing the problem of child labor, except in organized labor
markets (see Section 6.c. and 6.d.). Despite legislation, young girls
were exploited as domestic servants on a large scale (see Section 5,
Trafficking). NGO activists estimated that there were thousands of
teenage prostitutes in urban centers. Their clientele consisted of both
foreign tourists and citizens.
The practice of adoptive servitude, in which urban families employ
young rural girls and use them as domestic servants in their homes, was
widespread. Credible reports of physical and psychological abuse in
such circumstances were widespread. Some orphanages have been charged
as complicit in the practice. More often, parents of rural girls
contracted their daughters to wealthy urban families and collected the
salaries for their work as maids. Adoptive servitude was accepted
socially, was unregulated by the Government, and only in recent years
began to attract public criticism. The problem remained prevalent,
although the National Observatory of Children's Rights has conducted,
since 2000, a human rights awareness campaign regarding the plight of
child maids.
The legal minimum age of employment was 15 years. The number of
children working illegally as domestic servants was high: 45 percent of
household employees were between the ages of 10 and 12 and 26 percent
were under the age of 10, according to a 2001 joint study by the
Moroccan League for the Protection of Children and UNICEF. The report
denounced the poor treatment a number of the children received, such as
being forced to work all day with no breaks. Many children worked
either as domestic servants, artisan apprentices, or in some other
capacity that kept them from attending school.
Another problem that drew attention during the year was the
situation of unaccompanied repatriated children. Upon their return,
generally from Spain, they were subjected to material difficulties and
abuse on the streets, as well as abuse by border officials. The
Government had limited capacity to deal with this problem (see Section
5, Trafficking). In December 2003, the Government signed an accord with
Spain to repatriate unaccompanied minors. As part of the accord, Spain
agreed to help the Government reunify children with their families or
in halfway houses and to provide remedial education for the repatriated
children.
Another problem facing abandoned children of both sexes was their
lack of civil status. Civil status was necessary to obtain a birth
certificate, passport, or marriage license. If a father did not
register his child, the child was without civil status and the benefits
of citizenship. It was possible for an individual to self register, but
the process was long and cumbersome. While any child, regardless of
parentage, may be registered within a month of birth, a court order was
required if registration did not take place in that time. The new law
provides that children born out of wedlock can carry the father's name.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. The Immigration and Emigration Act of November 2003
specifically prohibits trafficking in persons and levies stiff fines
and prison sentences against those, including government officials such
as border patrol and immigration officers, involved in or who fail to
prevent trafficking in persons. Under the penal code, perpetrators were
prosecuted either for fraud, kidnapping, corruption of minors, or as
persons who forced others into prostitution.
Trafficking in persons was a problem, but the Government fully
complied with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
In 2003, the Government created a bi national commission on illegal
migration and trafficking in persons with Spain, and began conducting
joint patrols of the waters between the mainland and the Canary
Islands.
During the year, the Government began the repatriation of an
estimated 6,000 minors under an agreement concluded with Spain (see
Section 5, Children).
Prostitution was prevalent, particularly in cities with large
numbers of tourists, as well as near towns with large military
installations. Prostitution of minors was a particular problem in the
village of El Hajeb near Meknes, which attracted sex tourists from
Europe and the Gulf states (see Section 5, Children).
Women were trafficked abroad, and internal trafficking was also a
problem, particularly of women for sexual exploitation or of young
girls for domestic service. To combat this problem, the Government
amended the penal code in December 2003 to make sex tourism a crime.
Other amendments increased the penalties for promoting child
pornography and child prostitution and for employing underage children.
The Government did not provide direct funding to NGOs offering
services to victims of trafficking; however, the Government provided in
kind support. The Government supported programs aimed at keeping
children in school, improving education opportunities for rural girls,
and expanding economic opportunities in high risk areas.
The country was a transit point for trafficking and alien smuggling
to Europe. Hundreds of citizens and foreigners, most from sub Saharan
Africa, drown annually attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, or
attempting to reach the Canary Islands from Western Sahara.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws to assist persons
with disabilities. Specifically, the law does not mandate access to
buildings for persons with disabilities. A high incidence of disabling
disease, especially polio, has resulted in a correspondingly high
number of persons with disabilities. The latest statistics from the
Government estimated the number of persons with disabilities at 2.2
million, or 7 percent of the population. However, other estimates were
as high as 3 million. While the Ministry of Social Affairs attempted to
integrate persons with disabilities into society, in practice,
integration largely was left to private charities. The annual budget
for the ministerial department in charge of affairs concerning persons
with disabilities was only .01 percent of the overall annual budget.
Nonprofit special education programs were priced beyond the reach of
most families. Typically, their families supported persons with
disabilities; some survived by begging.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The official language is
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
population from participation in such programs. Educational reforms in
the past decade have emphasized the use of Arabic in secondary schools.
However, failure to transform the university system similarly has led
to the disqualification of many students from higher education in
lucrative fields. The poor lacked the means to access additional
instruction in French to supplement the few hours per week taught in
public schools.
Approximately 60 percent of the population claim Berber heritage,
including the Royal Family. Berber cultural groups contended that their
traditions and language were being lost rapidly. A number of Berber
associations claimed that the Government refused to register births for
children with traditional Berber names, discouraged the public display
of their language, limited the activities of their associations, and
continued to ``Arabize'' the names of towns, villages, and geographic
landmarks. Official media broadcasted in the Berber language for
limited periods each day.
In September 2003, teaching of the Berber language began in 317
primary schools and in September another 961 schools began teaching
Berber to first graders. The Government pledged to teach Berber in all
public schools by 2008-09.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law permits workers to establish
and join trade unions; however, 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 600,000 of the country's 10 million workers were
organized in 19 trade union federations. Five federations dominated the
labor scene: The Moroccan Labor Union (UMT); the Democratic Labor
Confederation (CDT); the General Workers Union of Morocco (UGTM); the
Islamist oriented National Labor Union of Morocco (UNTM); and a
breakaway wing of the CDT, the Democratic Labor Federation (FDT). The
UMT dominated the private sector, while the CDT and FDT dominated the
public sector.
On June 8, the new labor code went into effect; however, the
Government continued to rely on a tripartite process to reach accords
on a reduction in the workweek from 48 to 44 hours, and a 10 percent
increase in the minimum wage. Companies were forbidden from engaging in
actions designed to undermine legitimate work stoppages.
Union officers were sometimes subject to government pressure. Union
leadership did not always uphold the rights of members to select their
own leaders. There was no case of the rank and file voting out its
current leadership and replacing it with another; however, disaffected
members of the CDT broke away in April 2003 to form their own labor
federation, the FDT.
The new law specifically prohibits antiunion discrimination and
incorporates elements of ILO Convention 87, but prohibits several
categories of public employees the right to form unions. These include
members of the armed forces, the police, and the judiciary. In the
past, under the ostensible justification of separation for cause,
employers had dismissed workers for union activities that were regarded
as threatening to employer interests. The new law expressly prohibits
companies from dismissing workers for participating in legitimate union
organizing activities. The law also prescribes the Government's
authority to intervene in strikes. Under the law, employers are no
longer able to initiate criminal prosecutions against workers
participating in strikes.
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 that unions have overstepped
their authority.
Unions belonged to regional labor organizations and maintained ties
with international trade union secretariats. The UMT is a member of the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Constitutional
provisions imply the right to organize and bargain collectively;
however, with the passage of the new law, these rights are statutorily
mandated. 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 able to show at least 35 percent of
the workforce as members must be recognized as negotiating partners.
Collective bargaining has been a longstanding tradition in some
parts of the economy, such as the industrial sector, and is 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 have arisen in some cases as the
result of employers failing to implement collective bargaining
agreements and withholding wages.
The Constitution provides for the right to strike, but also
prescribes that the conditions and ways of exercising such a right will
be defined by subsequent law which, in fact, requires compulsory
arbitration of disputes. The new law prohibits sit ins and establishes
the ``right to work,'' calls for 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 1 year after the contract comes into force. The
Government has the authority to break up demonstrations in public areas
that do not have government authorization for strikes to be held, and
to prevent the unauthorized occupancy of private space, such as a
factory.
Unions may not prevent non strikers from going to work and may not
engage in sabotage. Any striking employee who prevents a replacement
worker from getting to his job is subject to a 7 day suspension. A
second offense within 1 year is punishable by a 15 day suspension.
Work stoppages normally were intended to advertise grievances and
lasted 24 to 72 hours or less. Most strikes during the year were of
short duration, usually 24 to 48 hours, involving the teachers' unions,
Royal Air Maroc employees, bank officers, longshoremen, bus drivers,
cab drivers, and health care professionals.
Employers wishing to dismiss workers are required by law 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.
In general, the Government ensured the observance of labor laws in
larger companies and in the public sector. In the informal economy,
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.
Unions resorted increasingly to litigation to resolve labor
disputes. According to 2003 figures released by the Labor Department,
inspectors helped resolve labor disputes affecting several hundred
businesses and, by so doing, precluded 721 potential strikes. The
Ministry of Labor's 496 inspectors served as investigators and
conciliators in labor disputes. According to the Ministry of
Employment, its inspectors were able to help resolve some potential
strikes affecting businesses during the first 9 months of the year. It
claimed that its staff, over the same period, helped to reinstate
employees.
Unresolved issues in the social dialog remained concerning reforms
to pension and retirement systems, regulating the right to strike,
providing ample notice to management before a walkout, easing rules on
dismissing or laying off workers, and reducing management use of
temporary workers to circumvent provisions of the code that apply only
to permanent employees.
In the Tangier Free Trade Zone, an export processing zone, the
country's labor laws and practices fully apply to the 10,000 employees.
The proportion of unionized workers in the export zone was comparable
to the rest of the economy, 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, Trafficking). In
practice, the Government lacked the resources to inspect the many small
workshops and private homes where the vast majority of such employment
would occur. Forced labor persisted in the practice of adoptive
servitude in households (see Section 5, Children).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum employment age was 15 years. The minimum age applied to all
sectors and included apprenticed children and those in family
businesses. The law prohibits children under 18 from being employed
more than 10 hours per day, including a minimum of a 1 hour break, or
in hazardous work or night work. Under the labor code, all employees
are limited to a maximum 44 hour regularly scheduled workweek.
Noncompliance with child labor laws was common, particularly in
agriculture where, according to a 2003 survey by the International
Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) and the Ministry of
Employment, 84 percent of the country's 600,000 underage workers worked
on family farms. In practice, children often were apprenticed before
age 12, particularly in small, family run workshops in the handicraft
industry. Children, particularly rural girls, were employed as domestic
servants in urban areas and usually received little or no payment.
Children worked also in the informal sector in textile, carpet, and
light manufacturing activities. Safety and health conditions, as well
as wages in businesses that employ children often were substandard. The
situation for children working in the textile sector remained
troubling, and the Government maintained that the informal handicrafts
sector was difficult to monitor.
Ministry of Employment inspectors were responsible for enforcing
child labor regulations, which generally were observed in the
industrialized, unionized sector of the economy. However, before the
passage of the 2003 labor code, the inspectors were not authorized to
monitor the conditions of domestic servants. Under both the new labor
code and the penal code, it is illegal for children under age 15 to be
employed. Labor inspectors and police were empowered to bring charges
against employers of underage children and specify penalties. During
the year, a few employers were fined for employing underage children.
Along with UNICEF and several domestic NGOs, the IPEC had several
small, ongoing programs to provide child maids and other working
children with rudimentary education, health care, and leisure
activities. In January, IPEC received a $2.0 million (18 million
dirhams) grant from a foreign government to provide remedial education
to several thousand rural children. On June 11, in connection with the
ILO's ``World Day Against Child Labor,'' the foreign government
launched a $3.0 million (27 million dirhams) child labor education
initiative project, ADROS, designed to aid at least 7000 ``apprentice
artisans'' and child maids.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--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 for food, diesel fuel, and public transportation. In many
cases, several family members combined their income 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.
In keeping with the April 2003 tripartite accord, the Government
raised the minimum wage for nonagricultural employees in the private
sector by 5 percent increments in June and July, although analogous
increases were scheduled to be delayed until January 2005 for workers
in the textile, tourism, leather, and agro food processing industries.
With these two increments, the minimum wage was approximately $223.30
(2,010 dirhams) per month in the industrialized sector. It was
approximately $5.60 (50 dirhams) per day for agricultural workers;
however, businesses in the informal sector, which accounted for 60
percent of the labor force, often ignored the minimum wage
requirements.
The minimum wage was not enforced effectively in the informal and
handicraft sectors. However, the government pay scale exceeded the
minimum wage for workers at the lowest civil service grades. To
increase employment opportunities, the Government allowed firms to hire
recent graduates for a limited period through a subsidized internship
program at less than the minimum wage. However, due to economic
conditions, most were not offered full time employment at the
conclusion of their internships. According to the Government, the
overall unemployment rate during the year was 10.8 percent, but some
union leaders contended that a more accurate figure, including
underemployment, was approximately 35 percent.
The law provides for a 44 hour maximum workweek, with no more than
10 hours worked 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.
These were not observed universally and were not enforced effectively
by the Government in all sectors.
Occupational health and safety standards were rudimentary, except
for the prohibition on the employment of women and children in certain
dangerous occupations. The labor inspectors attempted to monitor
working conditions and investigate accidents, but 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 and administers
Moroccan law and regulation in approximately 85 percent of the
territory that it controls; however, sovereignty remains disputed
between the Government of Morocco and the Polisario Front (Popular
Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), an
organization seeking a U.N. supervised referendum on self determination
for 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. Since 1973,
the Polisario has challenged the claims of Spain, Mauritania, and
Morocco to the territory. Moroccan and Polisario forces fought
intermittently from 1975 until the 1991 ceasefire and deployment to the
area of a U.N. peacekeeping contingent, known by its French initials,
MINURSO.
In 1975, the International Court of Justice advised that while some
of the territory's tribes had historical ties to Morocco, the ties were
insufficient to establish ``any tie of territorial sovereignty''
between the territory and Morocco. The Court added that it had not
found ``legal ties'' that might affect the applicable U.N. General
Assembly resolution regarding the de colonization of the territory,
and, in particular, the principle of self determination for its
persons. Sahrawis (as the persons native to the territory are called)
lived in the area controlled by Morocco, lived as refugees in Algeria
near the border with Morocco, and to a lesser extent, in Mauritania. A
Moroccan constructed sand wall divided most of the territory between
Moroccan and Polisario controlled sections.
In 1988, Morocco and the Polisario accepted the U.N. plan for a
referendum allowing the Sahrawis to decide between integration with
Morocco or independence for the territory. However, disagreements over
voter eligibility were not resolved, and a referendum has not yet taken
place. In 1997, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed James Baker
as his personal envoy to examine approaches for a peaceful settlement.
During the following years, Baker visited the territory, consulted
with the parties, and offered proposals to resolve the problem. In
January 2003, he presented a peace plan that called for a 4 to 5 year
period of limited autonomy for an interim administration composed of
elected members of a Western Sahara Authority, to be followed by a
referendum to determine the status of the territory. Morocco ultimately
rejected the plan, while the Polisario accepted it. Subsequently, an
adjusted text to the Baker Plan added an additional ballot option in
the referendum to include self government or autonomy, in addition to
the two previous options of independence or integration into Morocco.
In July 2003, the Security Council called on the parties to work
towards its acceptance and implementation. Morocco voiced objections to
that resolution, while the Polisario expressed support.
Baker resigned his post in June. Following his resignation, the
U.N. Secretary General designated Alvaro De Soto as his Special
Representative for the Western Sahara.
On October 28, the Security Council voted to extend the MINURSO
mandate until April 30, 2005 to give the parties more time to work out
their differences.
A sizeable Moroccan economic program subsidized migration and
development as part of its efforts to strengthen Moroccan claims to the
territory. In October, the Moroccan Government unveiled a new five year
$800 million development program for all of its ``southern provinces,''
which included the territory. The population of the territory was an
estimated 267,000. Incomes, fuel, power, water, and basic food
commodities were also subsidized.
The civilian population living in the territory under Moroccan
administration was subject to Moroccan law. Political rights for the
residents remained circumscribed, and citizens did not have the right
to change their government. U.N. observers and foreign human rights
groups maintained that the Moroccan Government monitored the political
views of Sahrawis more closely than those of other groups, particularly
those suspected of supporting independence and the Polisario.
Since 1977, the Saharan provinces of Laayoune, Smara, Awsard, and
Boujdour (and Oued Ed Dahab since 1983) have participated in elections
organized and controlled by the Moroccan Government. In the 2002
parliamentary elections, Sahrawis whose political views were aligned
with the Moroccan Government filled all the seats allotted to the
territory. In September 2003, municipal elections were held. No
Sahrawis opposed to Moroccan sovereignty were candidates in the
elections. According to Moroccan government statistics, the national
turnout was 54 percent, including 68 percent in the territory.
As in past years, there were no new reports of politically
motivated disappearances in the territory under Moroccan
administration. The forced disappearance of individuals who opposed the
Government and its policies occurred over several decades; however, in
1997, the Government pledged that such activities would not recur, and
pledged to disclose as much information as possible on past cases.
Authorities stated that they released information on all 112 confirmed
cases of disappearance. However, human rights groups and families have
continued to claim hundreds more cases, many from the territory.
International human rights organizations continued to estimate that
there had been between 1,000 and 1,500 disappearances of Sahrawis in
the territory, although conditions in the territory prevented
confirmation of this figure.
Those who disappeared were Sahrawis or Moroccans who challenged the
Government's claim to the territory or other government policies. Many
of those who disappeared reportedly were held in secret detention
camps. At year's end, Moroccan families did not have any information
regarding their missing relatives, many of whom disappeared over 20
years ago.
Through the Arbitration Commission of the Royal Advisory Council on
Human Rights (CCDH), the Government in 2000 began distributing
preliminary compensation payments to affected Sahrawis, and announced
that more compensation could be distributed pending the results of a
review of petitions by Sahrawi claimants. However, as in previous
years, many still viewed the CCDH process as biased, slow, and flawed
administratively.
In January, the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER)
continued the work started by the CCDH, to settle serious violations of
human rights. The IER was tasked with making reparations for families
of disappeared persons and other victims, restoring the dignity of
victims, providing for their rehabilitation and medical care, and
providing a thorough accounting of the events which led to human rights
abuses and of the circumstances of the crimes themselves. The IER was
composed of appointed members, most of whom were human rights activists
including Commission President Driss Benzekri, a former political
prisoner. The IER had an extended mandate until March 30, 2005 due to
the larger than expected number of petitions. By August, the IER
reported having received almost 20,000 complaints, a number of them
having to do with the territory. Throughout the year, investigative
teams from the IER visited the territory on several extended occasions,
in which interviewers and researchers looked into complaints, medical
personnel treated former detainees, and IER staff prepared for public
hearings of the abuses.
The public hearings began on December 21 in Morocco. Under
agreement with the IER, participants did not disclose the names of
persons they considered responsible for violations. Around 200 victims,
families of victims, and witnesses of violations were scheduled to
participate in future hearings, throughout the country, over a period
of 10 weeks. The IER was expected to present a final report in April
2005 discussing the reasons and institutional responsibilities for
grave violations prior to 1999.
The 1998 U.N. settlement plan called for the Polisario to release
all remaining Moroccan prisoners of war (POWs) after the voter
identification process was completed. In 1999, MINURSO completed the
voter identification process. According to Polisario claims, the
Government continued to withhold information on 150 Polisario missing
combatants and supporters, whom the Polisario listed by name. The
Government of Morocco formally denied that any Sahrawi former
combatants remained in detention. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) continued to investigate such claims by the Polisario.
In a few cases, the ICRC found that individuals on the Polisario list
were living peacefully in Moroccan territory or in Mauritania. The ICRC
presented this information, along with documentation to the Polisario.
Prisoners held by the Polisario continued to be among the worlds'
longest held POWs. In recent years, the Polisario began to release
Moroccan POWs in small groups. The Polisario released 200 Moroccan POWs
during the year. By year's end, the Polisario still held 412 POWs, many
of whom had been prisoners for close to 20 years.
There continued to be credible reports from international
organizations, Moroccan nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and from
the released POWs themselves that Moroccan POWs suffered serious
physical and psychological health problems due to their prolonged
detention, abuse and forced labor.
The number of persons in the refugee camps was in dispute. During
the year, the Government claimed 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 were much higher,
but denied that any refugees were held against their will. The U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program
appealed to donors for food aid, and distributed food aid to a
population of approximately 155,000 in the refugee camps during the
year.
On August 30, the UNHCR completed a 6 month program of confidence
building measures, highlighted by family visits that brought 1,200
persons to meet with long separated relatives for 5 days. Most
participants were Sahrawi refugees from the refugee camps in Algeria
visiting relatives in the Moroccan controlled territory. Approximately,
19,000 Sahrawis registered to participate in the program, and 1,476
persons were transported for visits. After a hiatus to secure
additional funding and work out program modalities, the program resumed
in November until the end of the year. The confidence building measures
also include telephone exchanges between relatives in the territory and
refugee camps in Algeria.
On January 7, King Mohammed VI pardoned 33 political prisoners,
including the following: Salek Bazid, a member of the Moroccan human
rights NGO Forum for Truth and Justice (FVJ), who was originally
sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in violent conflicts
with police in Smara in November 2001 and according to Amnesty
International (AI), his conviction was based solely on confessions that
he later withdrew in court alleging that they were extracted under
duress; Dkhil Moussaoui, another FVJ member, had been sentenced to 1
year in prison for participating in a demonstration that burned down a
police station; Ahmed Nassiri, a member of the FVJ, had been serving a
sentence of 18 months for instigating violence in Smara in 2001; and
Ali Salem Tamek, an official of the Moroccan Democratic Confederation
of Workers and a former FVJ member.
The Government restricted freedoms of expression, assembly, and
association. Sahrawi activists claimed that they were unable to form
political associations or politically oriented NGOs.
The Polisario reportedly restricted freedoms of expression,
assembly, association, and movement in its camps near Tindouf.
Due to continuing Moroccan control of the territory, the laws and
restrictions regarding religious organizations and religious freedom
were the same as those found in Morocco.
Movement was restricted in areas regarded as militarily sensitive,
both within the area controlled by the Government of Morocco and the
area controlled by the Polisario. Both Moroccan and Polisario security
forces at times subjected travelers to arbitrary questioning.
Sahrawis continued to have difficulty obtaining Moroccan passports.
However, the Government issued activist Ali Salem Tamek a passport and
allowed him to travel abroad. The Moroccan Government prevented Sahrawi
nationalists, released from prison in Morocco, to live in the disputed
territory.
Women were subjected to various forms of legal and cultural
discrimination.
Morocco adopted a new law in May that imposes stiff fines and
prison terms against those, including government officials, involved in
or failing to prevent penalties on trafficking in persons. The
territory was a transit region for traffickers of persons.
There was little organized labor activity. The same labor laws that
apply in Morocco were applied in the Moroccan controlled areas of the
territory. In June, a new Moroccan code of labor became effective.
Moroccan unions were present in the areas controlled by Morocco, but
were not active. The Polisario sponsored labor union, Sario Federation
of Labor, also was not active since 15 percent of the Polisario
controlled territory did not contain major population centers or
economic activity, apart from nomadic herding.
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. They were paid 85
percent more than their counterparts in Morocco as an inducement to
Moroccan citizens to relocate to the territory. Workers were exempt
from income and value added taxes.
Moroccan law 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 was not a problem.
The minimum wage and maximum hours of work were identical to those
in Morocco. However, in practice, during peak periods, workers in some
fish processing plants worked as many as 12 hours per day, 6 days per
week, well beyond the 10 hour day, 44 hour week maximum stipulated in
the Moroccan code of labor. 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 monarchy ruled by Sultan Qaboos Al Bu
Sa'id, who acceded to the throne in 1970. In 1996, the Sultan issued a
royal decree promulgating a Basic Law of the State, characterizing the
country as ``Arab'' and ``Islamic.'' The Basic Law provides that it can
only be amended by Royal Decree. The country has no political parties;
however, the Consultative Council (Majlis al Shura) is a representative
advisory institution whose members are elected directly by voters.
Unlike in previous years in which the Government selected voters, all
adult citizens had the right to vote in the October 2003 Consultative
Council elections. The elections were generally free and fair, and
approximately 74 percent of registered voters (194,000) voted to elect
the 83 members of the Consultative Council. The Sultan retained firm
control over all important policy issues and had final authority over
the election process. The Sultan also appointed 58 members to the State
Council (Majlis al Dawla), which, along with the Consultative Council,
forms the bicameral body known as the Council of Oman (Majlis Oman).
The Basic Law provides for many basic human rights, which are to be
expressed ``in accordance with this Basic Law and the conditions and
circumstances defined in the law''; however, while not all legislation
for implementation has been enacted, the responsibilities delineated in
the Basic Law became effective in 1996 when it was enacted. In cases
where there is no implementing legislation, judges render judgment
according to the principles of the Basic Law. The Basic Law provides
for an independent judiciary; however, it gives the Sultan the right to
appoint and dismiss judges, as well as to overturn judicial decisions
on appeal.
The Royal Office controls internal and external security and
coordinates all intelligence and security policies. The Internal
Security Service investigates all matters related to internal security.
The Royal Oman Police (ROP), whose head also has cabinet status,
performs regular police duties, provides security at airports, serves
as the country's immigration agency, and maintains a small coast guard.
The Government maintained effective control of the security forces.
There were no reports that security forces committed human rights
abuses.
The country had a population of approximately 2.3 million,
including approximately 559,000 foreigners. Based on the 2003 national
census, the rate of population growth was 1.9 percent. Oil revenues
were used to improve public access to health care, education, and
social services for citizens. The GDP economic growth rate was 5.9
percent and the economy was mixed, with significant government
participation in industry, transportation, and communications.
Although the Government respected a number of rights, many serious
human rights problems remained. Citizens did not have the right to
change their government, which is a ``hereditary Sultanate.'' Police
did not always follow procedures regarding arrest and detention, and,
in some instances, police handling of arrest and detention constituted
incommunicado detention. The Government restricted freedoms of speech,
the press, assembly, and religion. Despite legislated equality,
discrimination against women remained a problem due to social and
cultural factors. At times, foreign workers in private firms were
placed in situations amounting to forced labor, and abuse of foreign
domestic servants was a problem. Workers rights were restricted.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Basic Law prohibits such practices, and stipulates
that all confessions obtained by such methods are to be considered null
and void. There were no reported cases of voided confessions during the
year.
Judges have the right to order investigations of allegations of
mistreatment. There were no reports of such investigations during the
year.
Prison conditions did not appear to meet international standards,
and no visits by international human rights observers were requested.
Prisoners have reported not having beds, and sleeping on the floor in
crowded cells. While prisoners were fed regularly, they did not appear
nutritionally sound. There were separate facilities for men and women,
as well as separate facilities for juveniles and adults. Based on
limited information, conditions for women did not appear to vary from
those of men. Security prisoners were held separately and their
conditions did not appear to vary from those of regular prisoners.
Pretrial detainees also were held separately.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, there were problems in some areas.
The ROP broadly serves the country's security needs by encompassing
such ancillary duties as customs, airport security, civil defense, and
coast guard. Corruption was not perceived to be a widespread problem,
and there were no instances in which the police failed to respond to
societal violence.
The police are not required to obtain warrants prior to making an
arrest. There were no reports of arbitrary detention. Within 48 hours
of arrest, the police must either release the accused subject or refer
the matter to the Public Prosecutor. The Prosecutor must then, within
24 hours, either formally arrest or release the subject. 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.
In practice, the police did not always follow legal procedures.
Police handling of arrests and detentions constituted incommunicado
detention in some instances. The police did not always notify a
detainee's family or, in the case of a foreign worker, the worker's
sponsor, of the detention. At times, notification was made just prior
to the detainee's release. The police did not always permit attorneys
and family members to visit detainees. Judges occasionally interceded
to ensure that security officials allowed such visits.
There were no reports of political detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Basic Law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the various courts were subordinate to
the Sultan. The Sultan appoints all judges, who serve at his discretion
through royal decree. The Sultan can act as a court of final appeal and
intercede in cases, such as those concerning national security.
However, there were no reported instances in which the Sultan
overturned a decision of the magistrate courts.
The court system is composed of the Supreme Court, an appeals
court, primary courts (one located in each region), and, within the
primary courts, divisional courts. Within each of the courts, there are
divisions to consider commercial, civil, penal, labor, taxation,
general, and personal status cases, such as divorce and inheritance
(the latter under Shari'a law). The General Prosecutor's Office
operates independently within the Ministry of Justice. An
Administrative Court under the authority of the Diwan, or Royal Court
reviews complaints against the misuse of governmental authority. During
the year, the Administrative Court ruled against the Government in
several cases brought by private parties, and increasingly was used as
a check against governmental violations of the law. For example, in
December, a landowner successfully sued he municipality for annexing
part of his property.
The law provides for a fair trial, and the judiciary generally
enforced this right. The Ministry of Justice administers all courts.
All felonies are adjudicated at the Central Magistrate Court by a panel
whose rulings are final, except for those in which the defendant is
sentenced to death.
The Criminal Appeals Panel is composed of the President of the
Magistrate Court, the court's vice president, and two judges. This
panel hears appeals of rulings made by all courts of first instance. In
the past, officers from the ROP received special training to carry out
the role of public prosecutors in criminal cases; however, prosecutors
now operate independently of the ROP.
A royal decree established criminal rules of procedure for criminal
cases before the courts, providing rules of evidence, procedures for
entering cases into the criminal system, and detailing provisions for a
public trial. In criminal cases, the police provide defendants with the
written charges against them, and defendants have the right to present
evidence and confront witnesses. The prosecution and the defense direct
questions to witnesses through the judge, who is usually the only
person to question witnesses in court. The Basic Law provides for the
presumption of innocence and the right to counsel. For defendants
facing prison terms of 3 years or more, the law provides legal defense.
Judges often pronounced the verdict and sentence within 1 day of the
completion of a trial. Those convicted may appeal jail sentences longer
than 3 months and fines over the equivalent of $1,250 (480 rials) to a
three judge panel.
The State Security Court tries cases involving national security
and criminal matters that require expeditious or especially sensitive
handling. While an institution such as the Security Court functioned on
an ad hoc basis in the past, two royal decrees in 2003 gave legal basis
to the court. The Security Court procedures mirror closely those
applicable elsewhere in the criminal system. The Sultan has exercised
his powers of extending leniency, including in cases involving state
security.
The Ministry of Justice administers Shari'a courts of the first
instance and an appeals court, and applies Shari'a law in the most
broadly accepted interpretation. Courts of first instance, with a
single presiding judge, are located in each of the 59 wilayats, or
governorates. The Court of Appeals rulings themselves may be appealed,
within a 1 month period, to the Supreme Committee for Complaints, which
is composed of four members, including the Minister of Justice and the
Grand Mufti of the Sultanate. Shari'a courts handle all family law
cases.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides flexibility in this area, which the
Government utilized in practice.
Although it is not required by law, the police reportedly do obtain
search warrants; however, the public prosecutor, not the court, issues
them. There was a widely held view that the Government eavesdropped on
both oral and written communications. 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. Delays or denial of
permission resulted in secret marriages within the country. Marriage in
a foreign country may lead to denial of entry of the foreign spouse
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.--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 and prohibits the publishing of ``material that leads to
public discord, violates the security of the State, or abuses a
person's dignity or his rights.'' Journalists and writers generally
exercised self censorship due to fear of government reprisal. The
authorities tolerated some criticism of government officials and
agencies, particularly on the Internet; however, such criticism rarely
appeared in the mass media. For example, the Internet chatroom, Al
Sablah, occasionally contained messages criticizing the Ministry of
Information and the Ministry of Social Development.
Censors enforced the Press and Publication Law, which authorizes
the Government to censor all domestic and imported publications.
Ministry of Information censors may act against any material regarded
as politically, culturally, or sexually offensive. Editorials generally
were consistent with the Government's views, although the authorities
tolerated some criticism regarding foreign affairs issues. Citizens
were publicly critical of GCC policies, which the country participates
in determining. The Government discouraged in depth reporting on
controversial domestic issues and sought to influence privately owned
dailies and periodicals by subsidizing their operating costs. There
were five daily newspapers, three in Arabic and two in English. Arabic
language dailies ``Al Watan'' and ``Shabiba'' as well as the English
daily ``Times of Oman'' were privately owned. There were 32 state owned
and privately owned magazines published in the country.
In October 2003, journalists announced the creation of the Gulf
Press Freedom Center (GPFC), which attempts to promote and defend a
free press and human rights and aid journalistic professional
development in the Gulf region. The GPFC is not an authorized
organization in the country, but rather an informal network of
concerned journalists in the Arab world. The GPFC had little effect on
promoting free press in the region; however, its founder continued to
monitor alleged abuses of freedom of the press, and bring such cases
(Abdullah al Riyami and Mohamed al Harthi) to the media's attention.
There were reports that various media houses refused to publish
articles of these journalists for unknown reasons.
Customs officials confiscated videocassette tapes and erased
offensive material, despite the lack of published guidelines regarding
what was considered offensive. Such tapes may or may not have been
returned to their owners. Government censorship decisions were changed
periodically without any stated reason. During the year, the
confiscation of books and tapes at the borders from private individuals
and restrictions on popular novels reportedly eased somewhat.
The Government owned four radio stations and two television
stations, which generally did not air politically controversial
material. In August, the Government promulgated a new law allowing
private radio and television companies. No companies have been created
since the initial decree. Foreign broadcast information is accessible
to those with the financial resources to obtain satellite dishes.
The appropriate government authority, the police, or a relevant
ministry must approve public cultural events. Most organizations
avoided controversial issues due to belief that the authorities might
not approve their events.
The Government, through its national telecommunications company,
made Internet access available, for a fee, to citizens and foreign
residents. However, it blocked certain websites that it considered
pornographic or politically sensitive. As use of the Internet for
expressing views normally not permitted in other media grew, the
Government took additional measures to monitor and censor it. The
Government placed warnings on websites 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 restricted academic freedom, particularly regarding
publication or discussion of controversial matters, such as domestic
politics. Professors could be dismissed if their work exceeded
government boundaries; however, there were no reports of such
dismissals during the year.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Basic Law
provides for a circumscribed freedom of assembly ``within the limits of
the Law,'' and the Government restricted it in practice. There must be
prior government approval for all public gatherings. The authorities,
with rare exceptions such as demonstrations by teachers protesting the
lack of promotions and expatriate workers protesting nonpayment of back
wages, enforced this requirement.
The Basic Law provides for freedom of association ``for legitimate
objectives and in a proper manner.'' In practice, the Government
limited this freedom by the ability to prohibit associations whose
activities are ``inimical to the social order.'' The law states that
the Ministry of Social Development must approve the establishment of
all organizations and their by laws; however, some purely social or
social welfare groups were allowed to function without formal
registration. The Government used licensing to control the political
environment; it did not license groups regarded as a threat to the
predominant social and political views or the interests of the country.
Formal registration of associations of expatriates was limited to a
maximum of one association per nationality.
Several leaders of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) received
aggressively worded letters from the Government threatening sanctions,
unless their organizations completed a complicated and time-consuming
registration process. There were 13 NGOs registered. The average time
required to register an NGO was at least 2 years.
The Basic Law provides for the formation of associations providing
services to women, children, and the elderly. There were 42 government
approved women's associations, some of which received limited
government funding or in kind support, while others were self funded.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of
religion; however the Government restricted religious freedom. The
Basic Law provides that Islam is the state religion and that Shari'a is
the source of all legislation. Most citizens are Ibadhi or Sunni
Muslims, while a minority are Shi'a. The Government permits worship by
non Muslim residents; however, non Muslim religious organizations must
be registered with the Government, and some of their activities are
restricted. They may not proselytize Muslims, or publish religious
material in the country.
The Basic Law prohibits discrimination against citizens on the
basis of religion or religious group. In the first quarter of 2003, the
Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments launched a new quarterly
periodical entitled ``Tolerance.'' The magazine aims to highlight the
tolerant aspects of Islam.
Non Muslims were free to worship at churches and temples built on
land donated by the Sultan. The Government prohibited non Muslims from
proselytizing, although proselytizing of non Muslims by Muslims was
allowed. It also prohibited non Muslim groups from publishing religious
material, although religious material printed abroad could be brought
into the country.
Certain medical and educational activities by missionaries were
permitted, as long as missionaries did not proselytize. 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,
instigate religious hatred or divisions, and stayed within the state
approved orthodoxy of Islam. The Government also monitored sermons of
non Muslim clergy. There were reports of imams being suspended or
dismissed for exceeding government boundaries.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, Repatriation, and Exile.--The law does not provide for
these rights; however, the Government generally respected these rights
in practice. The Government did not restrict travel by citizens within
the country except to military areas. The Basic Law prohibits exile,
and there were no reported cases during the year.
The Basic 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 the provision of temporary
protection for refugees and asylum seekers did not arise during the
year. Tight control over the entry of foreigners into the country
effectively limited refugees and prospective asylum seekers from
entering. Illegal immigrants numbering in the thousands, primarily from
Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, are apprehended annually by the ROP
and the armed forces. The detainees are held in special detention
centers until their deportation can be arranged. The Government seeks
advice from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The law
provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum in accordance
with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its
1967 Protocol, although the country is not a state 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.
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.
The country's Basic Law provides for many basic human rights.
Although it is considered to have had immediate force of law when
promulgated in 1996, legislation and regulations to implement a number
of its provisions have not been enacted. While family, judicial,
administrative, and financial legislation has been enacted, much of it
lacks the clarity of more developed legal systems. In cases where there
is no implementing legislation, judges render judgment according to the
principles of the Basic Law.
The law does not provide for political parties or direct elections,
except to the Consultative Council. 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. Decisions of government
ministers can be contested in the Administrative Court. The
Consultative Council had the prerogative to invite certain government
ministers for questioning, which it exercised during the year when the
Minister of Commerce and Industry was called to testify regarding the
high cost of building material.
Citizens 21 years or older (except military and security personnel)
may vote. In 2003, over 800,000 citizens were eligible to register to
vote and approximately 226,000 did so. 74 percent of registered voters,
or roughly 194,000 persons, actually voted. A total of 506 candidates,
including 15 women, competed in generally free and fair elections for
the 83 Consultative Council seats. Of the 15 female candidates
competing, 2 were elected. In October 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 author nearly all draft
legislation. No serving government official was 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. During the year,
the membership of the State Council increased from 53 to 58 members,
and included 9 women. The precise responsibilities of the State Council
and its relationship to the existing Consultative Council have yet to
be clarified. The State Council and the Consultative Council together
form the Majlis Oman, or Council of Oman. In October 2003, a royal
decree extended the term of office for members of the Council to 4
years.
Between March 2003 and year's end, the first 4 female ministers
were appointed to the 42 member Cabinet. Women hold the ministerial
posts at the Public Authority for Craft Industries, the Ministry of
Social Development, the Ministry of Higher Education, and the Ministry
of Tourism. There was one female undersecretary and one female
ambassador. There were 2 female members of the Consultative Council,
and 3 women served on its 12 member Main Election Committee.
Some Shi'a occupied prominent positions in both the private and
public sectors. For example, the Ministers of National Economy (also de
facto Minister of Finance), Commerce and Industry, and Health are
Shi'a.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no registered domestic human rights NGOs, and no
government controlled or autonomous human rights entities in the
country.
In June, a representative of the NGO Freedom House visited the
country, and, in August, a two person delegation from Amnesty
International (AI) visited the country. However, the Government stated
AI did not give officials ample time to prepare an appropriate program
for the AI visit.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking In Persons
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 these provisions. 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, Shari'a prohibits all forms of physical abuse.
There was no evidence of a pattern of spousal abuse, although observers
claimed that allegations of such abuse in the Shari'a courts were
common, and conversations with local observers indicated that domestic
violence was a real concern. 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. There were reports of employers
sexually abusing domestic servants, and co workers physically harassing
hospital nurses without being held accountable for such actions (see
Section 6.e.). There were no government programs for abused women. The
law prohibits rape, and the Government enforced the law effectively.
Prostitution was illegal, and generally was rare due to strict
cultural norms and immigration controls.
There is no law prohibiting female genital mutilation (FGM);
however, experts believed that the number of such cases was small and
declining.
While progress has been made in changing laws and attitudes, women
continued to face many forms of social discrimination.
Illiteracy among older women hampered their ability to own
property, participate in the modern sector of the economy, or inform
themselves of their rights. Women may own property; however, government
officials frequently denied women land grants or housing loans and
preferred to conduct business with a woman's husband or other male
relative.
Some aspects of Islamic law and tradition as interpreted in the
country also discriminated against women. Shari'a favors male heirs in
adjudicating inheritance claims. Many women were reluctant to take an
inheritance dispute to court for fear of alienating the family. Women
married to noncitizens may not transmit citizenship to their children.
Women have equal opportunities for education. The ratio of female
to male enrollment was equal in primary education. A 2003 UNICEF report
praised the country's achievements in closing the gender gap in
education. In addition, female students represent 63 percent of the
national undergraduates studying abroad. Educated women have attained
positions of authority in government, business, and the media.
Approximately 33 percent of all civil servants were women. 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. However, many educated women still faced job
discrimination. 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.--The Government has made the education, health, and
general welfare of children a budgetary priority. Primary school
education for children, including noncitizen children, was free and
universal, but not compulsory. Primary school enrollment was 65
percent. Most children attended school through secondary school. The
infant mortality rate continued to decline, and comprehensive
immunization rates rose. The Government provided free health care for
all children up to 6 years of age. There were no public reports of
violence against children; however, the Government has called publicly
for greater awareness and prevention of child abuse. FGM was not common
(see Section 5, Women).
The Government formed a National Committee on the Rights of the
Child (NCRC) to monitor the country's compliance with the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of the Child. In April, a royal decree
ratified two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child: The Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and
Child Pornography, and The Protocol on the Involvement of Children in
Armed Conflict.
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 there were no reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no government discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services.
There is no legislated or otherwise mandated provision requiring
access to public buildings for persons with disabilities; however, the
Government has encouraged, with modest success, public facility
accommodation of persons with disabilities. The Labor Law stipulates
that enterprises employing more than 50 persons should have at least 2
percent of the jobs earmarked for persons with disabilities; however,
this regulation was not widely enforced. There was a government
sponsored rehabilitation center in the capital, and there were 17
private rehabilitation centers throughout the country. A few persons
with disabilities, including blind persons, worked in government
offices. Persons with disabilities generally were not charged for
physical therapy and prosthetics.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Basic Law prohibits
discrimination against citizens based on racial or ethnic
characteristics. Citizens of African origin sometimes claimed that they
faced job discrimination in both the public and private sectors,
although these allegations have diminished over several years.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While there were no
reports of official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS,
societal attitude in the country remained fearful towards persons with
the disease. A ``Peer Education'' pilot project promoted by the
Ministry of Health and initiated in the Muscat area attempted to
improve awareness and education on the disease among youth. In December
2003, a toll free AIDS hotline was inaugurated, and was fielding 50 to
100 calls per month.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law does not provide workers with
the right to form or join unions; however, workers in any establishment
may form a representational committee with the goal of taking care of
their interests, defending their rights, and representing them in all
matters related to their affairs. Fifteen companies have held elections
to their representational committees, and 7 have been certified by the
Ministry of Manpower.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Labor Law
does not address strikes; however, the labor law details procedures for
dispute resolution. Labor unrest was rare. Strikes are permitted;
however, there were none during the year.
The law does not explicitly provide for the right to collective
bargaining. The law requires that employers of more than 50 workers
form a joint labor management committee as a communication forum
between the groups. Implementation of this provision was uneven, and
the effectiveness of the committees was questionable. Membership in the
administrative body is terminated if members ``commit any act that
causes material or moral harm to the committee or the establishment or
its workers or the public interest of the Sultanate.'' In addition,
committees are prohibited from accepting grants from noncitizens and
from traveling outside the country without approval from the ministry.
New rules relating to domestic employees were stipulated in
Ministerial Decision 189. According to the new decision, the employee
has the right to end a contract if he or she proves that the employer
or a family member assaulted him or her. It also stipulates that
employees should be paid within 7 days of the end of each month, and
should receive free food, accommodation, and medical treatment.
Employees have the right to take disputes to the Labor Welfare Board.
The Labor Welfare Board attempts to mediate disputes between employers
and employees. If a settlement cannot be reached, the parties may seek
recourse in the appropriate courts.
Work rules must be approved by the Ministry of Manpower and posted
conspicuously in the workplace by employers of 15 or more workers.
Government inspectors occasionally performed random inspections to
enforce implementation of these regulations. Similarly, any employer
with 50 or more workers must establish a grievance procedure.
Employees, including foreign workers, may file a grievance with the
Labor Welfare Board, which functions as a mediator between employee and
employer. In some cases, worker representatives were able to file
collective grievances. Should mediation fail, cases may be referred to
court; however, this occurred infrequently. Lower paid workers used the
procedure regularly. Legal counsel may represent plaintiffs and
defendants in such cases. Workers frequently took their cases to the
courts, but since many of the companies that had not paid wages were
bankrupt, it was difficult to collect judgments.
There were no export processing zones.
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. The Government did not
investigate or enforce the law effectively. Foreign workers at times
were placed in situations amounting to forced labor. Employers have
withheld documents that release workers from employment contracts and
allow them to change employers. Without such a letter, a foreign worker
must continue to work for his current employer or become technically
unemployed, which was sufficient grounds for deportation. Many foreign
workers were not aware of their right to take such disputes before the
Labor Welfare Board. Others were reluctant to file complaints for fear
of retribution from unscrupulous employers. In most cases, the board
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 that such practices occurred.
In April 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 years. Children 15 to 18 years of age may
be employed, but they cannot work at night, on weekends, or holidays.
The Ministry of Manpower generally enforced the law; however, in
practice, enforcement often did not extend to some small family
businesses that employ underage children, particularly in the
agricultural and fishing sectors.
Child labor did not exist in any formal industry. Although some
children participated in camel races, there were no reports of child
camel jockey abuses. In rare instances where children who normally
raced camels free of charge were paid, it was not illegal and did not
constitute child labor. The NCRC recommended raising the minimum age of
child camel jockeys from 12 to 15 years.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Manpower issues
minimum wage guidelines for various categories of workers. The
suggested minimum wage for most citizens is approximately $260 (100
rials) per month, plus $52 (20 rials) for transportation and housing.
Minimum wage guidelines 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. Many
foreigners worked in occupations that were exempt from the minimum wage
guidelines; however, highly skilled foreign workers were well paid. The
minimum wage was insufficient to provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family.
The private sector workweek was 40 to 45 hours; it 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 Labor Welfare Board; however, the board's
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 law states that employers must not place their employees in
situations involving dangerous work; however, the law does not
specifically grant a worker the right to remove himself from dangerous
work without jeopardy to his continued employment. All employers were
required by law to provide first aid facilities. Employees covered
under the labor law could recover compensation for job related injury
or illness through employer provided medical insurance. Inspectors from
the Department of Health and Safety of the Directorate of Labor
generally enforced the health and safety standard codes. As required by
law, they made regular onsite inspections. During the year, there were
no reports of significant problems.
Foreign workers constituted at least 50 percent of the work force
and as much as 80 percent of the private sector work force. There
continued to be reports that employers or male coworkers sexually
harassed and abused foreign females employed as domestic servants and
hospital nurses. Foreign women, employed as domestic servants and
garment workers, have claimed that their employers withheld their
salaries, and that government officials were unresponsive to their
grievances, due to investigative procedures that disadvantaged the
victim. Foreign female workers at times had to ask their governments'
embassies for shelter to escape abuse (see Section 5). Many South Asian
governments provided repatriation for destitute nationals.
__________
QATAR
Qatar is a monarchy governed by the ruling Al-Thani family through
Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who seized power from his
father in 1995. The Emir exercises full executive power based on the
influence of religious law, consultation with citizens, and rule by
consensus. The Emir generally legislates after consultation with
leading citizens, an arrangement institutionalized in the appointed 35-
member Advisory Council that assists the Emir in formulating policy. A
draft of a new Constitution, approved in April 2003 by approximately 96
percent of voters, was ratified by the Emir on June 6 and will come
into force in June 2005, during which constitutional institutions,
laws, and regulations will be brought into conformity with it. The new
Constitution provides for continued hereditary rule by the Emir's
branch of the Al-Thani family. In April 2003, citizens elected all 29
members of the Central Municipal Council, which advises the Government
on domestic issues but does not have the authority to change policy.
The elections were generally regarded as free and fair, although only
30 percent of eligible voters participated. The Constitution provides
for an independent judiciary; however, the Emir appoints all judges
based on the recommendations of the Supreme Judiciary Council.
The civilian security force, controlled by the Ministry of
Interior, consists of the police and the General Administration of
Public Security. The civilian intelligence service, Qatari State
Security, reports directly to the Emir and performs internal security
investigations, gathers intelligence, and has primary responsibility
for sedition and espionage cases. The civilian authorities maintained
effective control of the security forces. There were no reports that
security forces committed human rights abuses.
The country's economy is based on gas and oil exports. The
population is approximately 744,000, of whom approximately 200,000 are
citizens. The Government owns most basic industries and services, but
the retail and construction industries are privately owned. Foreign
workers, mostly South Asian and Arab, represent approximately 85
percent of the workforce. Many government jobs are offered generally to
citizens, and private sector businesses are encouraged to recruit
citizens as well. The rate of economic growth was 20.5 percent, an
estimated 35 percent increase from the previous year. GDP per capita
was USD 37,000. Although there was not sufficient economic data
available, local economists and bank officials claimed that wages did
not keep pace with inflation nor with rapidly rising housing rents.
Inflation did not appear to impact basic foodstuffs but consumer
commodities like automobiles, furniture and basic amenities increased
moderately. In 2003, the Government started a major initiative to
combat corruption in government procurement. Corruption has had limited
impact on the country's economic growth and development. However,
government agencies and state-owned entities were increasingly
sensitive to appearances of corruption and worked to establish more
open and transparent processes.
Although there were some improvements in a few areas, serious
problems remained. Citizens did not have the right to peacefully change
their government. The Government continued to restrict the freedoms of
speech and press. The Government placed some limits on the freedom of
movement of women. In practice, tradition and custom limited women's
rights. Some domestic servants, who are not covered under the new labor
law, were mistreated and abused and worked under conditions that were
tantamount to indentured servitude. Noncitizens, who make up more than
75 percent of local residents, sometimes faced discrimination in the
workplace. Foreign laborers were disadvantaged in cases involving the
performance of labor contracts. They did not receive the same allowance
and salaries that were given to citizens in equivalent positions.
Further, they were not allowed to leave the country or change
employment without the permission of their current sponsor. Unskilled
foreign workers continued to suffer from the lack of a minimum wage in
the private sector. The country was also a destination for trafficked
persons.
Unlike the 1972 Amended Provisional Constitution, the new
Constitution contains a number of human rights provisions. Most of
these provisions will depend, for their practical effect, on existing
or future laws. The process of law-making to conform the legal
environment to the new Constitution continued at varying pace in
different sectors during the year. The Government advanced the right of
assembly in November with the enactment of Law No. 18, which allows
individuals to organize demonstrations and public assemblies. However,
the law stipulates that organizers must acquire a permit, for which
there are a number of restrictions and conditions, and imposes
restrictions on the topics of discussion. In May, the Government
enacted Law No. 12, which regulates the right to form private societies
and institutions. Law No. 12 also allows individuals, for the first
time, to establish professional societies for the purpose of elevating
the level of the profession. While Law No. 12 endorses the
participation of citizens and non-citizens alike, it imposes conditions
and restrictions on non-citizens who want to practice this right.
During the last 6 months of the year, progress was made in establishing
the conditions for implementation of the new labor law, to be enacted
in January 2005. Although this new labor law expands and protects
workers' rights in some areas, in others the new law is restrictive.
The law prohibits non-citizen workers from forming labor unions or
associations, and restricts the rights to bargain collectively and
strike. Also, in March, the Government enacted Law No. 2, which
guarantees the rights of persons with disabilities and ensured their
entitlement to government services to include among others: Education,
healthcare and employment.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture, and there were no reports that
government officials employed torture. However, the Government
administered most corporal punishment prescribed by its interpretation
of Islamic law but did not allow amputation. Punishments were not
administered publicly.
The Government permitted the independent monitoring of prison
conditions. In July, Amnesty International (AI) conducted one visit.
According to the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), a government-
funded human rights non-government organization which conducted three
visits to the men and women prisons during the year, prison conditions
generally met international standards. In August, diplomatic officials
also conducted a visit to the men and women deportation center in
August and found conditions there met international standards.
Women were held separately from men, and juveniles were held
separately from adults. Pretrial detainees were held separately from
convicted prisoners. Security prisoners were also held separately in
special prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions in practice; however, in some cases these rights
were restricted by Law No. 17 of 2002, which was used to ``protect
society.''
Suspects are charged within 48 hours and must appear before a judge
within 4 days of their arrest. 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 1 week at a time to allow the authorities
to conduct investigations. The accused is entitled to legal
representation throughout the process. There were no provisions for
state funded legal counsel for indigents. Suspects who were detained in
security cases generally were afforded access to counsel; however, they
may be detained indefinitely while under investigation.
Law No. 17 is aimed specifically at the ``protection of society''
and provides official exemption from the prohibition of arbitrary
arrest and detention and the code of criminal procedure. The law
empowers the Minister of Interior to detain a defendant on 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 2 weeks to 6 months.
Moreover, that period can be extended up to 2 years at the discretion
of Ministry of Interior officials. The prime minister adjudicates
complaints against these detentions. According to human rights
officials, there were eight cases of individuals arrested under this
law during the year. Five of the individuals were released after
follow-up from the NHRC organization that promotes the observance and
protection of human rights and basic freedoms. Three remained in
detention for 6 months and were then transferred to the courts. They
were convicted and, at years end, were waiting the appeal of their
cases. In addition, since June, nine men were held in detention at the
central jail due to their nationality being revoked. There were no
cases of incommunicado detention.
The Ministry of the Interior controls the police forces, which
include the Coast Guard and Border Police, Fire Department, and
Immigration Authorities. They generally were effective, and corruption
and abuse of power were minimal. The Ministry of the Interior has an
Office of Human Rights in its Legal Department to deal primarily with
labor and issues involving trafficked persons.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the Constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, approximately half of the judges were
foreign nationals holding residence permits granted by the civil
authorities. All judges held their positions at the discretion of the
Government. The Emir appoints all judges based on the recommendation of
the Supreme Judiciary Council.
The Adlea (Civil Law) courts and Shari'a (Islamic law) courts have
been united under the Supreme Judiciary Council. Since 2002, with the
enactment of Law No. 10, general prosecutors have been independent from
the authority of the Ministry of Interior.
Before the merging of the Adlea and Shari'a courts in October, the
Adlea courts had jurisdiction in commercial, national security,
trafficking, and criminal matters. The Shari'a courts had jurisdiction
in family, inheritance, deportation, wrongful injury, and most other
civil cases. The law provides for the establishment of occasional state
security courts, although there have been no cases before these courts
since the Emir assumed power. Defendants tried by all courts have the
right to appeal. In October, the High Court of Cassation was
established as the highest appellate court in the country.
The Shari'a courts applied most principles contained in the draft
Family Status Law, which covers marriage, inheritance, and juvenile
matters. Shari'a trials usually were brief. Shari'a family law trials
often were held without counsel; however, an increasing number of
litigants, especially women, had legal representation. As of October,
there were no separate Shari'a trials with the merging of the Adlea and
Shari'a Courts.
Criminal cases normally were tried within 2 to 3 months after
suspects were detained. Suspects are entitled to bail, except in cases
of violent crime. Foreigners charged with minor crimes can be released
to a citizen sponsor, although they are prohibited from departing the
country until the case is resolved. Defendants in the civil courts have
the right to legal representation.
Both Muslim and non-Muslim litigants may request the Shari'a courts
to assume jurisdiction in family, commercial, and civil cases. Court
trials are 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. Shi'a and Sunni judges apply
their own interpretations in cases involving issues of family status
and inheritance. There is an adequate number of both Shi'a and Sunni
judges to accommodate their population and their population respects
their decisions.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits 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. There were no reports of unauthorized searches
of homes during the year. The police and security forces were believed
to monitor the telephone calls of suspected criminals, of those
considered to be security risks, and of selected foreigners.
Citizens must obtain government permission to marry foreigners and
to apply for residence permits or citizenship for their spouses. Such
permission generally was granted for male citizens. In practice, female
citizens were not able to provide citizenship for their husbands.
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 imposed
some restrictions on these rights in practice. Journalists continued to
practice self-censorship due to social and political pressures when
reporting on government policies, the ruling family, and relations with
neighboring states.
Citizens expressed many of their views freely and in public,
although they avoided discussing sensitive political and religious
issues. The larger noncitizen population did not express itself as
freely or as publicly. Toward the end of the year the Government
initiated a series of public debates, called the ``Doha Debates''
addressing political issues of the day, such as separation of mosque
and state and regional democratic reform. The Government did not
prosecute anyone for the expression of views considered offensive.
Newspapers are not state-owned; however, the owners or board
members generally are either high-level government officials or have
ties to government officials. Copies of foreign newspapers and
magazines were censored for explicit sexual content.
The Censorship Office in the Qatar Radio and Television Corporation
reviewed materials for pornography and material deemed hostile to
Islam, reports on government policies, and the ruling family. There
were no reports of political censorship of foreign print or broadcast
news media or foreign programs.
Customs officials screened and censored imported print and
electronic media for items on government policies and the ruling
family, but officials no longer blocked the personal importation of
non-Islamic religious items (see Section 2.c.). The law provides for
criminal penalties and jail sentences for libel. All cases involving
the media fall under the jurisdiction of the criminal courts.
State-owned television and radio reflected government views, but
the satellite television network, Al Jazeera Satellite Channel (JSC),
provided an internationally oriented perspective that JSC and the
Government both claimed to be free of government influence. JSC was
government subsidized but independent. JSC programs generally did not
cover local news. Callers to a popular morning show on the state owned
radio frequently discussed topics such as government inefficiency and
the lack of responsiveness by various ministries to citizens' needs,
such as poor schools, failure to deliver adequate water and sewage
services, and problems with the health care system.
The Government censored the Internet for religious reasons and
pornographic content through a proxy server, which blocked websites
containing certain key words and phrases. A user who believed that a
site was censored mistakenly could submit the Web address to have the
site reviewed for suitability.
The Constitution provides for freedom of opinion and scientific
research; however, there was no tradition of academic freedom, and
instructors at the University of Qatar exercised self-censorship.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Law No. 18,
enacted in November, provides for and regulates freedom of assembly;
however, a permit is required for such public gatherings. A number of
restrictions and conditions must be met in order to acquire a permit,
one of which is the permission of the Public Security director general,
whose decision is immune from appeal. The Government generally did not
allow political demonstrations.
A new statute, Law No. 12, regulates the right to form private
societies and professional associations, and the Government severely
limited this right in practice. The law allows for the participation of
non-citizens in private societies only in cases where their
participation is deemed necessary to the work of the society. Law No.
12 also imposes strict conditions for the establishment, management,
and function of these societies and associations. Among others, 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 cases of professional societies, they must pay approximately
$14,000 in licensing fees and their permits are valid for only a 3-year
period, after which time they must renew their license and pay the same
fees. The Government did not allow political parties or international
professional organizations critical of the Government or of any other
Arab government. Security forces monitored the activities of such
groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
worship, in accordance with the law and the requirements of protecting
the public system and public behavior; however, the Government
continued to prohibit proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims and
placed some restrictions on public worship.
The state religion is Islam, as interpreted by the conservative
Wahhabi order of Sunni Islam. Both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims practiced
Islam freely. Shi'a Muslims did not organize traditional Shi'a
ceremonies or perform rites such as self flagellation in public, but
did so 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, but there were no Shi'a employed in senior national security
positions.
The Government has given legal status to Catholic, Anglican,
Orthodox, Coptic, and many Asian Christian denominations; other
Christian congregations may request recognition. However, the
Government does not allow the building of any new places of worship
without permission. It has provided congregations with registration
numbers that allow them to open bank accounts and sponsor clergy for
visas. The Emir designated land in Doha for the construction of
Christian churches; however, Christian religious leaders had not
applied to the Municipal Council for building permits by year's end.
Non-Muslims may not proselytize; however, the Government no longer
places restrictions on public worship by non-Muslims. Converting from
Islam was considered apostasy and was technically a capital offense;
however, since 1971, there have been no records of prosecution for such
a crime.
The Government did not permit Hindus, Buddhists, Bahai's, or
members of other religions to operate as freely as Christian
congregations. However, there was no official effort to prevent
adherents of these faiths from practicing privately.
Individuals were not prevented from importing Bibles and other
religious items for personal use. Government officials only monitor
Islamic religious literature and copies of the Koran. Religious
materials for use at Christmas and Easter were available readily in
local shops. However, Bibles were not 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 acts of physical violence against or harassment of
Jewish persons; however, some anti-Jewish sentiments were expressed in
cartoons in local Arabic newspapers.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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. There were no restrictions on internal
travel, except around sensitive military and oil installations. In
general, women over 30 years old did not require permission from male
guardians to travel; however, men may prevent female relatives and
children from leaving the country by providing their names to
immigration officers at ports of departure. Technically, women employed
by the Government must obtain official permission to travel abroad when
requesting leave, but the extent to which this regulation was enforced
was not known. 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
sometimes faced restrictions on their right to travel abroad.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile of citizens. However, there
were reports of increasing numbers of citizens whose nationality has
been revoked toward the end of the reporting period. This policy
created ``stateless'' persons. Once their nationality is revoked, these
individuals automatically lose their jobs, and they and their families
are no longer eligible to receive government assistance--that is,
access to free education, healthcare, government loans, land, housing,
and employment.
The Constitution provides that citizens have the right to return.
Foreigners were subject to restrictions on entry and exit designed to
control the size of the local labor force (see Sections 6.c. and 6.d.).
Foreign women who are married to citizens were granted residence
permits and may apply for citizenship; however, they were expected to
relinquish their foreign citizenship.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or 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 may remain as long as they are sponsored.
There were no reports of the forced return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
During the year, the country took some steps toward more democratic
governance by enacting some of the changes called for in the new
Constitution, and the legal and institutional environment was evolving;
however, citizens do not have the right to peacefully change their
government. The new Constitution provides for a more democratic
political system, hereditary rule by the Emir's branch of the Al-Thani
family, and legislative authority to be vested in normal circumstances
in an Advisory Council with 30 elected members and 15 members appointed
by the Emir. National elections for the 30 seats are expected to be
announced in 2005, to be followed by the holding of elections in late
2005 or early 2006. The influence of Bedouin tribal traditions was
still strong, and the Government did not permit political parties or
organized opposition groups.
The Emir exercises most executive powers, including appointment of
cabinet members. In 2003, citizens elected all 29 members of the
Central Municipal Council, a nonpartisan body that 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. The elections were generally regarded as free and fair,
although only 30 percent of eligible voters participated.
Influence of traditional attitudes and roles continued to limit
women's participation in politics; however, there are currently a
number of women serving in public office: Sheikha bint Ahmed al-Mahmud
as Minister for Education and Teaching; Sheikha Aisha bint Khalifa Al-
Thani, member of the ruling family, is president of the Election
Committee; and Sheikha Ghalia bint Mohammad bin Hamad Al-Thani, also a
member of the ruling family, is Deputy Chairperson of the National
Human Rights Commission. There was also one woman serving on the
Central Municipal Council. A woman is the President of the University
of Qatar. The Emir's sister is Vice President of the Supreme Council of
Family Affairs and also has the rank of Minister.
The Government did not deny access to information but most was not
readily available, particularly statistical data. The Government
publishes all of its laws in the official gazette; however, it had not
developed sufficient resources to facilitate the publication or access
to economic statistics, demographical data, or draft legislation being
analyzed or considered by the government or Advisory Council.
Government officials shared draft legislation with select industry
representatives for comment, but this information was not open to all
companies or interested parties. The Ministry of Economy and Commerce
and Qatar Central Bank provided published materials on laws and
procedures for the public, but these efforts were not consistent
throughout the Government. Individuals and private institutions can
request this information from the ministries and the Planning Council.
The lack of transparency in government procurement was an issue of
concern. Some companies expressed concerns about government
procurement, particularly the lack of clarity in the conditions and
criteria of the tender, proper notification or explanation for
companies that did or did not qualify for tenders, and the inability to
challenge awards.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Law No. 18 enacted in November provides for the right to form
private independent societies and associations; however, currently
there were no independent human rights groups that exist in the
country. The NHRC comprised of members of both government ministries
and civil society was established by governmental decree in May to
investigate and improve local human rights conditions. The NHRC held
numerous training workshops for government officials. Participants
included those from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense,
State Security Organization, Public Prosecution and the Courts. The
NHRC also successfully managed to help three Arab expatriates to be
released from jail. During the year, AI twice visited the country to
investigate conditions in the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination in the workplace; however,
institutional, cultural, and legal discrimination based on gender,
national origin, and social status existed.
Women.--The official interpretation of Shari'a prohibits all forms
of physical abuse. According to a local quasi-governmental organization
on family issues, domestic violence against women occurred, but was not
widespread. During the year, there were no publicized arrests or
convictions for domestic violence. The maximum penalty for rape was
death. Shari'a provides no punishment for spousal rape.
Some employers mistreated foreign domestic servants, especially
those from South Asia and the Philippines (see Section 6.e.). 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
source country embassies, the majority of cases were resolved amicably
within 48 hours. Those not resolved within 48 hours were transferred to
the Criminal Evidence and Investigation Department (CEID) of the
Ministry of Interior for a maximum of seven days. Cases not resolved
within 7 days were transferred to the court. According to the
Indonesian Embassy, 669 housemaids reported mistreatment by their
employers during the year. Complaints included sexual harassment,
physical torture, overwork, imprisonment, and maltreatment. Abused
domestic servants usually did not press charges for fear of losing
their jobs.
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; however, such honor
killings are rare and none occurred during the year.
Traditions and the interpretation of Shari'a law restricted the
activities of women. The Government adhered to an interpretation of
Shari'a that recognizes that Muslims have the automatic right to
inherit from their Muslim spouses; however, 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. A Muslim husband does not
automatically inherit the property of a non-Muslim wife. Muslim wives
have the right to inherit from their husbands; however, they inherit
only one-half as much as male relatives. In cases of divorce, young
children usually remain with the mother, regardless of her religion.
Women may attend court proceedings but generally are represented by
a male relative; however, women may represent themselves if they wish.
The testimony of two women equals that of one man, but the courts
routinely interpret this on a case-by-case basis. A non-Muslim woman is
not required to convert to Islam upon marriage to a Muslim; however,
many make a personal decision to do so. A noncitizen woman is not
required to become a citizen upon marriage to a citizen. Children born
to a Muslim father are considered to be Muslim.
Many women serve as senior professionals in government service,
education, health, and private business. Women made up 14.2 percent of
the overall workforce, and 26 percent of the local national workforce,
including as university professors, public school teachers, and police.
Women appeared to receive equal pay for equal work; however, they often
did not receive equal allowances, which generally covered
transportation and housing costs.
Although women above 30 years of age legally were able to travel
abroad alone (see Section 2.d.), tradition and social pressures caused
most women to travel with male escorts.
With the enactment of Law No. 12 in November, women have the right
to form independent women's rights organizations. Prior to and since
the enactment of this law, the Supreme Council for Family Affairs
sought 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 established five organizations that deal
with women and children issues: The Women and Children Protection
Committee, the Family Consulting Center, the Motherhood and Childhood
Cultural Center, the Orphans Care Center, and the Qatar Society for
Senior Citizens Care. The Children and Women Protection Committee
handled more than 100 cases involving children, education, health,
nationality, abuse, and custody. The Committee was successful in
resolving 90 percent of these cases.
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 citizens (both boys
and girls) through the age of 15. Education through primary school (the
equivalent of ninth grade) was compulsory and free for all citizen
children and for noncitizen children whose parents worked in the
government sector. Medical coverage for noncitizen children was
limited. The lack of primary educational and medical services to non-
citizen children caused hardship for a substantial part of the
expatriate population living in the country.
There was no societal pattern of abuse of children, apart from the
trafficked, juvenile camel jockeys (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The Women and Children Protection Committee of the Supreme Council
for Family Affairs maintained a children's hotline called the Friendly
Line for use by children. 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.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking for persons;
however, men and women were trafficked into situations of coerced
labor, and male children were trafficked into the country to serve as
jockeys in the camel races. In December, the Cabinet approved measures
to ban the use of children as camel jockeys.
More than 100 children aged 4 to 15, mostly of Sudanese origin,
were used as jockeys in camel races. Guardians and handlers, who often
claimed to be parents, brought the children into the country and
supervised their training. The boys lived in harsh conditions. They did
not receive proper education, medical care, and supervision. A visit to
a camel jockey compound found young, sickly, overworked and
malnourished Sudanese boys. Contact between the boys and their guardian
was infrequent, if at all. The boys subsisted on a substandard diet.
They were made to work very long hours and trained on a daily basis to
become riders.
The country also was a destination for women and girls who traveled
to the country to work as domestic servants. Some reported being forced
into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
In January, the Cabinet established the Trafficking in Persons
(TIP) Implementation Committee, which was charged with implementing
specific anti-trafficking reforms. It sponsored training for judges and
their deputies on prosecution of trafficking-related offenses. It
monitored immigration patterns for evidence of trafficking. The
Government provided assistance to domestics who have suffered from
abuse and provided shelter for them in deportation centers. It ran a
24-hour hotline to advise women and children in abusive situations.
Persons With Disabilities.--Law No. 2, enacted in March, requires
the allocation of resources for persons with disabilities and prohibits
the discrimination against persons with disabilities. Among some of the
rights and provisions mandated for persons with disabilities are:
Rehabilitation, education, transportation, medical and social care,
support services, access to public facilities, and employment. In the
case of the latter, 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 also required to hire persons with disabilities.
Further, those caught violating these employment provisions were
subject to fines. The Supreme Council for Family Affairs is charged
with ensuring compliance with the rights and provisions mandated under
Law No. 2.
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 health care, electricity,
water, and education (services that were provided free of charge to
citizens). Noncitizens generally cannot own property; however, Law 17,
enacted in June, regulates the right of usufruct and allows for
ownership of property in only two designated areas. The largest
nationality groups among noncitizens were Indian, Pakistani, and
Iranian nationals, and Arab nationals of other countries. In the
private sector, many citizens of Iranian origin occupied some of the
highest positions.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--During the year, the law prohibited
all workers from forming labor unions. However, the law provided for
the establishment of joint consultative committees composed of
representatives of the employer and workers. The committees did not
discuss wages but considered issues such as organization, productivity,
conditions of employment, training of workers, and safety measures and
their implementation. A new labor law, to be enacted in January 2005,
provides a limited right of association, but only for citizens. Those
working in the government sector are prohibited from joining unions.
Further, the new law permits only a single national trade union
structure.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) at a Gulf Cooperation
Council Labor Ministers' meeting in Doha in November 2003 signed a
protocol with GCC countries on cooperation to assist with upgrading
training facilities and developing methods to address employment
problems. Since the signing of the protocol, the GCC countries have
been working together to adopt ILO standards.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining was prohibited. 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.
Although the law does not provide workers with the right to strike,
some workers staged strikes as a means of seeking redress and
improvement in their work situation from employers. In September,
approximately 200 Asian workers of a construction company staged a 4-
day strike to protest poor conditions in their labor camps. The dispute
was resolved following an agreement reached between management and
workers in the presence of embassy officials and Labor Department
officials.
According to source country embassies and some migrant workers, the
Labor Department was widely perceived to be objective within a narrow
mandate when dealing with the nonpayment of wages and poor living
conditions. The Labor Department claimed that it resolved the vast
majority of worker complaints amicably, with a very small percentage
referred to the courts for judgment. In the absence of labor unions,
the Department did not consider wage levels.
In the new labor law, workers are granted the right to collective
bargaining and signing joint agreements; however, that right is
circumscribed by the Government's control over the rules and procedures
of the bargaining and agreement processes. The new law also grants
workers the right to strike; however, the conditions imposed by the
statute not only restrict that right in effect, but also make the
likelihood of striking extremely unlikely. Further, government
employees, domestic servants, and those in the public utility, health,
and security services are prohibited from striking.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Penalty Law,
enacted in June, prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by
children; however, foreign workers in some cases were employed under
circumstances that constituted forced labor. More than three-quarters
of the workforce were foreign workers who, dependent on a single
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.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
During the year, the law in effect provided that minors between the
ages of 15 and 18 could be employed with parental or guardian
permission, and some children worked in small, family-owned businesses;
however, some child labor occurred. Minors may not work more than 6
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 Department may prohibit the employment of minors in jobs
that are judged dangerous to the health, safety, or morals of minors.
Very young children, usually of African background, were employed as
jockeys in camel races (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, and the
Government generally enforced this prohibition only with respect to
citizen children (see Section 6.c.). The new labor law raised the
minimum age for employment to 16 years.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Although the law provides the
Emir with authority to set one, there was no minimum wage. The average
wage of non-citizen workers did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. According to Planning Council statistics, the
average monthly wage in 2001 was $795 (2,902 riyals). 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 7 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.
The Government has enacted regulations regarding worker safety, but
enforcement, which is the responsibilities 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 conducted visits to four labor camps and found the
majority of unskilled foreign laborers living in cramped, dirty, and
hazardous conditions, often without running water or electricity. A
visit to a camp adjacent to a paper factory where five workers had died
after exposure to toxic gases found the workers, 4 days later, still
being exposed to the same poisonous gases.
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. The law does not provide workers
specifically the 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, domestic servants generally did not
pursue such relief in order to avoid repatriation.
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. During the year,
the Government announced a labor amnesty as in incentive for sponsors,
employers, and laborers to rectify their legal status dispute, without
paying fines. 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.
__________
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia is a monarchy without elected representative
institutions or political parties. King Fahd bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud
suffered a stroke in 1995, and Crown Prince Abdullah has been the de
facto ruler since that time. As custodian of Islam's two holiest sites
in Mecca and Medina, the Government bases its legitimacy on governance
according to Islamic law (Shari'a). The Basic Law sets out the system
of government, rights of citizens, powers, and duties of the State, and
provides that the Koran and the Traditions (Sunna) of the Prophet
Muhammad are the country's Constitution. Neither the Government nor
Saudi society, in general, accepts the concept of separation of
religion and state. The King serves as Prime Minister and appoints the
crown prince. The Crown Prince is First Deputy Prime Minister and heir
apparent. The appointed Majlis al-Shura debates, rejects, and amends
government-proposed legislation, questions some government officials,
and has the power to initiate legislation. The Basic Law provides for
an independent judiciary; however, some members of the royal family are
not required to appear before the courts, and they and their associates
have influenced judges.
The Government maintains effective control of the various security
forces. Police and border forces under the Ministry of Interior (MOI)
are responsible for internal security. The MOI also controls the
Mabahith, or internal security force, and its own special forces. The
Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice (Mutawwa'in), or religious
police, is a semiautonomous agency that enforces adherence to strictly
conservative Islamic norms by monitoring public behavior. The Crown
Prince controls the National Guard. The Second Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Defense and Aviation is responsible for all of the
Ministry of Defense's armed forces. The Minister of Interior exercised
control over the Kingdom's internal security forces. Members of the
security forces committed human rights abuses.
The population was approximately 26.7 million, of which more than 7
million were foreign citizens. Oil revenue was the basis of the
transformation of the country from a Bedouin, nomadic, and rural
society to a predominantly settled and urban one. Oil and gas revenues
accounted for approximately 40 percent of the gross domestic product
(GDP) and 79 percent of government income. Agriculture accounted for
approximately 5 percent of GDP. Government spending accounted for 32
percent of GDP. Approximately 40 percent of the economy was nominally
private. The Government continued to implement its Saudiization policy,
which requires employers to increase the number of citizens in the work
force.
The Government's human rights record remained poor overall with
continuing serious problems, despite some progress. Citizens did not
have the right to change their government. Security forces continued to
abuse detainees and prisoners, arbitrarily arrest, and hold persons in
incommunicado detention. There were cases in which Mutawwa'in continued
to intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners. Most trials
were closed, and defendants usually appeared before judges without
legal counsel. Security forces arrested and detained reformers, some of
whom continued at year's end to seek an open trial. The Government
reportedly infringed on individuals' privacy rights. The Government
continued to restrict freedoms of speech and press, assembly,
association, religion, and movement. There was widespread public
perception that corruption by some members of the royal family and in
the executive branch of the Government was a serious problem. There was
little government transparency, especially notable in official budgets,
and with no laws providing the right to access government information.
The Government continued to discriminate against women, ethnic and
religious minorities and to impose strict limitations on worker rights.
On November 23, the Government began registering non-military, male
citizens and candidates for the country's first nationwide municipal
elections. Municipal elections for 4-year terms to half of the seats on
178 local councils are slated to take place between February and April
2005. Women were not permitted to vote or run for office. In June, the
King Abd Al-Aziz Center for National Dialogue held its third conference
in a series intended ``to build and enhance a culture of dialogue in
Saudi society.'' The government-sponsored conference focused on the
issue of ``women's rights and obligations and the educational
correlation.'' The Fourth National Dialogue in December focused on
``Youth Issues: Realities and Aspirations'' and recommended developing
the curricula to cultivate among Saudi pupils ``the values of
moderation, the middle path, and respect for others--and to make them
accustomed to conducting discussion and debate.''
The newly formed government-patronized National Society for Human
Rights (NSHR), the first human rights group which the Government has
formally permitted to operate in the country, began to address some
human rights violations, such as prison conditions. In October, the
Government amended the naturalization law to permit some long-term
residents to apply for citizenship. This step was particularly
significant for the thousands of Bidoons (descendants of stateless
nomads) residing in the country.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of political 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 stoning, amputation, or death, and
sentences can only be enforced pursuant to a Royal Decree issued by the
King.
During the year, terrorists killed more than 30 foreigners and
citizens, including 5 employees of a foreign consulate in Jeddah. Their
attacks consisted of kidnappings, targeted shootings, bombings, and
beheadings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Criminal Procedure section of the Basic law prohibits
torture and Shari'a (Islamic law) prohibits any judge from accepting a
confession obtained under duress; however, authorities reportedly at
times abused detainees, both citizens and foreigners. Ministry of
Interior officials were responsible for most incidents of abuse of
prisoners, including beatings, whippings, and sleep deprivation. In
addition, there were allegations of beatings with sticks and suspension
from bars by handcuffs. There were allegations that these practices
were used to force confessions from prisoners.
Canadian and British prisoners released in 2003 reported that they
had been tortured during their detention; however, the Government
denied these claims.
Maintaining its reservation to Article 20 of the Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
the Government does not recognize the jurisdiction of the Committee
Against Torture to investigate allegations of systematic torture.
During the year, the Mutawwa'in harassed, abused, and detained
citizens and foreigners of both sexes. They also brought citizens to
police stations for detention. These incidents were most common in the
central region, including the capital, Riyadh, and less frequent in the
eastern and western regions of the country. Mutawwa'in abuses continued
during the year, despite an initial decrease following the May 2003
terrorist attacks.
The Government punished criminals according to its interpretation
of Shari'a. Punishments included imprisonment, flogging, amputation,
and execution by beheading. At year's end, the press reported
approximately 30 executions, including one woman. Executions were for
killings, narcotics-related offenses, rape, and armed robbery. The
authorities punished repeated thievery and other repeated offenses by
amputation of the right hand and left foot. Persons convicted of less
serious offenses, such as alcohol-related offenses or being alone in
the company of an unrelated person of the opposite sex, sometimes were
punished by caning. The Government also punished convicted persons by
flogging. According to press reports, lashes 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 to leave painful welts that bleed and bruise.
At year's end, there were no reports that the flogging sentences
imposed on the demonstrators arrested in October 2003 had been
commuted.
Prison and jail conditions varied. Prisons reportedly generally met
internationally accepted standards and provided air conditioned cells,
good nutrition, regular exercise, and careful patrolling by prison
guards. The Government permitted the NSHR to visit some prisons or
jails during the year. In December, the NSHR released a report on
conditions in jails, detention centers, and police station detention
facilities. According to the press, they found that ``in general
conditions were good.'' However, there was variation. The report cited
below-acceptable standards in hygiene, food, medical, and social
services; prolonged detention of expatriates because their sponsors
refused to provide travel tickets; and prolonged detention of prisoners
in poor health. The report also noted that many jails remained
overcrowded because prisoners remained in jail long after they had
completed their sentences. Authorities occasionally allowed family
members access to detainees, but in some cases only after a significant
period of time. The authorities restricted access of foreign visitors
to the prisons, 80 percent of whose inmates were non Saudis, according
to Human Rights Watch. The Government maintained separate detention
facilities for men, women, and juveniles.
There are several Committees for Collection of Donations for
Impoverished Prisoners throughout the country. The Committees raised
funds in order to pay for fines resulting from traffic accidents and
civil cases since prisoners are required to remain in custody until the
fines are paid, regardless of length of sentence.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention and limits the period of arrest to 5 days without
charges being filed; however, in practice, persons were held weeks or
months and sometimes longer, and the law gives the Minister of Interior
broad powers to detain persons indefinitely.
The authorities at times arrested and detained persons without
following explicit legal guidelines. The Mutawwa'in intimidated and
brought to police stations persons whom they accused of committing
``crimes of vice'' based on their own religious interpretations.
The regulations also provide for bail for less serious crimes,
although authorities at times released detainees on the recognizance of
a patron or sponsoring employer without the payment of bail. If they
were not released, authorities typically detained accused persons for
an average of 2 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.
On April 19, the Government re-arrested Islamist dissident Shaykh
Sa'eed bin Za'er for remarks made on Al-Jazeera about terrorism in the
country. Za'er had been released in March 2003 after more than 8 years
in prison for publicly condemning a fatwa permitting peace with Israel.
At year's end, he remained in detention. A dual Jordanian-American
citizen, Ahmed Abu Ali, has been held in detention since his arrest in
June 2003.
The Government continued its long-standing tradition of releasing
prisoners in honor of Ramadan.
The Mutawwa'in have the authority to detain persons for no more
than 24 hours for violations of the strict standards of proper dress
and behavior; however, at times, they exceeded this limit before
delivering detainees to the police (see Section 1.f.). Procedures
required a police officer to accompany the Mutawwa'in at the time of an
arrest. Mutawwa'in generally complied with this requirement, however,
there were cases during the year in which Mutawwa'in detained persons
without the presence of a police officer. During the year, in the more
conservative Riyadh district, reports continued of Mutawwa'in
accosting, abusing, arresting, and detaining persons alleged to have
violated dress and behavior standards
The Mutawwa'in detained young men for offenses that included eating
in restaurants with young women, making lewd remarks to women in the
shopping malls, or walking in groups through family-only sections of
shopping centers. Mutawwa'in detained women of many nationalities for
actions such as riding in a taxi with a man who was not their relative,
appearing with their heads uncovered in shopping malls, and eating in
restaurants with males who were not their relatives. Many such
prisoners were held for days, sometimes weeks, without officials
notifying their families or, in the case of foreigners, their
embassies.
There were cases in which the Government arrested and detained
Christians, at times for holding services and at times apparently
arbitrarily (see Section 2.c.).
Political detainees who are arrested by the General Directorate of
Investigation (GDI), the Ministry of Interior's security service
(Mabahith), have been held incommunicado in special prisons during the
initial phase of an investigation, which may last weeks or months under
the Ministry's broad legal authority. The GDI restricted access of
families or lawyers to detainees.
The authorities may detain without charge persons who publicly
criticize the Government, or may charge them with attempting to
destabilize the Government (see Sections 2.a. and 3). Following the
demonstrations in December in this year and in October 2003 in a number
of cities, authorities arrested and detained political protesters for
weeks prior to charging them (see Sections 2.a. and 3).
The Government continued to commit abuses against members of the
Shi'a Muslim minority. Government security forces reportedly arrested
Shi'a based on scant suspicion, held them in custody for lengthy
periods, and then released them without explanation.
Citizens can report abuses by security forces at any police
station; however, there is no data on how complaints were handled.
In March, the Government arrested 13 leading advocates for
democratic reform in the Kingdom on charges that they were involved in
activities ``that do not serve the unity of the country or the cohesion
of a society based on Islamic law.'' Most were released after
reportedly signing statements promising not to speak publicly or to
agitate for reform; however, three remained imprisoned at year's end
(see Sections 1.e. and 2.d.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision; however, some members of the royal family generally 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 law allows for a public trial; however in practice, many trials
were not public.
The legal system is based on Shari'a. Shari'a courts exercise
jurisdiction over common criminal cases and civil suits regarding
marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance. Such jurisdiction
extends to non Muslims for crimes committed in the country. Cases
involving relatively small penalties were tried in Shari'a summary
courts. More serious crimes are adjudicated in Shari'a courts of common
pleas. Appeals from Shari'a courts are made to the courts of appeal.
Other civil proceedings, including those involving claims against
the Government and enforcement of foreign judgments, were held before
specialized administrative tribunals, such as the Commission for the
Settlement of Labor Disputes and the Board of Grievances.
The Government permitted Shi'a Muslims to use their own legal
tradition to adjudicate cases involving domestic issues, inheritance,
and Islamic endowments. However, there were only two judges, which was
insufficient to serve the large Shi'a population in the Eastern
Province. There was no comparable right for non-Muslims or foreigners,
whose cases were handled in regular Shari'a courts.
The military justice system has jurisdiction over uniformed
personnel and civil servants who are charged with violations of
military regulations. The Minister of Defense and Aviation and the King
review the decisions of courts-martial.
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 the lower court for reconsideration
The ``Ulema,'' the Council of Senior Religious Scholars is an
autonomous body of 20 senior religious jurists, including the Minister
of Justice. It interprets Shari'a establishing the legal principles to
guide lower-court judges. 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 the right
to inform convicts of their right to appeal rulings.
A woman's testimony does not carry the same weight as that of a
man. In a Shari'a court, the testimony of one man equals that of two
women. Under the Hanbali interpretation of Shari'a law followed in the
Kingdom, judges may discount the testimony of persons who are not
practicing Muslims or who do not adhere to the correct doctrine. Legal
sources reported that testimony by Shi'a is often ignored in courts of
law or is deemed to have less weight than testimony by Sunnis.
Female parties to court proceedings such as divorce and family law
cases generally must 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 almost always were 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 the case
of wrongful death, the amount of indemnity or ``blood money''
(compensation) 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; the law was used as
a justification for greater discrimination in calculating accidental
death or injury compensation. According to the country's Hanbali
interpretation of Shari'a, once fault is determined by a court, a
Muslim male receives 100 percent of the amount of compensation
determined, a male Jew or Christian received 50 percent, and all others
(including Hindus) received 1/16 of the amount a male Muslim receives.
Women receive 50 percent of what males receive in each of these
categories.
Provincial governors (almost all of whom are members of the royal
family) have the authority to exercise leniency and reduce a judge's
sentence. In general, some 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 reviewed 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 to pardon the
killer--usually in return for compensation from the family or the King.
The Government did not provide information regarding political
prisoners or respond to inquiries about them. The Government conducted
closed trials for persons who may have been political prisoners and in
other cases has detained persons incommunicado for long periods while
under investigation.
In March, the Government arrested 13 individuals who had been
leading advocates for democratic reform in the Kingdom. Most were
released after reportedly signing statements promising not to agitate
for reform; however, three who refused to sign such statements were
imprisoned and later put on trial. The Government formally charged the
individuals, most notably with charges of organizing petitions calling
for Constitutional reform and speaking to journalists. The courts held
several hearings concerning the cases, which journalists and other
observers were permitted to attend, and the press reported on these
proceedings during the year. Despite these hearings, at year's end, it
was still unclear whether the court will accede to the defendants'
demands that the trial be public (see Sections 1.d. and 2.d.).
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 to obtain a warrant prior to searching a residence, or a
court order prior to perusing personal correspondence or documents. The
Government generally respected this inviolability; however, there were
cases in which the Government infringed on these rights. Royal decrees
include provisions calling 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 the provincial governor before searching a private
home.
Customs officials routinely opened mail and shipments to search for
contraband, including material deemed pornographic and non-Sunni Muslim
religious material. Customs officials confiscated or censored materials
considered offensive, 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.
Security forces used wiretaps against foreigners suspected of alcohol-
related offenses. Informants and an informal system of ward bosses in
some districts reported ``seditious ideas,'' anti-government activity,
or behavior contrary to Islam in their neighborhoods to the Ministry of
the Interior.
The Government enforced most social and Islamic religious norms,
the Government's interpretations of which are matters of law (see
Section 5). 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. In
accordance with Shari'a, women are prohibited from marrying non-
Muslims; men may marry Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims.
Tradition and culture, not law, restrict marriages between Sunni and
Shi'a citizens, and the Government does not refuse marriage licenses
between Sunni and Shi'a couples.
The Government at times imposed restrictions on the right of
certain Government employees to marry foreigners. The Government
subjects top civil servants and security officials to extensive
questioning when applying to marry foreigners. The Government tends to
be more lenient in approving marriages to foreigners by the elderly and
disabled. The marital restrictions also applied to citizens studying
overseas on government scholarships. Violators risked disciplinary
action; however, this policy was rarely violated and there were no
reports of sanctions being imposed.
Mutawwa'in practices and incidents of abuse varied widely in
different regions of the country, but they were most numerous in the
central Nejd region. In certain areas, both the Mutawwa'in and
religious vigilantes acting on their own harassed, abused, arrested,
and detained citizens and foreigners (see Section 1.d.).
Mutawwa'in 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 men from entering public places
designated for families. Mutawwa'in frequently reproached 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.
Incidents with Mutawwa'in increased during Ramadan because many
felt they had added license to assert their authority during the holy
month.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Basic Law states that the
media's role is to educate the masses and boost national unity and that
it can be banned if it gives rise to mischief and discord, compromises
the security of the State and its public image, or offends man's
dignity and rights. The Government continued to restrict freedom of
speech and press, although there was regular discussion of social,
economic, and political issues previously considered taboo.
In March, journalist Faris Bin Hozam al-Harbi was banned from
writing or working for any newspaper. On November 6, the lead attorney
for the arrested reformers, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, was arrested. Al-
Lahem had signed an undertaking not to speak to the press about the
case, but continued to give interviews, telling one journalist that he
did not accept the Government's attempt to silence him.
No charges were entered against Al-Lahem, and he remained
imprisoned and without access to his family or lawyers at year's end.
In December, journalists for national newspapers the Saudi Gazette and
Al-Madina were arrested and later released at the trial of the
reformers arrested in March.
In 2003, the Government sanctioned several journalists for articles
and commentaries critical of the religious authorities and conservative
Muslim theology, particularly after the May 2003 terrorist attacks.
Newspapers reported on previously taboo subjects including
political, economic, and educational reform, women's rights, rights of
foreigners, corruption, religion, and domestic problems such as abuse
of women, servants, and children (see Section 5). Newspapers carried
stories about elections in neighboring Gulf countries and reported on
reform discussions within the country, including extensive coverage of
the upcoming municipal elections and voter and candidate registration.
The print media were censored and privately owned, but publicly
subsidized, and some were financially backed by or had close ties to
members of the royal family. Journalists also practiced self-
censorship, 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
media policy statement urged journalists to uphold Islam, oppose
atheism, promote Arab interests, and preserve cultural heritage. The
Ministry of Information appoints, and may remove, all editors-in-chief.
The Government also provided guidelines to newspapers regarding
controversial issues. The government-owned Saudi Press Agency (SPA)
expressed official government views.
In February 2003, the Government granted a charter to a
professional journalists' association. The association began
registering members, opening membership to all journalists in the
country or abroad who have worked in the profession for 3 years or
longer. Both men and women were members, and noncitizen journalists
working in the country were eligible to join as non-voting members. On
June 7, the association elected its first nine-member board of
directors, which included two female journalists.
The authorities continued to ban government employees from
criticizing the Government. On September 13, the Council of Ministers
announced that the Government planned to enforce 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 were 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 without prior government authorization. Two London-based
Arabic dailies, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and Al Hayat, were owned by members
of the royal family and were distributed widely and read in the
country. Both newspapers practiced some degree of self-censorship to
comply with government guidelines on sensitive issues.
The Government owned and operated most domestic television and
radio companies. Government censors removed any reference to politics,
religions other than Islam, pork or pigs, alcohol, and sex from foreign
programs and songs. There were several million satellite-receiving
dishes in the country, which provided citizens with foreign television
programming.
During the year, the Majlis al-Shura continued partial, delayed
television coverage of its proceedings and allowed journalists to
attend sessions. There was frequent coverage in the press of Majlis
proceedings and votes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held regular
press conferences for journalists. During the year, the press carried
timely and accurate coverage of terrorist attacks and the subsequent
government campaign against terrorism in the country.
Access by citizens to outside sources of information, such as
Arabic and Western satellite television channels and the Internet, was
widespread.
On January 12, the Government introduced a new locally based
satellite news channel, ``Al-Akhbaria,'' which included six female
newscasters on the staff.
The Government permitted a large number of international media
professionals and foreign journalists and photographers, both male and
female, to travel freely and to conduct interviews.
The Government banned all books, magazines, and other materials
that it considered sexual or pornographic in nature. The Ministry of
Information compiled and updated a list of publications that were
prohibited from being sold in the country. The Government censored most
forms of public artistic expression and prohibited cinemas and public
musical or theatrical performances, except those that were considered
folkloric.
Access to the Internet was available through local government-
monitored servers. There were as many as one million Internet
subscribers. Some citizens attempted to circumvent this control by
accessing the Internet through servers in other countries. The
Government attempted to block Web sites that it deemed sexual,
pornographic, politically offensive, or ``un-Islamic''; however, many
citizens were able to circumvent these restrictions.
A 2003 ban was continued, forbidding a university professor from
teaching and traveling. The ban was imposed because he had criticized
the Government's discriminatory policies against the Shi'a.
The Government restricted academic freedom. The Government
prohibited the study of evolution, Freud, Marx, Western music, and
Western philosophy. Professors reportedly believed that informers
monitored their classroom comments and reported them to government and
religious authorities.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Basic Law
does not address freedom of association or assembly, and the Government
strictly limited it in practice and prohibited public demonstrations as
a means of political expression.
On December 16, police arrested 21 persons for taking part in an
anti-government protest in Jeddah. The protest was called by Saad al-
Faqih, a London-based Saudi, who was designated by the United States as
a supporter of international terrorism. At year's end, the detainees
were awaiting trial (see Sections 1.d. and 3).
In October 2003, several hundred persons demonstrated in Riyadh and
other cities in a protest organized by the London-based Movement for
Islamic Reform (MIRA). Police broke up the protest and arrested most of
the demonstrators (see Sections 1.d. and 3). During the February Shi'a
Ashura observance in Qatif, the Government permitted worshippers to
gather over the course of a ten-day period. The celebration occurred
without reports of government harassment.
Public meetings were segregated by sex. Unless sponsored by
diplomatic missions or approved by the appropriate governor, foreign
residents who seek to hold unsegregated meetings risked arrest and
deportation. The authorities monitored any large gatherings of persons,
particularly women. The Mutawwa'in dispersed groups of women found in
public places, such as restaurants. Government policy permits women to
attend cultural and social events if accompanied by a father, brother,
adult son, or husband; however, the policy was not consistently
enforced.
The Government prohibited the establishment of political parties or
any type of opposition group (see Section 3). However, until the arrest
of reformers in March, groups of reform supporters and participants in
the annual national dialogues submitted petitions to the Government on
reform, women's rights, religious moderation, and public participation.
In February 2003, the Government licensed a journalists' association,
approved the establishment of a human rights organization, and
announced plans to form a bar association (see Section 4). A large
number of humanitarian organizations and tribal and professional
societies exist licensed by the Government, such as the Saudi Chemists
Society and the Saudi Pharmacists Society.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Government does not provide legal
protection for freedom of religion and such protection did not exist in
practice. Freedom of religion did not exist. Islam is the official
religion, and the law provides that all citizens must be Muslims.
The Government prohibited the public practice of non-Muslim
religions. In general, non-Muslims are able to worship privately, but
must exercise great discretion to avoid attracting attention.
Conversion by a Muslim to another religion was considered apostasy.
Apostasy is a crime under Shari'a and, according to the Government's
interpretation, is punishable by death. On October 31, a citizen was
arrested in Hofuf and jailed. International NGO and local media reports
claimed that he had converted to Christianity. No further information
on him or his case was available at year's end.
The Shi'a Muslim minority (approximately 2 million of approximately
26.7 million citizens) lived mostly in the Eastern Province, although a
significant number also resided in Medina in the Western Province. Its
members were subjected to officially sanctioned political, social, and
economic discrimination (see Section 5).
The Government permitted the celebration of the Shi'a holiday of
Ashura in the eastern province city of Qatif. The police monitored the
celebrations. No other public Ashura celebrations were permitted in the
country, and many Shi'a traveled to Qatif or to Bahrain to participate
in Ashura celebrations. The Government continued to enforce other
restrictions on the Shi'a community, such as banning Shi'a books.
The Government issued permits to construct Shia mosques, and a new
mosque was constructed in Qatif. The Shi'a have declined government
offers to build state-supported mosques because the Government would
prohibit the incorporation and display of Shi'a motifs in any such
mosques.
Magic was widely believed in and sometimes practiced; however,
under the Government's interpretation of Shari'a, the practice of magic
was regarded as the worst form of polytheism, an offense for which no
repentance was accepted, and which was punishable by death. There were
an unknown number of detainees held in prison on the charge of
``sorcery'' or the practice of ``black magic'' or ``witchcraft.'' The
press reported several cases in which police arrested persons accused
of sorcery, including a case in September in which three African women
were arrested in Jeddah. There were reports of Shi'a Ismailis
(Seveners) in Najran charged with practicing magic; however, the Shi'a
Ismailis maintained that their practice adheres to the Seveners
interpretation of Islam. There was no information available on prison
time or punishment.
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. The practice of
other schools of Sunni Islam was discouraged, and adherents of the
Shi'a branch of Islam faced institutionalized discrimination, including
restrictions on religious practice and on the building of mosques and
community centers.
The Government prohibited public non-Muslim religious activities.
Non-Muslim worshippers risked arrest, lashing, deportation, and torture
for engaging in overt religious activity that attracted official
attention. The Government did not provide explicit guidelines, such as
the number of persons permitted to attend and acceptable locations, for
determining what constitutes private worship, which made distinctions
between public and private worship unclear. Such lack of clarity, as
well as instances of arbitrary enforcement by the authorities, forced
most non-Muslims to worship in such a manner as to avoid discovery by
the Government or others. Authorities deported those detained for non-
Muslim worship, almost always after lengthy periods of arrest.
There were reports that Christians were detained for practicing
their religion. During the year, there were scattered raids, arrests,
and detentions of Christians throughout the country, although fewer
than in the past. In February, the Government deported a resident
Christian after he provided an Arabic Bible to a citizen. In November,
the Government deported an Indian Christian arrested in April. There
were credible reports that Mutawwa'in arrested him for religious
reasons after a dispute with his employer. According to other reports,
the Mutawwa'in beat him on the day of the arrest and confiscated his
personal property, including two Bibles, compact disks, a personal
computer, and religious videos.
The Government did not officially permit non-Muslim clergy to enter
the country for the purpose of conducting religious services, although
some came under other auspices. Such restrictions made it very
difficult for most non-Muslims to maintain contact with clergymen and
attend services. Catholics and Orthodox Christians, who require a
priest on a regular basis to receive the sacraments required by their
faith, particularly were affected.
Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non
Muslim religious materials such as Bibles, was illegal. Muslims or non-
Muslims wearing religious symbols of any kind in public risked
confrontation with the Mutawwa'in.
Under the Hanbali interpretation of Shari'a law, judges may
discount the testimony of persons who are not practicing Muslims or who
do not adhere to the correct doctrine.
Islamic religious education was mandatory in public schools at all
levels. All students received religious instruction, which generally
was limited to that of the Hanbali school of 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, as well as Muslims.
The Government required noncitizens to carry Iqamas, or legal
resident identity cards, which contained a religious designation for
``Muslim'' or ``non-Muslim.'' There were reports that individual
Mutawwa'in pressured Saudi sponsors not to renew Iqamas, which had been
issued for employment, of individuals for religious reasons.
During the holiday season, the press reported that shopkeepers in
Riyadh sold Christmas cards under the counter. During the year, the
Committee prohibited the sale of cards and flowers for exchange on
Valentine's Day
In March, the press reported that a schoolteacher on trial for
apostasy was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to three years in
jail and 300 lashes. The teacher was banned from teaching and writing
in the press. The court dropped the original charge of apostasy.
There are no public places of worship for non-Muslims in the
country. While significant numbers of Christians reside in the country,
there are very few Jews. There exist no synagogues or churches in the
country, and, while there have been no specific reports of physical
violence against, or harassment of Jewish people, there have been
numerous reports of violence against and harassment of Christians.
There were frequent instances in which mosque preachers, whose
salaries are paid by the Government, used strongly anti-Jewish language
in their sermons. Although this language declined in frequency since
the May 2003 attacks in Riyadh, there continued to be instances in
which mosque speakers prayed for the death of Jews, including from the
Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.
Anti-Semitic sentiments were present in the print and electronic
media. For example, in an article in the May 1 issue of ``The Muslim
Soldier'' published by the Religious Affairs Department of the Saudi
Armed Forces, the author wrote that the fabricated Torah, Talmud, and
Protocols of the Elders of Zion command the destruction of all non-Jews
in order to achieve their goal of world domination. The local press
rarely printed articles or commentaries disparaging other religions.
NGOs have reported on intolerance in the education system and, in
particular on the presence of anti-Semitic content in some school
textbooks. Authorities have taken measures to address these concerns,
including in 2003 the wholesale revision of textbooks to remove content
disparaging religions other than Islam.
The official tourism website stated that Jews were banned from
entering the country; however, it was not enforced in practice. On
March 1, the Government removed this statement from the site replacing
it with a statement regretting ``any inconvenience this may have
caused.''
December 14 was ``security day'' in all schools in Riyadh to
``educate against extremism and terrorism.''
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Citizen men have the freedom to travel
within the country and abroad; however, the Government restricted these
rights for women based on its interpretation of Islamic Law. All women
in the country were prohibited from driving and were dependent upon
males for transportation. Likewise, they must obtain written permission
from a male relative or guardian before the authorities would allow
them to 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 the minor and single adult daughters of
Saudi fathers. Since 2001, women have been able to obtain their own
identity cards; however, the Government required that they obtain
permission to receive a card from a male relative or guardian (see
Section 5).
The restrictions on travel also applied to foreign citizen children
of citizen fathers. In cases where there were custody disputes between
foreign citizen women and their citizen husbands, the husband was able
to prevent the travel of the children out of the country. These
restrictions on travel can continue even after female children reach
adulthood, although the Government has worked with foreign consular
officials to overcome a father's or husband's refusal to permit the
travel of adult foreign citizen female relatives. 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.
Foreigners typically were allowed to reside or work in the country
only under the sponsorship of a citizen or business. The Government
required 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 began providing 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
of any nation. They are collectively known as ``Bidoons'' (``without''
in Arabic). These are native born residents who lack citizenship due to
an ancestor's failure to obtain Saudi nationality, including
descendents of nomadic tribes such as the Anaiza and Shammar, 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. Because of their lack of citizenship, they were denied
employment and educational opportunities, and had a limited ability to
travel. Bidoons are among the poorest residents of the country, and
reside at the margins of society.
The law prohibits employers from retaining foreign workers'
passports. However, some sponsors often retained possession of foreign
workers' passports, although some classes of foreign workers were
allowed to keep their 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. Some sponsors used this as a pressure tactic
to resolve disputes in their favor or to have foreign employees
deported. There were reports of the Government prohibiting foreign
employees involved in labor disputes from departing the country until
the dispute was resolved (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
them 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 authorities sometimes confiscated the passports of suspected
oppositionists and their families.
Citizens may emigrate. The Government prohibited dual citizenship;
however, children who hold other citizenship by virtue of birth abroad
increasingly were permitted to leave the country using non-Saudi
passports. In October, the Government passed a new citizenship law by
which long-term residents and other foreigners could obtain
citizenship. The Government imposed travel bans on some of the
reformers arrested in March (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
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). In addition, the Government has
revoked the rights of some citizens to travel outside the country. In
several cases, it has done so for political reasons without notifying
the individual or providing opportunities to contest the document.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. The
Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees in assisting refugees and asylum seeker. The Basic Law
provides that ``the state will grant political asylum, if so required
by the public interest.''
The Deputy Representative in the Gulf Cooperation Council States of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that
approximately 400 Iraqi refugee families still reside at the Rafha
refugee camp situated a few miles from the Saudi-Iraqi border. The
Government has underwritten the entire cost of providing safe haven to
the Iraqi refugees and continued to provide logistical and
administrative support to the UNHCR and other resettlement agencies.
The UNHCR has monitored more than 3,000 persons voluntarily returning
to Iraq from Rafha since December 1991 and found no evidence of
forcible repatriation (see Section 1.c.). Citing security concerns,
UNHCR was no longer facilitating the organized repatriation of Iraqi
refuges.
There were no reports of the forced return of persons to a country
where they feared 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. The
Basic Law states that the Government is established on the principal of
``Shura'' or consultation, and requires the King and Crown Prince to
hold open majlises. The Basic Law states that all individuals have the
right to communicate with public authorities on any issue. There were
no formal democratic institutions, and only a few members of the ruling
family had a voice in the choice of leaders or in changing the
political system. The Government ruled on civil and religious matters
within 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, with the Crown Prince as First
Deputy Prime Minister. The King appoints all other ministers, who in
turn appoint subordinate officials with cabinet concurrence.
On November 23, voter and candidate registration for the country's
first nationwide municipal elections began for male citizens only.
Members of the armed forces may not vote; however, prison inmates were
permitted to do so. Of the 178 municipal districts in the country, 50
percent of 4-year term municipal council seats will be elected, and 50
percent will be appointed.
The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, consists of 120
appointed members and is divided into 11 committees. It was created in
1992 by King Fahd, and, in the past year has taken on an increasingly
important political role. The Majlis reviewed and voted on legislation
and often suggested amendments to the Government. The Government
generally accepted amendments made by the Majlis. The Majlis held
hearings with some government officials to review the performance of
their ministries and has the power to request documents from government
ministries.
The Council of Senior Islamic Scholars (Ulema) is another advisory
body to the King and the Cabinet. 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. In
theory, any male citizen or foreign national may express an opinion or
a grievance at a majlis, an open-door meeting held by the King, a
prince, or an important national or local official. During the year,
Crown Prince Abdullah held a variety of meetings with citizens
throughout the country. Ministers and district governors can be
approached for discussion at a majlis, which were held on a regular
basis.
In April 2003, a group of Shi'a submitted a petition to the Crown
Prince calling for reforms and drawing attention to the discrimination
against the country's Shi'a minority. In December 2003, a group of
citizen intellectuals and citizen women sent two separate petitions to
the Crown Prince in response to the pace of reform efforts. One
petition called for a constitutional monarchy, while the petition
submitted by over 300 women called for greater rights for women in the
country and greater recognition of their contributions to society.
After the March arrest of the reformers, there were no further
petitions.
The extremist Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights
(CDLR), established in 1993, and its splinter group, MIRA, established
in 1996, continued to criticize the Government, using the Internet and
satellite radio stations. On December 16, police arrested 21 persons
for taking part in an anti-government protest sponsored by MIRA in
Jeddah. In December, the U.S. designated MIRA's leader, Sa'ad al-Faqih,
a supporter of international terrorism. At year's end, the detainees
were awaiting trial (see Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
Following an October 2003 demonstration in Riyadh, hundreds of
citizens gathered October 23 in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ha'il. The
Government arrested most of the demonstrators, detained many of them
for a period of time without sentencing, then sentenced most to varying
sentences ranging from imprisonment to flogging, although, at year's
end, there were no reports that the sentences had been commuted (see
Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
There was a widespread public perception of corruption by some
members of the royal family and in the executive branch of the
Government. 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. Women continued to have no
formal role in government and politics, despite increased public
dialogue on the issue. In November, women participated in a gender-
segregated election of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Participation by women in a majlis was restricted, although some women
sought redress through female members of the royal family. On several
occasions, women have been called to advise members of the Majlis al-
Shura in private, closed-door sessions. There continued to be women's'
councils to advise local governors on issues concerning women. There
were no women or religious minorities in the Cabinet, and only 2 of the
120-member Majlis al-Shura were Shi'a.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government disagreed with internationally accepted definitions
of human rights and viewed its interpretation of Islamic law as the
only necessary guide to protect human rights. Unlike in last year when
for the first time an international human rights group visited the
country, there were no visits during the year.
The human rights NGO Human Rights First--the Society for Protecting
and Defending Human Rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia--continued to
operate without official government recognition.
On March 9, the King authorized the creation of the government
patronized National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), which
characterized itself as a national nongovernmental organization that
has no affiliation with governmental institutions. According to its
chairman, who was himself a member of the government-appointed Shura
council, none of its members had ties to the executive branch of the
Government; they were consultants, professors and retirees. Ten of its
41 members were women. In practice, the Society did not exercise full
independence from the Government. In December, the press reported that
a Jeddah branch of the office had begun hearing human rights
complaints. The report stated that the NSHR handled more than 500
complaints, including ``political injustices, administrative
corruption, and reports by expatriate workers alleging abuse.'' The
report also noted that citizens' complaints against government bodies
comprised 25 percent of the 519 cases, and foreign workers lodged 17
percent of the cases. There was no additional information as to the
other complaints.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
There was legal and systemic discrimination based on gender. The
law prohibits discrimination based on race, but not nationality,
although such discrimination occurred. 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 suffered social, legal, economic, and political
discrimination (see Section 2.c.).
In 2003, the press reported that approximately 1,500 citizens were
infected with HIV/AIDS (approximately 23 percent were women). In
November, the press reported that the number of HIV/AIDS cases reported
in the Kingdom increased by 100 percent. The most common form of
contracting the disease was through sexual intercourse; however, the
article mentioned the transfer through needle sharing and the treatment
of ``Hijwah.'' ``Hijwah'' is a superstitious medical practice in
society that withdraws ``bad blood'' that may contain illnesses. The
article also focused on the social stigma surrounding AIDS and the lack
of public education on the issue. In 2003, the Ministry of Health began
producing brochures on the illness and started group therapy and
awareness programs. In December, the Government sponsored a 2-day
conference in Jeddah to raise awareness of the problem in the country.
Women.--In June, the National Dialogue conference endorsed the
principle that there should be an expansion of women's role in public
life, in addition to reexamining restrictions imposed by custom or
tradition rather than Islam. In December 2003, the National Dialogue
held its second session, and 10 women participated for the first time.
There were several developments related to women's participation in
business, including the opening by the Saudi Arabian General Investment
Authority (SAGIA) of an all-female investment center in Riyadh to
facilitate investment in local businesses by citizen and foreign women.
On January 12, the Government introduced a new locally based satellite
news-channel, ``Al-Akhbaria,'' which included six female newscasters on
the staff. For the first time in 2003, the Jeddah Economic Forum
devoted an entire day to discussing the role of women in domestic and
international business.
In October, the Government amended the law on nationality
establishing new citizenship rules for women. Under the new law, women
may keep citizenship or acquire that of a citizen husband who has
acquired another citizenship. Wives of naturalized citizens may also
acquire citizenship if resident in the country and willing to
relinquish their original nationality. If a citizen woman marries a
foreigner and chooses to acquire her husband's citizenship, she will
lose Saudi citizenship. Finally, the foreign wife or widow of a citizen
will qualify for citizenship if she gives up her original nationality.
During the year, there was increased attention in the press to
women's issues, including questions such as gender discrimination,
domestic abuse, health, rising divorce rates, employment, driving, and
legal problems women face doing business. Despite great debate in the
press and in the media, at year's end, women were not granted
permission to participate in the municipal elections.
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, based on the
information available regarding physical spousal abuse and violence
against women, such violence and abuse appeared to be common problems.
Hospital workers reported that many women were admitted for treatment
of injuries that apparently resulted from spousal violence; hospitals
now are required to report any suspicious injuries to authorities. A
citizen may prevent his wife and any child or unmarried adult daughter
from obtaining an exit visa to depart the country, regardless of
nationality (see Section 2.d.).
Foreign embassies continued to receive many reports that employers
abused foreign women working as domestic servants. Some embassies of
countries with large domestic servant populations maintained safe
houses to which their citizens may flee to escape work situations that
included forced confinement, withholding of food, beating and other
physical abuse, and rape. Often the reported abuses were committed by
female citizens. During the year, the media reported more frequently on
cases involving domestic abuse of women, servants, and children.
However, in general, the Government considered such cases to be family
matters and did not intervene unless charges of abuse were brought to
its attention. It was almost impossible for foreign women to obtain
redress in the courts due to the courts' strict evidentiary rules and
the women and servants' own fears of reprisals. During the year, there
were increasing reports of employers being punished for abuse of
domestic servants.
By religious law and social custom, women have the right to own
property and are entitled to financial support from their husbands or
male relatives. However, women have few political or social rights and
were not treated as equal members of society. There were no active
women's rights groups. 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 Mutawwa'in
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. By law and custom, women may not undertake
domestic or foreign travel alone (see Section 2.d.). During the year,
the Government continued to issue national identity cards to females,
despite a national campaign by some religious conservatives against it.
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
Mutawwa'in generally expected Muslim women to cover their faces and
women from other countries in Asia and Africa to comply more fully with
local customs of dress than did non-Muslim Western women. Nonetheless,
in recent years the Mutawwa'in have instructed Western women to wear
the abaya and cover their hair. During the year, Mutawwa'in continued
to admonish and harass women to wear their abayas and cover their hair.
In 2003, a Mutawwa sexually assaulted a female expatriate, although, at
year's end, there was no indication that he was punished.
Restrictions continued on accredited female diplomats that did not
apply to their male counterparts. For example, single females must
receive exception letters from their embassies in order to stay at a
hotel. Some official functions were restricted to male or female
participants only.
Women also were subject to discrimination under Shari'a as
interpreted in the country, which stipulates that 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
often were 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 polygamy, with up to four wives, it was becoming 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 must demonstrate legally specified grounds for divorce, but
men may divorce without giving cause. In doing so, men were required to
pay immediately 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 still were entitled to this
alimony. If divorced or widowed, a Muslim woman normally may keep her
children until they attain a specified age: 7 years for boys and 9
years for girls. Children over these ages were 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 excluded from studying such subjects as
engineering, journalism, and architecture. Men may study overseas; the
law provides that women may do so only if accompanied by a spouse or an
immediate male relative. However, this restriction was not enforced in
practice, and many women studied overseas without a guardian.
Women made up approximately 5 percent of the formal citizen work
force. Unemployment among women was approximately 8 percent. 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 return to work in
professions such as architecture, law, and journalism. Many foreign
women worked as domestic servants and nurses.
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 kin 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 male
supervisors or clients was allowed only by 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
being more relaxed. Despite gender segregation, the law provides women
the right to obtain business licenses for work in fields that might
require them to supervise foreign workers, interact with male clients,
or deal on a regular basis with government officials. However, in
hospital settings and in the energy industry, women and men worked
together, and, in some instances, women supervised male employees. Some
women and men continued to seek opportunities for women and to break
down gender segregation.
Prostitution is illegal. Some women were trafficked for the purpose
of prostitution; however, the problem was not widespread (see Section
5, Trafficking).
Children.--The Ministry of Education continued to teach children
their rights under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Children.
The Government provided all children with free education and
medical care. Children were segregated by sex in schools, usually
beginning at the age of 7; however, schools were integrated through the
fourth grade in some areas. According to the U.N. Development Program
(UNDP), in 2000-01, net primary enrollment for girls was 56 percent and
for boys was 61 percent. In 1999-2000, 94 percent of those children of
each sex who had started grade 1 had reached grade 5.
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. The press has also played an important role
in beginning to raise national consciousness about the widespread
problem.
In 2003, the Ministry of Interior's Center for Crime Prevention and
Research reported that 21 percent of male children suffered from some
form of abuse. The report stated that 33.6 percent of the abused,
suffered from some sort of psychological abuse and 25.3 percent
suffered physical abuse. The figures excluded female children and
accusations of sexual abuse, as the Ministry stated that the issues
were too sensitive for public discussion.
Trafficking in Persons.--The country does not have an anti-
trafficking law, although most forms of trafficking are criminalized
under existing statutes. 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.
During the year, the Government acknowledged trafficking problems
in terms of abuse of domestic servants, especially female expatriate
workers. The press carried a number of stories on the abuse of maids
and other domestic workers, including the prosecution and punishment of
citizen employers who abused domestic employees. During the year, the
Ministry of Labor formed an internal committee that was preparing an
educational program to advise foreign domestic workers of their rights
for recourse to authorities if they experience abuse or nonpayment of
wages.
On July 4, the Ministry of Labor issued Decree 738/1 which states
that ``all forms of trafficking in persons such as trading in visas,
generating revenues from employing workers, charging fees for the
renewal of entry, exit visas and residency permits, violating
conditions of contracts, inhumane and unethical use of workers, child
labor, abuse and recruitment for begging are totally prohibited.''
Among the millions of foreign workers in the country, some persons,
particularly domestic workers, were defrauded by employment agencies or
exploited by employers; some workers overstay their contracts and are
exploited as they have few legal protections. Many foreign domestic
servants fled work situations that included forced confinement, beating
and other physical abuse, withholding of food, and rape. Police
academies have implemented a course for new officers on how to handle
labor issues as part of their standard curriculum.
During the year, the authorities disrupted a cross-border (Yemen-
Saudi Arabia) child smuggling ring and arrested a man on charges of
smuggling maids into Jeddah to work for a brothel, the first reported
case of trafficking for sexual exploitation in the country.
The Government operated shelters in the three largest cities for
abused female workers, including some trafficking victims. Trafficking
victims faced disincentives to seek the prosecution of their employer
for trafficking; victims must first file a police report before going
to the government shelters if they are party to a criminal complaint.
In Dammam, the Government established a Social Welfare office for
foreign workers with complaints. The Government worked with several
Islamic charities to provide long term care for abandoned children,
including those who have been trafficked for forced begging (see
Section 6.c.).
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides hiring quotas for
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 has brought persons with
disabilities into the public mainstream. 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 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 bought and imported children with
disabilities for the purpose of forced begging (see Sections 6.c. and
6.f.). There were numerous government-sponsored centers for persons
with disabilities, including organizations for children with Down's
syndrome and autism.
Police generally transported persons with mental disabilities found
wandering alone in public to their families or a hospital. Police
claimed that, according to Islam, family members should be taking care
of such individuals.
The Crown Prince and other members of the royal family sponsored
events during the year benefiting the handicapped.
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 have the most
difficulty in obtaining justice for their grievances. For example, 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.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law does not address freedom of
association. The Government prohibited the establishment of labor
unions; however, since 2001, the Government has permitted the
establishment of labor committees for citizens in local companies,
including factories, having more than 100 employees. The aim is to
facilitate communication between employees and employers and the
improvement of work standards in the workplace. The labor committees
consist of 3 to 9 members who serve 3-year terms. The committee members
are chosen by the workers and approved by the Ministry. The committee
may make recommendations to company management to improve work
conditions, increase productivity, improve health and safety, and
recommend training programs. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
may send a representative to attend committee meetings. A committee
must provide a written report of its meetings to company management,
which also is transmitted to the Ministry. The Ministry may dissolve a
labor committee if it violates regulations or threatens public
security. No committees existed by year's end. Foreign workers may not
serve on the committee; however, committee regulations provide that the
committee should represent their views.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Law does
not provide for collective bargaining. Collective bargaining remained
prohibited. Foreign workers comprised approximately two-thirds of the
work force. There was no minimum wage; wages were set by employers and
varied according to the type of work performed and the nationality of
the worker (see Section 5).
Strikes were prohibited; however, there were several cases in which
factory workers in Jeddah staged strikes to protest unpaid wages. The
press reported in September 2003 that over 500 foreign workers had not
been paid for 18 months, nor had they had their residents permits
renewed.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Bonded Labor.--The law prohibits forced
or bonded labor; however, employers had significant control over the
movements of foreign employees, which gave rise to situations that
sometimes involved forced labor, especially in remote areas where
workers were unable to leave their place of work.
The law does not specifically prohibit forced or bonded labor by
children, but it was not a problem, with the rare exception of forced
child begging rings, and possibly family businesses. During the year,
the authorities disrupted a cross border child smuggling ring and
arrested a man on charges of smuggling maids in Jeddah to work for a
brothel (see Section 5).
Some sponsors prevented foreign workers from obtaining exit visas
to pressure them to sign a new work contract or to drop claims against
their employers for unpaid salary (see Section 2.d.). Additionally,
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. More foreign workers than in the past went to labor courts,
which regularly ruled in favor of the workers. However, this was a long
and difficult process and it was difficult to enforce judgments. Labor
courts, while generally fair, may take many months to reach a final
appellate ruling, during which time the employer may prevent the
foreign laborer from leaving the country. An employer also may delay a
case until a worker's funds were exhausted, and the worker was forced
to return to his home country.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment is 13 years, which the Ministry of Labor may
waive with the consent of the juvenile's guardian. 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 Ministry of Justice has jurisdiction and has acted as plaintiff in
the few cases that have arisen against alleged violators. However, in
general, children played a minimal role in the work force.
The majority of child beggars were citizens, many of them girls
with disabilities, according to an ILO study reported in 2002. The
Ministry maintained special offices in both Mecca and Medina to combat
the growing problem of child beggars.
The law does not prohibit specifically forced or bonded labor by
children, but it was not a problem, with the rare exception of forced
child begging rings, and possibly family businesses (see Section 6.c.).
The Government implemented a regulation requiring that all camel
jockeys be at least 18 years of age, and there were indications that it
was enforced.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legal minimum wage.
Labor regulations establish a 48-hour workweek 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 average
wage generally provided a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Official unemployment numbers varied; however, the Riyadh
Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced that, as of October 2003,
unemployment among 15-29 year olds was 17 percent of men and 30 percent
of women. They also stated that unemployment within the citizen
population was expected to reach 30 percent within 3 years if current
trends held.
The law prohibits employers from holding their employees' passports
without the employee's consent; however, this law was not widely known
throughout the country.
Workers risked losing employment if they removed themselves from
hazardous work conditions.
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.
Some foreign nationals who have been recruited abroad claimed that,
after their arrival in the country, they were presented with work
contracts that specified lower wages and fewer benefits than originally
promised. Other foreign workers reportedly 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. Foreign employees involved in disputes with
their employers may find their freedom of movement restricted (see
Section 2.d.).
The labor laws, including those designed to limit working hours and
regulate working conditions, do not apply to foreign domestic servants,
and such domestic servants may not seek the protection of the labor
courts. There were credible reports that female domestic servants
sometimes were forced to work 16 to 20 hours per day, 7 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,
and other physical abuse, and rape (see Section 5). During the year,
the media continued to report stories of maids who had fled their place
of employment.
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. If no agreement could be reached, the maid was
deported to her home country. In at least two publicized cases during
the year, citizen employers were jailed for extreme abuse of domestic
servants. During the year, the Grand Mufti warned citizens that Islam
does not permit the oppression of workers regardless of their religion.
The ongoing campaign to remove illegal immigrants from the country
has done little to Saudiize the economy because illegal immigrants
largely worked in low-income positions, which most citizens considered
unsuitable. The Government carried out the campaign by widely
publicizing its enforcement of existing laws against illegal immigrants
and citizens employing or sponsoring illegal immigrants.
The effect of the expeditious repatriation during the year of some
illegal immigrants and the legalization of others has been to improve
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 as a means of competing with illegal
immigrants. 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 is a republic under an authoritarian regime with virtually
absolute authority in the hands of the President. The President, with
counsel from his ministers, senior members of the ruling Ba'th Party,
and a small circle of security advisers, makes key decisions regarding
foreign policy, national security, internal politics, and the economy.
President Bashar al-Asad was confirmed by an unopposed referendum in
July 2000 for a 7-year term. The President appoints vice presidents,
the prime minister, deputy prime ministers, and the cabinet, or Council
of Ministers. Ba'th Party leaders, whose primacy in state institutions
and the Parliament is mandated by the Constitution, influence all three
branches of the Government. The Parliament, elected in March 2003, may
not initiate laws but only assess and, at times, modify those proposed
by the executive branch. The Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary; however, security courts were regularly subject to political
influence. Political connections and bribery sometimes influenced
verdicts in regular courts.
The powerful role of the security services, which extends beyond
strictly security matters, is due to the state of emergency, which has
been in place since 1963. The Government justifies ongoing martial law
because of its state of war with Israel and past threats from terrorist
groups. Syrian Military Intelligence and Air Force Intelligence are
military agencies; the Ministry of Interior controls general security,
state security, and political security. The branches of the security
services operated independently of each other and outside the legal
system. The Government maintained effective control of the security
forces, and members of the security forces committed numerous, serious
human rights abuses.
The country has a population of approximately 18 million and an
economy based on commerce, agriculture, oil production, and services. A
variety of factors hampered economic growth, including the dominant
state role in the economy, a complex bureaucracy, security concerns,
corruption, currency restrictions, a lack of modern financial services
and communications, and a weak, corrupt legal system. Economic growth
was estimated at less than 2.5 percent in the last year.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. Citizens did
not have the right to change their government. The Government prevented
any organized political opposition, and there have been few
antigovernment manifestations. Continuing serious abuses included the
use of torture in detention, which at times resulted in death; poor
prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged detention
without trial; fundamentally unfair trials in the security courts; and
infringement on privacy rights. The Government significantly restricted
freedom of speech and of the press. The Government also severely
restricted freedom of assembly and association. The Government did not
officially allow independent domestic human rights groups to exist. The
Government placed some limits on freedom of religion and freedom of
movement. Violence and societal discrimination against women were
problems. The Government's discrimination against the stateless Kurdish
minority resulted in a series of riots in March centered in the
Hassakeh province which spread to other parts of the country during
which more than 30 persons were reportedly killed by security forces
and more than 1000 arrested. The Government also restricted worker
rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--According to Amnesty
International (AI) and the Human Rights Association of Syria (HRAS),
there were eight persons who died in detention due to torture or
mistreatment by the security services during the year. Most of the
cases involved Kurdish citizens detained and tortured in the wake of
the riots in the Hassakeh province in March. In one case, Firas
Abdallah, the household employee of a famous singer, died while in
police custody in Damascus as a result of beatings. Human rights
lawyers tried to bring a case against the police on behalf of the
deceased, but the state prosecutor refused to accept it.
In March, security forces opened fire with live ammunition on
Kurdish citizens during civil disturbances and demonstrations, killing
30 civilians in Hassakeh province on March 12 and between 5 to 8
Kurdish demonstrators in Aleppo on March 16 (see Section 5).
On April 8, media sources reported that Hussein Hamak Nasso, a 26-
year-old Kurd, died after being tortured by security forces in the town
of Afreen. Security forces reportedly then forced Nasso's family to
secretly bury him in their presence.
On October 30, an off-duty Sunni military officer and his brother
killed two Assyrian Christians in Hassakeh province. The conflict began
when the military officer tried to extort money from one of the
Assyrians. Some members of the Assyrian community violently protested
the murders. In response, the government arrested 12 Assyrians. No
charges were brought against the officer or his brother.
b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances; however, HRAS continued to report numerous
cases of disappearance that occurred up to 20 years ago. Mohammed Fahed
Al-Shaar was detained at Damascus airport in 1982; since then, the
Government has not provided any information on his case. The Government
frequently detained political prisoners and held them in long-term
detention without informing the families of their situation (see
Section 1.e.). For example, the family of a recently released prisoner
had no knowledge about his well-being while he was in custody. Many
persons who disappeared in the past were believed to have died or to be
in long-term detention.
The Government has yet to punish any members of the security forces
for their roles in these abductions and disappearances.
The Government continued to withhold new information on the welfare
and whereabouts of persons who have been held incommunicado for years
or about whom little is known other than the approximate date of their
detention. Despite the Government's claim that it has released all
Palestinians, Jordans, and Lebanese citizens reportedly abducted from
Lebanon during and after its civil war, various nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and family members of those who allegedly remain
in prison continued to dispute the Government's claim (see Section
1.d.).
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution 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, there was credible evidence
that security forces continued to use torture frequently.
There were reports of death in prison due to torture (see Section
1.a.).
During the year, HRAS reported numerous cases of security forces
using torture on prisoners in custody, including the case of five
Kurdish students detained by the police in April and reportedly beaten
and subjected to electric shocks for 3 days (see Section 5). The
torture of political detainees was a common occurrence. AI reported the
case of four young men arrested in April of 2003 in Daraa and held in
Saidnaya prison where they were subjected to various forms of torture
and ill-treatment, including having their fingers crushed; receiving
beatings to their face and legs; having cold water thrown on them;
being forced to stand for long periods of time during the night;
hearing loud screams and beatings of other detainees; being stripped
naked in front of others; and being prevented from praying and growing
a beard.
Former prisoners and detainees, as well as the HRAS, reported that
torture methods included administering electrical shocks; pulling out
fingernails; forcing objects into the rectum; beating, sometimes while
the victim was suspended from the ceiling; 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. Torture was most likely to occur while
detainees were being held at one of the many detention centers run by
the various security services throughout the country, particularly
while the authorities were attempting to extract a confession or
information. For example, in July, a Syrian-Canadian citizen reportedly
was tortured while being questioned by security services (see Section
1.e).
Past victims of torture have identified the officials who tortured
them, up to the level of brigadier general. If allegations of excessive
force or physical abuse were to be made in court, the plaintiff was
required to initiate his own civil suit against the alleged abuser.
However, no action was taken against the accused. There were no
examples of such allegations during the year. Courts did not order
medical examinations for defendants who claimed that they were tortured
(see Section 1.e.).
August 19 marked the Government's accession to the U.N. Convention
against Torture, but the Government's reservation to Article 20
prevents outside observers from investigating torture within the
country.
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 the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR), Abdul Karim Dhaon, an
official at the Ministry of Health, was arrested in May for allegedly
writing a report about the unacceptable conditions at the prisons that
he supervised. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), prisoners and
detainees were held without adequate medical care, and some prisoners
with significant health problems reportedly were denied medical
treatment. Some former detainees reported that the Government
prohibited political prisoners from having access to reading materials,
including the Koran.
There were separate detention facilities for men, women, and
children. But there were at least three reported cases where minors
were arrested and held in adult prisons. Pretrial detainees,
particularly those held for political or security reasons, were usually
held separately from convicted prisoners. Facilities for political or
national security prisoners generally were worse than those for common
criminals. Released political detainees have reported inadequate prison
conditions, including overcrowded cells and a shortage of beds.
The Government did not permit independent monitoring of prison or
detention center conditions; however, diplomatic or consular officials
were granted access in some cases. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) is not allowed to make prison visits to assess the
situation of the prisons or prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, in practice, these activities
persisted and remained significant problems.
The Ministry of Interior controlled the police forces, which
consist of four separate divisions: emergency police; local
neighborhood police; riot police; and traffic police. The emergency
division responds to 911 calls and operates through roving patrols. The
local neighborhood police are responsible for general security in the
neighborhood they patrol and respond to non-emergency situations. The
Government uses the riot police to break up demonstrations and marches.
There are four major branches of security: Political Security
Directorate (PSD); Syrian Military Intelligence (SMI); General
Intelligence Directorate (GID); and Air Force Security (AFS), all of
which devote some of their overlapping resources to monitoring internal
dissent and individual citizens. Only PSD, supervised by the Ministry
of Interior, is under civilian control. 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. International and regional human rights
groups continue to consider the police forces corrupt.
The arrest procedure for non-emergency cases is similar to the
process in Western countries. After being arrested, an individual is
brought to the police station for processing and detained until a trial
date is set. At this time, the accused may retain an attorney at
personal expense or that of the Government. The individual will then be
tried in a civil court, where a judge will render a verdict (see
Section 1.e.).
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. Suspects could be
detained incommunicado for prolonged periods without charge or trial
and denied the right to a judicial determination regarding pretrial
detention. Additionally, those suspected of political or national
security offenses could be 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 prisoner was released.
Warrants only exist for non-security cases; however, police bypass
this requirement in many instances by claiming security or emergency
grounds for entry.
During the year, the security forces again conducted mass arrests
of suspected Islamists: 25 in Hama; 18 in Hayaleen; 19 in Qatana; and
an unknown number in Damascus and Aleppo. In March, the Supreme State
Security Court (SSSC) sentenced 33 persons to 2 years in prison who had
been arrested in Aleppo in August 2003 and accused of belonging to the
Muslim Brotherhood. The suspects remained in detention at year's end.
In April, military security arrested the human rights activist
Aktham Naiissa, head of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy,
Freedom, and Human Rights (CDF), for his involvement in a protest in
front of the Parliament in March and for communiques issued by the CDF
critical of the Government's treatment of the Kurdish minority (see
Section 2.b.). Naiissa was held at Saidnaya prison without access to
his lawyer and was tried by the SSSC; he was released on bail in
August. His trial has been postponed twice, and it is now scheduled for
April 4, 2005.
Throughout the year, the security services also conducted mass
arrests of Kurds in Hassakeh province, Aleppo, Damascus, and other
areas. Human rights organizations and Kurdish groups reported that
1,000-2,000 Kurds were detained in the aftermath of the March riots.
Most were freed after a few months detention; however, 200-300 Kurds
remain in custody and are awaiting trial at the SSSC and military
courts (see Section 4).
Media sources reported that in April, security forces increasingly
staged nighttime raids on Kurdish homes in Hassakeh province and
arbitrarily arrested male members of households. Press reports also
stated that on April 8, following a dispute between Kurdish children
and Arab students at a school in Qamishli, security forces took four
school children, ages 12 and 13, from the school during the day and
transferred them to a prison in Hassakeh. At year's end, the children
were reportedly still detained.
On August 5, five persons were injured and 18 others arrested in a
village outside of Hama after security services, while apparently
pursuing a criminal, sparked and then broke up a protest against the
Ba'th Party. There were conflicting accounts of the story. Human rights
groups claimed the security services randomly fired on a group of
persons as they watched the police chase an alleged member of a banned
Islamic Party. Police claimed they were chasing the suspect when he
went into a home and received refuge from the owners. The owners of the
house refused to turn the man over to police, and there was an ensuing
gun battle between the two sides. On August 7-8, according to regional
press reports and HRAS, security agents arrested 25 persons, including
four Muslim imams, in house raids around the city of Hama, seizing
books, CDs, and computer equipment in connection with this incident.
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 the regular courts, judges render verdicts. There
are no juries.
Defendants in civil and criminal trials have the right to bail
hearings and possible release from detention on their own recognizance.
Bail was generally not allowed for those accused of ``state security
offenses.'' The only exception to this was the release from the SSSC of
Aktham Naiissa in August on bail. Unlike defendants in regular criminal
and civil cases, security detainees did not have access to lawyers
prior to or during questioning.
Lawyers were not ensured access to their clients before the trial
(see Section 1.e.).
Many persons who have disappeared in past years were believed to be
in long-term detention without charge or possibly to have died in
detention. Many detainees brought to trial have been held incommunicado
for years, and their trials often were unfair. Many criminal suspects
were held in pretrial detention for months and may have had their
trials extended for additional months. Lengthy pretrial detention and
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.).
The Government continued threatening or detaining the relatives of
detainees or of fugitives to obtain confessions, to minimize outside
interference, or to prompt the fugitive's surrender. There were reports
that security personnel forced prisoners to watch relatives being
tortured in order to extract confessions. According to AI and the HRAS,
security forces also detained family members of suspected
oppositionists (see Section 1.f.).
The Government, through its security services, also threatened
families or friends of detainees to ensure their silence, to force them
to disavow publicly their relatives, or to force detainees into
compliance. For example, the family of a human rights activist received
numerous calls from security service personnel alleging misconduct and
inappropriate social behavior by the activist. These calls continued
during the year and became increasingly threatening.
The number of remaining political detainees was unknown. AI's 2003
report stated that 800 political detainees were held in Saidnaya prison
and that hundreds of others were held in other prisons. There also were
Jordanian, Lebanese, and Palestinian political detainees. Estimates of
detainees were difficult to confirm because the branches of the
security services, which maintain their own prison facilities, hold a
large number of prisoners. These prisoners are frequently held for
extended periods of time without trial and without information given 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 whether
detainees subsequently were sentenced to prison (see Section 1.e.).
Former prisoners were subject to a so-called ``rights ban,'' which
begins from the day of sentencing and lasts for 7 years after the
expiration of the sentence, in the case of felony convictions. Persons
subjected to this ban were not allowed to vote, run for office, or work
in the public sector; they often also were denied passports. In
practice, restrictions may continue beyond that period.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the Supreme State Security Court
(SSSC), in dealing with cases of alleged national security violations,
was not independent of executive branch control. Political connections
and bribery sometimes influenced verdicts in regular courts.
The judicial system is composed of the 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 rules on the constitutionality of laws and
decrees; however, it does not hear appeals.
Civil and criminal courts are organized under the Ministry of
Justice. Defendants before these courts are entitled to the 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 their verdicts to a provincial appeals court and ultimately to
the Court of Cassation. Such appeals were often difficult to win
because the courts do not provide verbatim transcripts of cases--only
summaries prepared by the presiding judges. There are no juries.
Military courts have the authority to try civilians as well as
military personnel. 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 of the formal
procedures of regular military courts. Amnesty International reported
that in April a secret field military court sentenced Muhammed Shehada
and Mutaz Murad to 3 years in prison and Haythem Al Hawmi and Yahy
Sharabajee to 4 years for ``attempting to establish a religious
organization, involvement in unlicensed social activities and attending
unlicensed religious and intellectual classes.'' The men were arrested
in May 2003 in the town of Darya and reportedly were not represented by
a lawyer.
On April 1, after excessive delay, the military court of Aleppo
sentenced 13 persons to 3 months in prison and another man to 1 year in
prison for attending an unlicensed lecture on the Emergency Law in
August 2003. The ``Aleppo 14,'' as the group had become known, had
originally been arrested for ``belonging to a secret society'' and for
``conspiring against the Syrian nation'' (see ction 2.b.). All 14 men
were released in June.
The trial of the ``Dumar 15,'' a group of 15 Kurdish men who were
arrested in the aftermath of riots in the Dumar neighborhood of
Damascus in March, has been delayed four times since it began in
August.
HRAS estimated there were 160 Kurdish citizens awaiting trial in
the Military Court of Damascus for their alleged role in rioting in
Damascus following the troubles in Hassakeh in March. At year's end,
they were still awaiting trial.
The SSSC tried political and national security cases and operated
under the provisions of the Emergency Law. The SSSC did not observe the
constitutional provisions safeguarding defendants' rights. The
Emergency Law and the Penal Code are so broad and vague, and the
Government's powers so sweeping, that many persons have been convicted
and many remain in prison for the mere expression of political
opposition to the Government. In April 2001, the U.N. Commission on
Human Rights stated that the procedures of the SSSC are incompatible
with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, to which the country is a party.
Charges against defendants before the SSSC were vague. Defendants
appeared to be tried for exercising normal political rights, such as
free speech. For example, the Emergency Law authorizes the prosecution
of anyone ``opposing the goals of the revolution,'' ``shaking the
confidence of the masses in the aims of the revolution,'' or attempting
to ``change the economic or social structure of the State.'' 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 this year were prosecuted for exercising their
political rights.
Under SSSC procedures, defendants were not present during the
preliminary or investigative phase of the trial, during which the
prosecutor presents evidence. Trials 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.
During the year, there was one case in which a lawyer representing
defendants in a national security case had his license to practice law
suspended. The Government's case was based on confessions, and the
defendants were not allowed to argue that their confessions were
coerced.
On July 11, the SSSC acquitted for lack of evidence a Syrian-
Canadian citizen arrested in 2002 when he returned home to Syria to
visit his family. The individual was charged with belonging to a
religious group and was reportedly tortured while in detention (see
Section 1.c.).
Defendants did not have the right to appeal verdicts, but the
Minister of Interior, who may ratify, nullify, or alter them, reviews
sentences. The President also may intervene in the review process.
Accurate information regarding the number of cases heard by the
SSSC was difficult to obtain, although hundreds of cases were believed
to pass through the court annually. Many cases reportedly involved
charges relating to membership in various banned political groups,
including religious parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic
Liberation Party, the Party of Communist Action, Syrian Kurdish Parties
and the pro-Iraqi wing of the Ba'th Party. Sentences as long as 15
years have been imposed in the past. Human rights NGOs were not
permitted to visit the SSSC; however, local lawyers affiliated with
local NGOs acted as defense counsel in some cases (see Section 4).
On February 14, the Government issued Legislative Decree 16
abolishing the Economic Security Courts. These courts, established in
1977, focused on economic crimes, particularly those involving the
illegal possession or exchange of foreign currency and violations of
the country's once highly restrictive import regulations. Economic
crimes are now adjudicated in the regular courts.
The exact number of political prisoners was unknown. HRAS estimated
there were approximately 550 political prisoners held in Saidnaya
prison and up to several thousand more political prisoners held in
other prisons throughout the country. These estimates may partially
overlap with the reported number of political detainees (see Section
1.d.). The Government did not permit regular access to political
prisoners by international humanitarian organizations. HRAS reported
that more than 80 percent of political prisoners serving long-term
sentences remained in prison, despite the expiration of their
sentences.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the Emergency
Law authorizes the 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
destined for both citizens and foreign residents. The Government
routinely monitored Internet communications, including e-mail, and
blocked access to some internet sites (see Section 2.a.). A new
regional satellite company provided internet access via satellite,
beyond the control of the Government.
The Government detained relatives of detainees or of fugitives to
obtain confessions or the fugitive's surrender (see Section 1.d.).
In the past, the Government and the Ba'th Party monitored and
attempted to restrict some citizens' visits to foreign embassies and
cultural centers. In June, the SSSC sentenced three individuals to
prison terms ranging from 6 months to 1 year for allegedly giving false
information to a diplomatic mission in Damascus.
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. The Government strictly controlled
the dissemination of information and prohibited written or oral
criticism of the Government. The Government also prohibited discussion
of sectarian issues. There were detentions and beatings for individual
expressions of opinion that violated these unwritten rules. The
Government also threatened activists in an attempt to control behavior.
Journalists and writers practiced self-censorship. The Minister of
Information, Dr. Mahdi Dakhlallah, has taken steps to allow more
freedom of the press. For example, in December the Ministry of
Information recommended the licensing of an independent association of
journalists (see Section 2.b.).
A number of independent periodicals were published during the year,
including the National Progressive Front's (NPF) Communist Party
newspaper, The People's Voice; the NPF's Union Socialist Party's
private newspaper, The Unionist; a private satirical weekly newspaper,
Black and White; and The Economist, which was critical of government
performance. In July 2003, the Ministry of Information closed the
Lamplighter, a satirical weekly. Later in 2003, one of the
Lamplighter's former editors began publication of the Wasp, a social
satirical weekly magazine.
The print and electronic media at times were critical of the Ba'th
Party and government performance and reported openly on a range of
social and economic issues. In March, a journalist for the government-
owned daily, The Revolution, was fired over an article he wrote on
pollution in the drinking water in Hassakeh province. The journalist
was later reinstated after a campaign by The Economist magazine. 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.
The media continued to broaden their reporting on regional
developments, including the Middle East peace process. The media
covered some peace process events factually, but others were reported
selectively to support official views. The government-controlled press
increased its coverage of official corruption and governmental
inefficiency. A few privately owned newspapers published during the
year, and foreign-owned, foreign-published newspapers continued to
circulate relatively freely.
The Government or the Ba'th Party owned and operated the 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.
The Emergency Law and Penal Code articles dealing with crimes
against state security allowed the Government broad discretion in
determining what constitutes illegal expression. The Emergency Law
prohibits the publication of ``false information'' which opposes ``the
goals of the revolution'' (see Section 1.e.). 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 National Progressive Front (NPF), as well as
other approved private individuals and organizations, would be
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 were subject to prison terms
ranging from 1 to 3 years and fines ranging from 500,000 to 1 million
pounds ($10,000 to $20,000). The amendments to the Publications Law
also impose strict punishments on reporters who do not reveal their
government sources in response to government requests.
The Government imprisoned journalists for failing to observe press
restrictions. In 2002, the Government arrested journalist Ibrahim
Hamidi on charges of ``publishing unfounded news'' in violation of the
Publications Law. This ``unfounded news'' was believed to be an article
in the London-based al-Hayat discussing the Government's contingency
planning for possible hostilities in Iraq. Hamidi was jailed for 5
months and released on bail on May 25, although his trial before the
SSSC continues to be delayed.
In June, the SSSC sentenced Abdel Rahman Al Shaghuri to 2 years in
prison for emailing a newsletter from the banned website Levant News.
In July, the SSSC sentenced 3 persons accused of revealing state
secrets to sentences of 2-4 years for their role in publishing an
article in an Emirates-based electronic journal.
The Government restricted all Kurdish language publications and
arrested journalists who wrote in favor of greater Kurdish rights. The
trial of journalist and student Massud Hamid, arrested in July 2003 for
posting a picture of the June 2003 Kurdish UNICEF protest on a banned
website, continued.
On August 29, the SSSC sentenced Ferhat Abdalrahman and Ibrahim
Nassam to 3 years in prison. Abdalrahman was charged with writing
articles in Lebanon for an unlicensed Kurdish Party publication; Nassam
was charged with presenting a petition to the Government for greater
political freedom for the Kurds. In March, Muhammad Ghanem was arrested
reportedly for articles he had written in Emirates-based dailies on the
problems in Hassakeh Province.
In November, citizen journalist Louai Hussein was ordered by the
Interior Ministry to stop writing. Two state-security officials came to
his home in the northern coastal city of Latakia and delivered a
written order from the Interior Ministry's political-security office
banning him from writing. The Government did not give a reason for the
ban, although it informed him 2 weeks later that he could write again.
On December 2, Syrian-Kurdish journalist Taha Hamed was arrested
for writing a number of articles abroad which were critical of the
Government's relationship with the Kurds. Hamed was released a week
later.
The Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Culture and
National Guidance 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 stricter for
materials in Arabic.
The Ministry of Culture and National Guidance also censored fiction
and nonfiction works, including films. It also approved films shown at
the cultural centers operated by foreign embassies. 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).
Internet and e-mail access was limited but growing. The Government
blocked access to selected Internet sites that contained information
deemed politically sensitive or pornographic in nature. The Government
banned access to two Kurdish websites, to foreign-based websites of
unlicensed opposition parties, and to news websites critical of the
Government.
The Government restricted academic freedom. Public school teachers
were not permitted to express ideas contrary to government policy;
however, authorities permitted somewhat greater freedom of expression
at the university level. The Government continued its policy of only
allowing Ba'th Party members to study political science at Damascus
University. Ba'th Party members were also given preferential admissions
treatment into the university.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for the right of assembly; however, the Government did not
respect this right in practice. Citizens could hold demonstrations if
the Ministry of Interior granted permission; however, the Government or
the Ba'th Party organized most public demonstrations and selectively
permitted some demonstrations, usually for political reasons. The
Government also applied the restrictions on public assembly in
Palestinian refugee camps, where only controlled demonstrations were
allowed.
In December 2003, the Government permitted a protest on
International Human Rights Day, the first human rights demonstration
ever approved.
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 for the meetings. However,
in August 2003, the Government arrested and later released 21 persons
in Aleppo for attempting to attend an unapproved lecture marking the
40th anniversary of the declaration of the Emergency Law. Fourteen
persons, who came to be known internationally as the ``Aleppo 14,''
were subsequently charged with ``belonging to a clandestine
organization'' and ``undertaking acts of incitement.'' In April, the
Military Court of Aleppo sentenced them to terms ranging from 3 months
to 1 year (see Section 1.e.).
There were numerous demonstrations during the year, most of which
were permitted or organized by the Government to protest Israeli
treatment of Palestinians and U.S. policies in Iraq. There were also
several demonstrations during the year by human rights activists, which
were not government-supported.
On February 25, security forces detained 10 students at the
University of Aleppo for protesting Decree #6 which ended the
Government's policy of guarantying employment to all engineering
graduates. Eight of the students were released the following month;
however, dozens of students were expelled from university for their
participation. At year's end, two of the students, Mohammed Al Arab and
Muhammed Al Debs, remain in detention with a case pending before the
SSSC. The trial of the two students is expected to resume on March 6,
2005.
On March 8, the CDF, led by Aktham Naiissa, protested in front of
Parliament, calling for the repeal of the Emergency Law and greater
political freedoms. Security forces detained 104 persons, including a
foreign citizen, a foreign diplomatic observer, and international
journalists, all of whom were released the same day.
On June 21, human rights and civil society groups attempted to hold
a demonstration in a central square of Damascus to commemorate the
anniversary of the longest held political prisoner in the country. More
than 500 riot police deployed in the square, preventing the
demonstration. Security forces beat 10 persons and briefly detained 8
demonstrators.
On December 8, the International Human Rights Day protest by Kurds
and human rights activists was organized without government approval.
Government security forces intervened forcibly to prevent protesters
from reaching the intended protest site.
In June 2003, the security forces forcibly broke up a demonstration
by Kurdish school children and arrested eight of the adults
accompanying them. In June 2004, the SSSC sentenced seven of these
Kurdish activists to prison terms of 1 to 2 years. The eighth detainee
was released without any charges being brought against him.
In 2002, the Government permitted a demonstration by the Kurdish
Yekiti party in front of Parliament, but 2 days later it arrested 2 of
the organizers. In January 2003, the SSSC tried these two organizers
for belonging to an illegal organization and for conspiring to annex
part of the country's territory to another state. The SSSC sentenced
the men to 3 years in prison, then reduced their sentences to 14 months
and released them on February 22, 2004 for time-served.
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, and requests for registration
are usually denied, presumably on political grounds. The Government
usually granted registration to groups not engaged in political or
other activities deemed sensitive.
In August, the Government denied registration to the Arab
Organization for Human Rights (AOHR); in November, the Government also
denied registration to the Syrian Human Rights Organization (also known
as SWASIAH, or ``equal''). The CDF and HRAS were both denied
registration in the past, and both organizations operate without
government permission or support.
The Government did not permit the establishment of independent
political parties (see Section 3).
In 2002, the Government sentenced 10 human rights activists, who
had called for the expansion of civil liberties and organized public
dialogue, to lengthy prison terms for crimes against state security.
Two of these activists were released in September after completing
their prison sentence. Six activists remained in prison on longer
sentences (see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.).
In December, the Ministry of Information recommended the licensing
of an independent association of citizen journalists who report for
regional Arab media, according to press reports. The 5-year effort by
journalists to form the association had long been blocked by the
Government (see Section 2.a.). No license has yet been issued.
The executive boards of professional associations were not
independent. Members of the Ba'th Party generally led the associations;
however, 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 restrictions in some areas. The
Constitution requires that the President be a Muslim. There is no
official state religion. Sunni Muslims constituted the majority of the
population.
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 strict
separation of religious institutions and the State. Religious groups
tended to avoid any involvement in internal political affairs. The
Government, in turn, generally refrained from involvement in strictly
religious issues. The Government approves all textbooks, which present
religion as a way to foster national unity and tolerance.
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.
HRAS reported three large-scale arrests of suspected Islamists
during the year (see Section 1.d.).
All schools are government-managed and nonsectarian; however,
Christian and Druze minorities operate some schools. 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, divorce, child custody, and inheritance (see Section
5).
Although the law does not prohibit proselytizing, in practice, the
Government discouraged such activity, particularly when it was deemed a
threat to the relations among religious groups. Foreign missionaries
were present, but operated discreetly.
Government officials occasionally used radio, television
programming, news articles, and other mass media to condone anti-
Semitic material, and, in some instances, to support its export. The
Government tightly controlled the press, which regularly published
anti-Israeli articles.
In 2003, a private Syrian film company also produced an anti-
Semitic telvision series, Ash-Shatat (``The Diaspora''), and filmed it
inside the country. The theme of this program centered on the alleged
conspiracy of the ``Elders of Zion'' to orchestrate both world wars and
manipulate world markets to create Israel. Although national television
declined to air the program, it was shown on the Lebanese satellite
television station Al-Manar. The closing credits of the programs give
``special thanks'' to various government ministries, including the
security ministry, the culture ministry, the Damascus Police Command,
and the Department of Antiquities and Museums.
The Government barred the approximately 85 Jewish citizens in the
country from government employment and exempted them from military
service obligations. Jews also were the only religious minority group
whose passports and identity cards noted their religion. Jewish
citizens must obtain permission from the security services before
traveling abroad and must submit a list of possessions to ensure their
return to the country. Jews also faced extra scrutiny from the
Government when applying for licenses, deeds, or other government
papers. The Government applied a law against exporting any of the
country's historical and cultural treasures to prohibit the Jewish
community from sending historical Torahs abroad.
In 1964, the Government banned Jehovah's Witnesses as a
``politically motivated Zionist organization''; however, members of
Jehovah's Witnesses have continued to practice their faith privately,
despite the official ban.
The Constitution prohibits sectarianism although it specifies that
the President 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 2004 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 restricted travel near the
Golan Heights. The Government also denied human rights activists,
leaders of opposition groups, and other individuals permission to
travel abroad, although government officials continued to deny that
this practice occurred. Government authorities could prosecute any
person found attempting to emigrate or to travel abroad illegally, any
person who was deported from another country, or anyone who was
suspected of having visited Israel.
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 Ministry of Interior to prohibit his wife or
daughter's 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 warrantless searches 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. Lack of
citizenship or identity documents restricted their travel to and from
the country (see Section 5). emigres who did not complete mandatory
military service could pay a fee to avoid conscription while visiting
the country. During the year, some persons were imprisoned for refusing
to pay the fee.
Citizens of Arab League countries were able to enter the country
without a visa for a stay of up to 3 months, a period that is renewable
by application to government authorities. Residency permits required
proof of employment and a fixed address in the country.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports
of forced exile during the year.
The Government is not a party to either the 1951 U.N. Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. The General
Authority of Palestinian Arabs Refugees in Syria (GAPAR) is the
government agency established to coordinate assistance and protection
to refugees, over 400,000 of whom are Palestinians living in 10
official camps and assisted by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees. The Government cooperated on a case-by-case basis
with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The
Government continued to provide asylum seekers and refugees under UNHCR
protection temporary permission to stay, but remained selective about
extending protection to other refugees. Iraqis were granted temporary
protection by the Government, and approximately 14,500 Iraqis
registered with UNHCR. There are estimates that between 60,000 to a few
hundred thousand Iraqis are living in the country.
Although the Government denied that it forcibly repatriated persons
with valid claims to refugee status, UNHCR reported that some Iraqis
were deported during the year. UNHCR has not taken part in any
organized repatriations to Iraq since the withdrawal of UNCHR and other
U.N. international staff from Iraq in 2003.
As of June, 415,000 Palestinian refugees were registered with the
U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the country. Unlike in previous
years, Palestinian refugees with Syrian travel documents generally
reported less difficulty with traveling in and out of the country. The
Government restricted entry by Palestinians who were not resident in
the country.
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 candidates at the discretion of
the regional Ba'th party leadership. Although citizens vote for the
President and Members of Parliament (M.P.s), in practice they did not
have the right to change their government. In July 2000, Bashar al-Asad
was confirmed as President by an unopposed referendum for a 7-year
term. Citizens are required by law to vote; however, the percentage of
women and minorities that voted is unknown.
The President appoints the vice presidents, the prime minister,
deputy prime ministers, and the Cabinet, and he has the discretion to
change these appointments at will. 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.
Political opposition to the President and the ruling Ba'th Party
was vigorously suppressed. The Constitution provides that the Ba'th
Party is the ruling party and is ensured a majority in all government
and popular associations, such as workers' and women's groups. The
Ba'th Party and eight other smaller political parties comprise the
National Progressive Front (NPF), originally established in 1971. The
NPF represented the only framework for legal political party
participation for citizens; however, it remains dominated by the Ba'th
Party and does not change the one-party character of the political
system. Besides the Ba'th, the other political parties of the NPF
existed largely in name only and conformed strictly to Ba'th Party and
government policies. In April 2003, the Arab Democratic Union joined
the NPF, making it a nine-party organization.
The Ba'th Party dominated the 250-member Parliament, or People's
Council. Parliamentarians could criticize policies and modify draft
laws; however, the executive branch retained ultimate control over the
legislative process. Elections for all 250 seats in the People's
Council took place in March 2003. The election could not be
characterized as free and fair because the majority of the seats in
Parliament were reserved for members of the ruling NPF, ensuring a
permanent absolute majority for the Ba'th Party as guaranteed by the
Constitution. The Government allowed independent non-NPF candidates to
run for just 83 seats, and it approved all candidates for 4-year terms.
In 2002, the Government sentenced independent M.P.s Ma'mun Humsi
and Riad Seif to 5-year prison terms for calling on the Government to
allow independent political parties to participate in government. At
year's end, the men remained in prison.
There were reports of corruption in the legislative and executive
branches of the Government.
There are no laws providing for public access to government
information.
Women and minorities, with the exception of the Jewish population
and stateless Kurds (see Section 5), participated in the political
system without restriction. There were 2 female cabinet ministers, and
30 of the 250 M.P.s were women.
The Government did not provide figures on the ethnic or religious
composition of Parliament or the Cabinet; however, there was one M.P.
representing the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party and one M.P.
representing the Democratic Assyrian Organization.
In February, the Committee of the Defense of Democratic Liberties
and Human Rights in Syria (CDF) attempted to petition President Asad to
end the 40-year old Emergency Law and allow greater political freedoms.
The attempt was unsuccessful.
In June, the Government banned all political activities by the 11
Syrian Kurdish parties.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government did not allow domestic human rights groups to exist
legally. In the past, human rights groups operated legally but
ultimately were banned by the Government. In August, the Government
denied registration to the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR);
in November, the Government also denied registration to SWASIAH. CDF
and HRAS were both denied registration in the past and operate
illegally. HRAS continued to operate in a limited capacity (see Section
2.b.).
In April, CDF published its 2003 Human Rights Report, which was
highly critical of the Government. The Government responded by
arresting the president of the group, Aktham Naiissa (see Section
1.d.).
In 2002, the Government's sentenced 10 human rights activists to
lengthy prison sentences, stifling the activities of human rights
activists and organizations. All of the individuals remained in
detention at year's end.
In recent years, the Government has met only twice with
international human rights organizations: Human Rights Watch in 1995
and Amnesty International in 1997. As a matter of policy, the
Government has denied 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 usually
responded to queries from human rights organizations and foreign
embassies regarding specific cases by claiming 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, sex, disability,
language, or social status is prohibited; however, membership in the
Ba'th Party or close familial relations with a prominent party member
or powerful government official can help 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'th Party
members. There was some governmental and societal discrimination
against Jews (see Section 2.c.) and stateless Kurds.
Women.--Violence against women occurred, but there were no reliable
statistics regarding the prevalence of domestic violence or sexual
assault. The vast majority of cases were likely unreported, and victims
generally were reluctant to seek assistance outside the family.
Battered women 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 in an effort to address this
problem. Some private groups, including the Family Planning
Association, organized seminars on violence against women, which were
reported by government press. There were a few private, nonofficial,
specifically designated shelters or safe havens for battered women who
fled or sought to flee their husbands. In December, representatives of
all government agencies were required to attend a gender issues
training seminar with representatives of domestic women's NGOs.
In July, the Government instituted the Syrian Agency for Family
Affairs, which reports directly to the Prime Minister and is
responsible for reviewing the legal and social status of women and
children, and networking with NGOs that provide services to women and
children.
Rape is a felony; however, there are no laws against spousal rape.
According to Article 489 of Criminal Law, ``The punishment for a man
who rapes 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
such a crime. If the victim is too young for marriage then the rapist
will receive a longer sentence. No statistics are kept on spousal rape
because it is not a crime under the Criminal 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.
Instances of honor crimes are rare and occurred primarily in rural
areas in which Bedouin customs prevail. There were no cases reported
during the year.
The law prohibits prostitution, and it was not a widespread
problem.
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 has 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,
divorce, and inheritance. For Muslims, personal status law is based on
the Government's interpretation and application of Shari'a (Islamic
law). This interpretation discriminates 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, any evidence a man presents when claiming adultery is
accepted by a court of law; 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 have been 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 a minimum of 1,000 Syrian pounds ($20) per year
of financial support. Courts calculate child alimony above this amount
according to the income of the father. However, it is incumbent upon
the mother requesting the alimony to prove the father's income, and the
father is under no obligation to provide that information.
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 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.
Polygyny is legal but was practiced only by a small number of
Muslim men.
A husband may request that his wife's travel abroad be prohibited
(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. Women constituted
approximately 13 percent of judges, 15 percent of lawyers, 57 percent
of teachers below university level, and 20 percent of university
professors.
Children.--The law emphasizes the need to protect children, and the
Government organized seminars regarding the subject of 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 6 and 12. According to
the Syrian Women's Union, in 2001 approximately 46 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 can send their children to
school. Stateless Kurds can also send their children to school but
because they do not have any identification, their children cannot
attend state universities.
Legal age for marriage is 18 unless parents consent to marriage for
children under 18.
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.
Child prostitution and trafficking in children were rare; incidents
that arose mainly involved destitute orphans.
In April, human rights organizations reported that five Kurds, ages
12-13, were detained in Hassakeh Province and beaten by prison guards
for 3 days (see Section 1.b.). Human rights organizations also reported
multiple cases where minors detained by the security services were
placed in adult prisons. HRAS reported that a 14 year-old youth was
detained in 2003 after returning from Saudi Arabia. At year's end, the
youth was still in detention and awaiting trial before the SSSC on
charges of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Trafficking in Persons.--There are no laws that specifically
prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that
trafficking persons to, from, or within the country was a significant
problem.
The Penal Code penalizes prostitution and trafficking of citizen
women abroad.
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. In December, the Government implemented regulations
reserving 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.
On March 12, 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 opened fire on the crowd.
Subsequently, riots and demonstrations spread throughout the towns and
villages of the Hassakeh Province as well as to cities such as Damascus
and Aleppo. Thirty-eight persons were killed during the riots, and
security forces detained over 1,000 persons (see Sections 1.a., 1.c.,
and 1.d.).
In June 2003, 200 Kurdish school children, ages 7-12 and
accompanied by their teachers and parents, organized a demonstration in
front of the local UNICEF office in Damascus to ask for a restoration
of citizenship and more freedoms for the Kurdish population. Eight
Kurdish activists were detained for participating in the demonstration.
Although the Government stopped the practice of stripping Kurds of
their citizenship (some 120,000 lost their nationality under this
program in the 1960s), it never restored the nationality to those who
lost it earlier. As a result, those who lost their nationality, and
their children, remained unable to obtain passports, or even
identification cards and birth certificates. Without citizenship, these
stateless Kurds, who, according to UNHCR estimates, number
approximately 200,000, were unable to own land, were not permitted to
practice as doctors or engineers, were denied government employment,
were ineligible for admission to public hospitals and public
universities, had no right to vote, and could not travel to and from
the country. They also encountered difficulties in enrolling their
children in school, and in some cases, in registering their marriages.
In May, President Asad stated that the Government was committed to deal
with the citizenship issue and that Kurdish citizens were an integral
part of the national fabric. Despite these statements, there was no
progress made toward these government commitments by year's end.
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. The Government tacitly accepted the importation and
distribution of Kurdish language materials, particularly in the
northeast region where most of the Kurds in the country resided. The
Supreme State Security Court tried some members of the Kurdish
community for expressing support for greater Kurdish autonomy or
independence (see Section 2.a.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides for the
right of association; however, in practice, workers were not free to
establish unions independent of the Government. All unions must belong
to the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), which was dominated
by the Ba'th Party and was a part of the State's bureaucratic
structure. As an information channel between political decision-makers
and workers, the GFTU transmitted instructions downward to the unions
and workers while also conveying information to decision-makers about
worker conditions and needs. 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 is a senior member of the Ba'th Party, and he and his deputy
may attend cabinet meetings on economic affairs.
There were no reports of anti-union discrimination. Since the
unions were part of the Government's bureaucratic structure, the law
protects them from anti-union discrimination. The GFTU is affiliated
with the Damascus-based International Confederation of Arab Trade
Unions.
All lawyers wishing to practice law in court must belong to the
Syrian Bar Association, whose leadership is dominated by Ba'th Party
members. In February 2003, the Government expelled two lawyers from the
Bar Association because of their human rights activities, which
included defending high profile human rights cases and calling for an
end to human rights abuses.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to form unions and to bargain collectively;
however, these rights did not exist in practice. Government
representatives were part of the bargaining process in the public
sector. In the public sector, unions did not normally bargain
collectively on wage issues, but there has been some evidence that
union representatives participated with representatives of employers
and the supervising ministry in establishing minimum wages, hours, and
conditions of employment. This was a positive development insofar as it
indicated respect for the ILO's ``Social Partners'' tripartite formula.
Workers served on the boards of directors of public enterprises, and
union representatives always 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.
Following an increase in the salaries of public sector employees in
2003 and despite several meetings that were held between officials from
the Ministry of Labor, GFTU, and representatives from the Federation of
the Syrian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, private employers were
not forced to increase salaries and wages of their employees. However,
similar meetings in 2004 succeeded in stipulating an increase in the
salaries and wages of private sector employees, though the increase was
symbolic.
Unions have the right to litigate disputes over work contracts and
other workers' interests with employers and were able to ask for
binding arbitration. In practice, labor and management representatives
settled most disputes without resort to legal remedies or arbitration.
Management had the right to request arbitration, but that right seldom
was exercised. Arbitration occurred when a worker initiated a dispute
over wages or severance pay. Arbitration authority was vested in the
Ministry of Justice Administrative Petition Court. In practice, this
court did little more than certify agreements and plays little role in
actually arbitrating disputes, as such disputes did not occur with any
regularity.
The law does not prohibit strikes; however, previous government
crackdowns deterred workers from striking. During the year, there were
no strikes.
There are no unions in the seven free trade zones (FTZs). Firms in
the zones are exempt from the laws and regulations governing hiring and
firing, although they must observe some provisions on health, safety,
hours, and sick and annual leave. Ninety percent of the workers in the
FTZs are citizens of the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--There is no law
prohibiting forced or compulsory labor, including that performed by
children, and there were no reports of forced or compulsory labor by
children, or forced labor involving foreign workers or domestic
servants. Forced labor has been imposed as a punishment for some
convicted prisoners.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Labor Law provides for the protection of children from exploitation in
the workplace; however, the Government permitted child labor in some
instances. 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 are set at 6 hours per day.
Youths are not allowed to work during night shifts nor during the
weekend or official holidays. In all cases, parental permission is
required for children under the age of 16. The law prohibits children
from working at night; however, the law applies only to children who
work for a salary. Those who worked in family businesses and who
technically were not paid a salary--a common phenomenon--did not fall
under the law. Children under 15 are prohibited by law from working in
mines, at petroleum sites, or in other dangerous fields. Children are
not allowed to lift, carry, or drag heavy objects. The exploitation of
children for begging purposes also is prohibited.
The Government claimed that the expansion of the private sector has
increased child labor. Independent information and audits regarding
government enforcement were not available again this year. The majority
of children under age 16 who worked did so for their parents in the
agricultural sector without remuneration. In a 2002 study, UNICEF found
that 18 percent of children under the age of 18 participated in the
labor force.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs monitored employment
conditions for persons under the age of 18, but it did not have enough
inspectors to ensure compliance with the laws. The Ministry has the
authority to specify the industries in which children 15 and 16 years
of age may work. 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. The law does not prohibit forced
or compulsory labor by children; however, such practices were not known
to occur.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Minister of Labor and Social
Affairs is responsible for enforcing minimum wage levels in the public
and private sectors. In May, the Government increased public sector
minimum wages by 20 percent to just over $100 per month, plus other
compensation (i.e., meals, uniforms, and transportation). In July, the
Government announced a 20 percent increase in private sector minimum
wages to 3,500 Syrian pounds ($70) per month. These wages 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.
In February, the Government changed from a 6 to a 5-day workweek
for all public sector employees. According to official government
statistics, the public sector employs 867,000 persons, or 16 percent of
the workforce.
Rules and regulations severely limit the ability of an employer to
dismiss employees without cause. Even if a person is absent from work
without notice for a long period, the employer must follow a lengthy
procedure of attempting to find and notify the person, including
through newspaper notices, before he is able to take action against the
employee. Dismissed employees have the right of appeal to a committee
of representatives from the union, management, the Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs, and the appropriate municipality. Such committees
usually found in favor of the employee. Dismissed employees are
entitled to 80 percent of salary benefits while the dispute is under
consideration. No additional back wages are awarded should the employer
be found at fault, nor are wage penalties imposed in cases in which the
employer is not found at fault.
In December, President Asad signed the newly amended ``Basic Labor
Law.'' The Law stipulates that public sector entities must reserve 4
percent of government and public sector jobs for persons with
disabilities (see Section 5). In addition, the law granted 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 has to be ratified by the Prime Minister.
The law does not protect temporary workers who are not 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, and
managers were expected to implement them fully. In practice, there was
little enforcement without worker complaints, which occurred
infrequently despite government efforts to post notices regarding
safety rights and regulations. Large companies, such as oil field
contractors, employed safety engineers.
Officials from the Ministries of Health and Labor are designated to
inspect work sites for compliance with health and safety standards;
however, such inspections appeared to be sporadic, apart from those
conducted in hotels and other facilities that catered to foreigners.
The enforcement of labor laws in rural areas were more lax than in
urban areas, where inspectors were concentrated. 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 constitutional republic dominated by a single
political party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD). Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali has been the President since 1987. In the October 24
presidential and legislative elections, President Ben Ali ran against
three opposition candidates and won 94.49 percent of the popular vote,
with official turnout quoted as higher than 90 percent of registered
voters, although there were indications that voter turnout figures were
artificially inflated. By law, 20 percent of seats in the legislature
(Chamber of Deputies) are reserved for opposition party candidates; as
a result, 37 (out of 189) seats were divided between 5 of the 7 legal
opposition parties in proportion to the number of votes they received.
The RCD was allocated the remaining 152 seats. A coalition of three
local independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) cited a lack of
media access by opposition candidates during the campaign period and
media bias in favor of the ruling party as serious problems. Opposition
candidates and other observers cited voter intimidation and
restrictions on disseminating campaign materials and organizing
campaign events. The ruling party's domination of state institutions
and political activity precluded credible and competitive electoral
challenges from unsanctioned actors. A second legislative body, the
Chamber of Advisors, was created in a 2002 referendum amending half the
constitution, but has yet to be formed. President Ben Ali has said the
chamber will open in the summer of 2005. The Constitution provides that
the President appoint the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the 24
governors. The Constitution grants legislative power to the Chamber of
Deputies and Chamber of Advisors; however, the President can also
propose legislation. The Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary; however, the executive branch and the President strongly
influence judicial procedures, particularly in political cases.
The police share responsibility for internal security with the
National Guard and other state security forces. The police operate in
the capital and a few other cities. In outlying areas, their policing
duties are shared with, or ceded to, the National Guard. The majority
of internal security forces are under the control of the Minister of
Interior. The civilian authorities maintained effective control of all
security forces. Members of the security forces committed numerous,
serious human rights abuses and acted with impunity.
The country has a population of approximately 10 million; the
Government maintained that approximately 80 percent of citizens are in
the middle class. Fewer than 5 percent fall below the poverty line. The
economy is export oriented, relatively diversified, and increasingly
market based. During the year, the economy's growth rate was
approximately 5 percent. Wages generally have kept pace with inflation.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit serious abuses; however, the Government
continued to demonstrate respect for the religious freedom of
minorities, as well as the human rights of women and children. 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. International observers were not allowed to
inspect prisons, and lengthy pretrial and incommunicado detention
remained a serious problem. The Government infringed on citizens'
privacy rights. The Government continued to impose significant
restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press. The Government
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.
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of politically motivated killings by the Government or its
agents; however, on February 27 the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH)
reported that a 29 year old male citizen, Badreddine Rekeii, died in
police custody between February 7 and 9. The police reportedly told
Rekeii's family that he committed suicide; however, according to his
family, his body showed ``signs of violence'' that led them to
disbelieve the police report.
a. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, state authorities sought to limit contact
between prisoners and outside contacts, including family, by moving
them frequently to other locations.
Habib Ellouz, a former leader of the banned Islamist party, An
Nahdha (Arabic for ``renaissance''), which the Government considers a
terrorist organization, was transferred from the Borj El Amri prison in
early in the year after he began a hunger strike. His family has said
it has been unable to find out where he is being held (see Section
1.c.). A military tribunal gave Ellouz a life sentence in 1992 for his
alleged involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the Government.
b. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Penal Code prohibits such practices; however, security
forces reportedly tortured detainees to elicit confessions and
political prisoners to discourage resistance. The forms of torture
included: electric shock; confinement to tiny, unlit cells; submersion
of the head in water; beatings with hands, sticks, and police batons;
suspension from cell doors resulting in loss of consciousness;
cigarette burns; and food and sleep deprivation. Police allegedly beat
naked, manacled prisoners while they were suspended from a rod.
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, to intimidate, and to
punish.
Charges of torture in specific cases were difficult to prove
because authorities often denied victims 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, local human rights groups, and AI,
police routinely refused to register complaints of torture. In
addition, judges dismissed complaints without investigation, and
accepted as evidence confessions extracted through torture. The
Government may open an administrative investigation of allegations of
torture or mistreatment of prisoners without a formal complaint;
however, it is unlikely in those cases to make the results public, or
available to the lawyers of affected prisoners.
There were more reports of torture committed in pretrial detention
centers than in prisons. Political prisoners and Islamists allegedly
received harsher treatment during their arrests and confinement than
common criminal prisoners.
AI reported in 2003 that individuals (who became known as the
``Zarzis Group'') were tortured during their pretrial detention. The
Government stated that the individuals did not file complaints of
mistreatment nor request medical examinations. The judge did not
investigate the allegations of torture. The international NGO Reporters
Without Borders reported that nine members of the group were convicted
on terrorism related charges in April (see Section 1.e.).
Security forces regularly used violence against Islamists,
activists, and dissidents. Three individuals, alleged members of the
security forces, assaulted journalist Sihem Ben Sedrine on January 5
(see Section 2.a.). On October 11, former political prisoner Hamma
Hammami, whose party urged the boycott of the October 24 presidential
elections, reported being assaulted.
According to the International Association for the Support of
Political Prisoners (AISPP), Nabil El Ouaer, whom a military tribunal
sentenced to 15 years of prison in the early 1990s, was beaten by the
head of Borj Erroumi prison and put in solitary confinement, where four
other prisoners raped him in June. Based on its timing and location,
human rights activists believed prison officials sanctioned the
incident. El Ouaer conducted a hunger strike and filed a complaint
through a lawyer. When the case received international attention,
President Ben Ali ordered the Higher Commission on Human Rights and
Basic Freedoms (a state appointed body) to conduct an inquiry into the
case; however, the results were not publicized. El Ouaer's family told
human rights activists that prison officials pressured him to withdraw
his complaint.
On July 29, the LTDH reported that a police officer allegedly
received only a suspended sentence of two years for raping an 8 year
old girl in October 2000 in the town of Sousse. According to reports,
the officer had not been suspended from work following the incident.
Human rights activists described this as an example of the security
forces' lack of accountability.
Prison conditions ranged from spartan to poor, and generally did
not meet international standards. Foreign diplomatic observers who
visited prisons described the conditions as ``horrible.'' Overcrowding
and limited medical care posed a significant threat to prisoners'
health. 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. Prisoners and former prisoners reported
that inmates were forced to share a single water and toilet facility
with more than 100 cellmates, which created serious sanitation
problems.
On October 7, the LTDH released a 63 page report on the country's
prisons entitled ``The Walls of Silence,'' which stated that there were
approximately 26,000 prisoners in 29 prisons and 7 juvenile detention
centers. The report described a number of abuses, alleging that torture
and humiliating ill treatment of prisoners were widespread within
prisons.
Zouhair Yahiaoui, a formerly imprisoned journalist (see Section
2.a.), reported in 2003 that he had shared a cell that was 40 square
meters (430 square feet) with 80 fellow prisoners, and that they only
had access to water for 30 minutes a day. He conducted hunger strikes
to protest his treatment.
After a commission of inquiry conducted an investigation of prison
conditions in 2003, President Ben Ali decided to implement a number of
reforms, many relating to improving medical care in prisons; however,
the effects of this decision could not be determined. The Commission's
report was not released to the public. An article from the magazine
``Realites'' stated that there were 253 prisoners per 100,000 citizens,
that prisoners were made to sleep on floors and under beds, and that
some waited up to 7 months before moving from the floor to a bed shared
with other prisoners.
On July 7, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report entitled
``Long Term Solitary Confinement of Political Prisoners'' that
documented how as many as 40 political prisoners, mostly An Nahdha
leaders, have been held in long term isolation in prisons around the
country. HRW claimed that many of these prisoners have been in
isolation for periods ranging from months to years, and that the
isolation policy has violated the country's law.
Men, women, and children were held separately in prisons. Prison
conditions for women were generally better than those for men.
According to ``Realites,'' there were four juvenile ``reformatory
centers.'' Conditions for detainees and convicts were reportedly the
same. Pretrial detainees generally were kept separate from convicts.
There were reports from former prisoners, the relatives of current
prisoners, and NGOs that prison conditions and rules were harsher for
political prisoners and Islamists. Former political prisoners said
their records and identity cards were marked to identify them to guards
for ``special treatment.'' These prisoners apparently were moved
frequently and, upon arrival at a new prison, received a brutal
beating.
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 National Council for Liberties in Tunisia (CNLT)
reported that other inmates were instructed to stay away from political
prisoners and were punished severely for making contact with them.
The Government did not permit international organizations or the
media to inspect or monitor prison conditions. During the year, the
Government conducted talks with the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) to allow ICRC access to the country's prisons; however, no
access had been granted by year's end.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution specifically
prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these prohibitions
were not always observed in practice.
The Ministry of Interior controls the majority of the security
services. Within the ministry are 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 tasked
with monitoring groups and individuals the Government considers to be a
dangerous threat, such as the media, Islamists, human rights activists,
and opposition parties and leaders. The Ministry of Interior monitors
the communications of those groups and individuals. There are a large
number of plainclothes police throughout the country.
In general, law enforcement groups were disciplined, organized, and
effective; however, there were episodes involving petty corruption, the
solicitation of bribes by police at traffic stops, and police brutality
against individuals whose behavior was deemed ``provocative.'' Human
rights activists reported that law enforcement organizations operated
with impunity, and that the police committed attacks, sanctioned by
high officials, on dissidents and oppositionists.
During the year, the Government stated that in 74 cases between
2000 and 2002, police and prison guards who committed ``infringements
against detainees'' had received sentences ranging from an $85 (100
dinars) fine to a 10 year imprisonment.
On March 17, the Minister of Interior announced the creation of the
Higher Institute of Internal Security Forces and Customs, a new
oversight body for 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 subsequent operations.
The law provides that the police must have a warrant to arrest a
suspect, unless the crime committed is a felony or in progress;
however, authorities sometimes ignored this requirement and arbitrary
arrests and detentions occurred. The Penal Code permits the detention
of suspects for up to 6 days prior to arraignment, during which 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; however, those rules were
sometimes ignored. Detainees were allowed access to family members when
they were not being held incommunicado; however, 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
the 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, which may
be paid by a third party. 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.
In cases involving crimes for which the sentence may exceed 5 years
or that involve national security, pretrial detention may last an
initial period of 6 months and may be extended by court order for two
additional 4 month periods. For crimes in which the sentence may not
exceed 5 years, the court may extend the initial 6 month pretrial
detention by an additional 3 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. Some defendants claimed that they were
held in pretrial detention for years.
The Government denied detaining anyone for political crimes. The
lack of public information on prisoners and detainees made it
impossible to estimate how many political detainees there were.
However, it is likely that the number of political detainees held
without charge is low because criminal convictions of dissidents and
Islamists are easy to secure under laws prohibiting membership in
outlawed organizations, and ``spreading false information aimed at
disturbing of the public order.''
Judges and the Government exercised their authority to release
prisoners or suspend their sentences, often on conditional parole (see
Section 1.e.). On November 3, the Government granted amnesty to
prisoners in an annual ritual marking the anniversary of President Ben
Ali's accession to power (see Section 3). The Government did not
provide details on the numbers, types, or names of prisoners released.
Estimates of the numbers released range from 26 to at least 80.
According to AI, most of those released were members of the banned
Islamist group An Nadha.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the executive branch and the President
strongly influenced judicial decisions, particularly in political
cases. The executive branch exercises an indirect authority over the
judiciary through the appointment, assignment, tenure, and transfer of
judges, which rendered the system susceptible to pressure in sensitive
cases. In addition, the President is head of the Supreme Council of
Judges. The law provides citizens legal recourse to an administrative
tribunal to address grievances against government ministries; however,
government officials rarely respected the tribunal's decisions, which
were non binding. Throughout the year, the Government permitted
observers from diplomatic missions, members of the European Parliament,
and foreign journalists to monitor trials. The Government did not
permit observers to attend sessions of military tribunals.
The civil court system is composed of 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 the Courts of First Instance,
which serve as the appellate courts for the District Courts, but also
have original jurisdiction for more serious cases. There is a Court of
First Instance in each region, and they are empowered to consider all
commercial and civil cases. Each Court is composed of a three judge
panel. At the third level are three Appeals Courts. 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 dominates a trial, and defense attorneys have little opportunity
to participate substantively.
There are also military courts, which fall under the Ministry of
Defense, and an administrative tribunal.
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, be represented by counsel, and 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. In
court, a woman's testimony is worth the same as a man's.
The Constitution 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 one assigned to them is
not impartial; however, judges are not required to recuse themselves.
The law allows judges to substitute community service for jail
sentences of 6 months or less. There were no reports that this
alternative was applied in political cases.
Although family and inheritance law is codified, civil law judges
were known to apply Shari'a law in family cases (especially those
involving child custody) if the two systems conflicted. 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 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.
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.
On April 6, eight defendants, known informally as the ``Zarzis
Group,'' were convicted of terrorism related charges. Six sentences
were later reduced on appeal from up to 26 years to 13 years. On April
16, a ninth member of the group received a 25 month sentence. Human
rights groups criticized their trials, claiming the prosecution
submitted very little evidence. The defendants, most in their late
teens and early twenties, reportedly had searched the Internet for
information about explosives and construction of a rocket launcher, and
they had tried to contact an alleged member of Al Qaida in Europe.
According to some human rights groups, the Zarzis members were arrested
immediately after Government ``cyber police'' detected their illicit
web surfing.
On November 4, Jalal Zoghlami, editor of the opposition magazine
Kaws El Karama, and his brother Nejib Zoghlami were sentenced to 8
months in prison for damaging property during a ``disturbance'' in a
Tunis cafe. According to HRW, the brothers claimed that police agents
had staged the event.
Military tribunals have the authority try cases involving military
personnel and civilians accused of national security crimes. A military
tribunal consists of a civilian judge and four military deputy judges.
Defendants may appeal the military tribunal's verdict to the civilian
Supreme Court, which considers arguments on points of law as opposed to
the facts of a case. AI has claimed that citizens charged under the
tribunals have been denied basic rights during the judicial process.
On June 29, Salem Zirda, a civilian and former refugee, faced a
military court trial for ``providing services to a terrorist
organization operating abroad.'' Mr. Zirda was accused of having made
contact with members of the banned Islamist party An Nadha The court
sentenced him to 7 years in prison.
The Government denied that it held any political prisoners, and
there was no definitive information regarding the number of political
prisoners. Nevertheless, early in the year, the AISPP published a list
of 542 names of individuals whom it considered political prisoners. The
AISPP stated that impediments to gathering information about prisoners
made it very likely that the total number of political prisoners was
higher. Nearly all of these prisoners were Islamists, but very few were
convicted for acts of violence. Most of those who have been 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 said their identity papers were marked in a way
that resulted in their receiving harsher treatment (see Section 1.c.).
The Government released approximately 80 prisoners in early
November. Two of the released prisoners were former An Nahdha leaders
Ali Laaridh and Zyed Daoulatli. The releases were part of the annual
amnesty commemorating President Ben Ali's 1987 accession; however,
observers noted that most of the released prisoners had served two
thirds of their sentences, which is the point when most convicts are
granted parole.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution 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.
On June 14, state security forces reportedly attempted to search
the office of Saida Akremi, a lawyer and the Secretary General of the
AISPP. According to witnesses, Akremi was able to prevent the search
from taking place, since the security forces reportedly did not have a
search warrant.
On September 3, the opposition newspaper Al Mawkef reported that
the house of journalist Slim Boukhedhir was broken into after he asked
a question at a press conference implying that relatives of the
President had pressured the judiciary to influence a legal case. Human
rights activists speculated that security forces committed the break in
(see Section 2.a.).
Authorities may invoke state security to justify telephone
surveillance. There were numerous reports by NGOs, the news media, and
diplomatic representatives that the Government intercepted faxes and
emails. 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 political activists
experienced frequent and sometimes extended interruptions of home and
business telephone and fax service. 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, and human
rights activists, as well as journalists, and also placed some under
surveillance (see Section 2.a.).
Human rights activists claimed that the Government subjected family
members of Islamist activists and human rights activists to arbitrary
arrest, reportedly using charges of ``association with criminal
elements'' to punish family members for crimes allegedly committed by
the activists. Family members were reportedly denied jobs, business
licenses, and the right to travel due to their relatives' activism.
They also alleged that relatives of Islamist activists, who were in
jail or living abroad, were subjected to police surveillance and
mandatory visits to police stations for questioning about their
activist relatives. The Government maintained that the non activist
relatives were themselves members or associates of the An Nahdha
movement, and therefore were subject to legitimate laws prohibiting
membership in or association with that organization.
On April 3, two Islamist former political prisoners, Abdellatif
Makki and Jalel Ayes, suspended their 2 month hunger strike protesting
their December 2003 dismissal from El Manar University. They had been
banned from attending the university after their release from prison.
Their case received the attention of local and international human
rights NGOs; however, they were not reinstated.
According to human rights lawyer Radhia Nasraoui, the Government
reportedly was no longer conducting obtrusive surveillance of her, her
family, and her clients.
There were no indications that the Government had reissued any of
the more than 10,000 national identity cards (confiscated in 2003) of
former prisoners convicted of An Nahdha membership, or of relatives of
An Nahdha members and their supporters. Confiscation of an identity
card makes nearly every aspect of civil and administrative life
difficult. 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 their 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.
There were a number of limits on freedom of speech. In particular,
the Government did not tolerate criticism of its policies or officials
in the mainstream press, and self censorship in public over these
issues was common throughout all levels of society.
On July 24, the Tunisian Chamber of Deputies adopted a law that
criminalized the unauthorized publication of any other individual's
personal information. The Government cited this as an example of
improvement in the field of human rights, namely, citizens' right to
privacy; however, journalists expressed concern that in practice the
law would actually be used to limit freedom of speech and the press,
particularly in politically sensitive cases. There were no reports of
this law being enforced.
The law prohibits citizens from discussing national politics on
foreign radio or television channels during the 2 weeks prior to
national elections; however, there were no cases in which the law was
invoked during the year.
Security forces often questioned citizens seen talking with foreign
visitors or residents, particularly visiting international human rights
monitors and journalists.
The Government stated there were 245 newspapers and magazines in
the country, the ``great majority'' of which are ``privately owned and
freely decide on their own editorial line.'' It also noted ``the press
as a whole enjoys a great deal of indirect assistance in the form of
customs exemptions for all materials involved in printing.'' However,
of the eight mainstream dailies, two are government owned, two are
owned by the ruling party, and two, although nominally private, take
editorial direction from senior government officials. All media are
subject to significant governmental pressure over subject matter. There
were three opposition party newspapers, which had small circulations
but exercised editorial independence from the Government. Nevertheless,
two of them, Ettariq El Jadid and Al Wahda, received Government
subsidies under a law that provided 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.
Foreign publications that included articles critical of the country
were generally not available for sale, although in some cases they were
distributed after a few days' delay. The Government prevented local
journalists from broadcasting reports on pan Arab satellite channels
during the Arab ministerial meetings in January and March. Government
regulations required foreign correspondents to obtain written approval
before videotaping any public area.
The Government tightly controlled broadcast media. It owned and
operated the two television stations and all but one of the country's
radio stations. Broadcast news reports were confined to international
and uncontroversial national issues. On the other hand, the Government
did not restrict possession of satellite dishes, which reportedly a
majority of households used to gain access to foreign news channels.
The country's sole private radio station, Radio Mosaique, continued to
make extensive independent social commentary; however, its political
reporting was similar to that of state owned broadcast media.
The Government exercised tight control over the creation of new
print and broadcast media organizations. It did not allow the creation
of any new newspaper during the year, but did authorize the creation of
the country's first independent television station, which reportedly
will begin broadcasting in February 2005.
The Government was sensitive about local journalists who
contributed to negative reporting about the country in the
international press. On January 5, three men, alleged to be
plainclothes members of the security forces, assaulted journalist Sihem
Ben Sedrine. One struck her repeatedly in the face and chest. The
assault coincided with an increase in Ben Sedrine's contacts with
western media, NGOs, and governments, which observers believed to be
the reason for the assault.
On January 13, security forces prevented Sihem Ben Sedrine, a
journalist, publisher, and one of the founders of the CNLT, from
registering her newspaper Kalima, whose website remains blocked within
the country (see Section 2.b.) Ms. Ben Sedrine has said this was her
third attempt to register the publication.
Members of the security forces regularly questioned journalists
regarding press conferences and other public functions hosted by
foreigners that the journalists attended.
On May 3, the Tunisian Journalism Association (AJT) published a
list of 11 journalists who had not received permission, as requested,
to publish new independent newspapers. The Government did not process
applications for independent television and radio licenses, and
applicants complained of a lack of transparency about the application
process.
Harassment of journalists by the Government was common, and in rare
cases, security forces used violence against them. At an August press
conference, two men, alleged to be members of the security forces,
reportedly assaulted journalist Slim Boukhedhir after he asked a
question implying that relatives of the President had pressured the
judiciary to influence a legal case. Subsequent to the incident,
Boukhedhir reportedly received numerous threatening phone calls and his
house was broken into (see Section 1.f.).
The Government withheld press credentials from, and delayed
granting passports to, journalists with whom it was displeased,
particularly those associated with the opposition. For example, Al
Mowqif senior editor Mohamed Fourati was denied a passport for 8
months. On March 24, the Government accused Fourati in court of
belonging to an unauthorized organization based on a series of articles
that he published in Kalima, although the Government subsequently
dropped the charges. On the other hand, Internet journalist and former
political prisoner Zouhair Yahyaoui (conditionally released from prison
in November 2003) was able to get a passport, despite the fact that he
remained vocally critical of the Government, and resumed his work
editing an online pro democracy magazine that the Government blocked.
Unlike in previous years, there were no new reports of journalists
being arrested. In March, a Court of Appeals confirmed the November
2003 conviction of Kalima editor and dissident journalist Neziha Rejiba
(known as Om Zied). Rejiba was convicted of an arbitrarily enforced
currency exchange restriction and received an 8 month suspended
sentence and a $950 (1,200 dinars) fine. Observers believed that she
was charged to punish her for the editorial line of the online journal.
On September 10, Abdullah Zouari, a journalist who once worked for
Al Fajr, the weekly newspaper of the An Nahdha party, was released from
prison. He conducted a hunger strike in early this year to protest the
fact that his family was prohibited from visiting him. Zouari was
convicted in August 2003 for violating the terms of his administrative
control when he accompanied an HRW foreign worker to visit families of
Islamist prisoners. Hamadi Jebali, a former editor of Al Fajr, remained
in prison to serve his 6 year sentence for insurrection and
``membership in an illegal organization.''
News media are subject to direct and indirect government control
over content. However, the primary mechanisms that the Government used
to censor publications were indirect. For example, The Press Code
requires all newspapers to submit copies of each edition to the
Government prior to distribution. This pro forma process, known as
``depot legal,'' resulted in self censorship among editors and
journalists. Unlike the mainstream independent press, the Government
required some opposition papers to await explicit approval of each
edition before beginning its distribution. Even when the Government
formally approved editions of opposition papers, it sometimes prevented
their distribution. The staff of Al Mawqif reported that such was the
case on several occasions during the year.
On March 9, 28 journalists employed by the government owned daily
newspapers, La Presse and As Sahafa, signed a letter to government
officials decrying an increase in censorship and pressure from ``the
hierarchy.'' They specifically cited pressure to refrain from reporting
on sensitive national issues such as the 2003 Tunis floods and a
teacher's strike, as well as on international issues such as the number
of coalition forces killed in Iraq and Israeli actions in Palestine.
Thirteen later rescinded their signatures, allegedly due to pressure
from their editors. On May 31, representatives of the Ministry of
Interior convoked Rachid Khachana, the editor of Al Mawqif, to advise
him to desist from publishing statements by ``unrecognized entities''
and from ``criticizing the ruling party.''
According to media editors, senior government officials routinely
called news directors and editors to inform them which issues were
taboo, and in some cases, to take issue with reports they had published
or broadcast. The Tunisian Agency for External Communications (ATCE)
enforced this policy and other informal censorship mechanisms by
selectively withholding government advertising funds from newspapers or
magazines that published articles that the Government deemed offensive.
In May, Realites lost all government funded advertising for two weeks
after the publication of an editorial on freedom of the press in the
country. In addition, private companies reportedly were consistently
unwilling to advertise in newspapers no longer receiving government
advertisements for fear of appearing to side with the media
organization being punished.
The media practiced a high degree of self censorship. Journalists
in the mainstream press regularly refrained from investigative
reporting on national issues. The tiny opposition press constituted the
only newspapers to report regularly on controversial national issues.
Book publishing was subject to the pro forma approval of the
Government, and the Government imposed the same restrictions on books
as it did on other media.
The Government blocked access to a number of Internet websites,
including nearly all sites belonging to domestic human rights,
opposition and Islamist groups, as well as many pornographic websites.
However, in April, the Government allowed access to several foreign
websites that previously had been blocked, including Hotmail, Al
Jazeera, AI, and the French daily newspaper Liberation. Some foreign
human rights websites remained blocked, including the website of the
NGO Reporters Without Borders.
On May 3, the LTDH published the report, ``Media Under Watch,''
that criticized the state of press freedom and discussed the means by
which the Government monitored and blocked Internet usage. In July, a
report on ``cyber freedom,'' published by the Arab Information Network
on Human Rights, ranked the country last among 11 Arab countries.
The Government limited academic freedom and sought to foster a
culture of self censorship in universities. The Government closely
monitored administrators, teachers, and students to identify Islamic
extremists. Police on university campuses, both in uniform and
plainclothes, discouraged students from openly expressing dissent.
Academic publications were subject to the pro forma process of
submission to the Government before publication, and university
libraries did not purchase foreign books or subscribe to foreign
magazines deemed critical of the Government. Tight government control
over academic research funds caused university administrators to not
apply for grants on research topics (such as one on ``voting methods'')
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.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly; however, the Government restricted
this right in practice. Groups that wish to hold a public meeting,
rally, or march must apply for and obtain a permit from the Ministry of
Interior no later than 3 days before the proposed event, and they must
submit a list of participants. According to diplomatic representatives,
the authorities routinely approved such permits for groups that
supported government positions, but consistently refused permission for
groups that expressed dissenting views. In previous years, NGO leaders
have reported difficulty in renting space to hold large meetings. They
maintained that police pressured hotel and hall managers to prevent
them from renting meeting space to the NGOs.
In March, according to human rights activists, the deputy governor
of Gafsa refused to allow regional leaders of an opposition party to
meet. The meeting's organizers were forced to cancel the event at the
last minute.
According to opposition media, regional authorities pressured a
Tozeur businessman to rescind his offer to rent a meeting hall to an
opposition party in May, which he did. Other hotel managers and
businessmen denied that there is a specific ban on renting space to
opposition groups; however, they said they cooperated with the Ministry
of Interior and accommodated its requests when possible.
On November 28, security forces prevented human rights activists
from attending a meeting of the LTDH, in the town of Kairouan, by
imposing road checkpoints and blocking entrance to the LTDH
headquarters. On December 11, police surrounded the headquarters of the
CNLT and blocked attendance at the organization's general assembly.
The Government used large numbers of police and other forces tasked
with state security to monitor, control, and sometimes disrupt
demonstrations. According to diplomatic representatives, the Government
broke up several unsanctioned demonstrations during the year and, in
many incidents, police outnumbered demonstrators. 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 or demonstrators not
dispersing when ordered by police. Security forces were prepared to
respond vigorously to civil disorder.
On April 18, police convoked several NGO leaders who had organized
a peaceful demonstration to protest the killing of a Palestinian
leader. Some were asked to sign a written document promising not to
participate in future demonstrations.
On April 23, college students in the northern town of Bizerte
conducted a demonstration ``in solidarity with Iraq and Palestine''
that police violently dispersed. There were no reports of injuries or
deaths. The official government news agency announced that the
demonstration served no purpose since the Government position and that
of the demonstrators were identical.
The Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the
Government generally did not respect this right in practice,
particularly for groups deemed critical of its policies. The law
requires that new NGOs submit an application to the Government in order
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 and arbitrarily blocked the 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.''
On January 13, journalist and editor Sihem Ben Sedrine was
similarly rebuffed when she attempted to register her online magazine,
Kalima, despite the fact a member of the Chamber of Deputies
accompanied her (see Section 2.a.).
On March 22, the Government solicited the application of the AISPP,
which its president, Mohamed Nouri, duly submitted. When the Government
gave him a receipt, many observers assumed that it would approve the
NGO's application, since in all related cases in recent years it has
refused to provide a receipt for the applications of human rights NGOs.
Nevertheless, in June, the Government formally rejected its application
without providing the grounds for refusal (see Section 4).
On April 26, the recently formed Tunisian Green Party submitted an
application to register itself with the Government. After the party did
not hear from the Government for 3 months, its president, Abdelkader
Zitouni, believed that the application had been approved according to
the law. Nevertheless, on July 26, the Ministry of Interior informed
him that it had not received an official request for registration.
Since Zitouni had not received a receipt, he was unable to prove to the
Government's satisfaction that he had submitted an application (see
Section 3).
On June 8, the human rights activist Radhia Nasraoui of the
Tunisian Association for the Struggle against Torture (ALTT),
accompanied by the NGO's vice president, secretary general, and
treasurer, attempted to submit an application to register their NGO.
According to the ALTT, after government officials refused to accept
their applications, the group conducted a 6 hour sit in until police
expelled them and supporters from the premises (see Section 1.f.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for the 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. The Government did not permit the
establishment of political parties based on religion, prohibited
proselytizing, and restricted the wearing of the hijab, or headscarf.
Islam is the state religion, and the Constitution stipulates that the
President must be a Muslim. The Government controlled and subsidized
mosques, and also subsidized some synagogues. The Government paid the
salaries of both Muslim prayer leaders and the country's Grand Rabbi.
The Government recognizes all Christian and Jewish religious
organizations that were established before independence in 1956.
Although it permits other Christian denominations to operate, the
Government has only formally recognized the Catholic Church. The
Government did not permit Christian groups to establish new churches.
Authorities can deport foreigners suspected of proselytizing and not
permit them to return; however, there were reports that the Government
preferred to not renew the visas of suspected missionaries or to
pressure their employers to not extend their contracts, rather than to
deport them. There were no reported cases of official action against
persons suspected of proselytizing during the year.
Since 1999, the Government has not permitted registration of a
Jewish religious organization in Djerba; however, the group has been
permitted to operate, and it performed religious activities and
charitable work without restriction.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs hosted a Colloquium December 8-9
entitled ``Dialogue of the Abrahamic Faiths for Tolerance and Peace,''
aimed at fostering mutual understanding. Representatives of the Muslim,
Christian, and Jewish faiths participated.
Islamic religious education was mandatory in public schools;
however, 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 members
for ``membership in an illegal organization'' (see Section 1.e.). In
previous years, the Government revoked the identity cards of an
estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Islamists and fundamentalists, which, among
other consequences, prevented them from being legally employed (see
Section 1.f.). Many of these individuals reportedly remained without
identity cards throughout the year. The Government continued to
maintain tight surveillance over Islamists.
The law provides that only persons appointed by the Government may
lead activities in mosques, such as prayer or theological discussion
groups. The Government required that mosques remain closed, except
during prayer times 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 sought to suppress certain outward signs of
citizens' religious practice. For example, regulations forbade the
wearing of the hijab in government offices, and there were reports of
police requiring women to remove their hijab in offices, on the street,
and at certain public gatherings. In several cases, school officials
took disciplinary action to punish and deter hijab use, and there were
reports that school and government officials detained women who wore
the hijab, and attempted to make them sign written oaths renouncing it.
The Government characterized the hijab as a ``garment of foreign origin
having a partisan connotation,'' and prohibited the hijab in public
institutions in order to ``observe impartiality required of officials
in their professional relations with others.'' However, diplomatic
representatives observed a few government employees wearing the hijab
in their offices. There were reports that police sometimes detained men
with ``Islamic'' style beards, harassed them, and compelled them to
shave off their beards.
Religious publications are 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. Moreover, only sanctioned 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.).
Christians and Jews living in the country, including foreigners,
constituted less than 1 percent of the population. 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. Jewish children on the island of Djerba were
permitted to divide their academic day between secular public schools
and private religious schools. The Government also encouraged Jewish
expatriates to return for the annual pilgrimage to the historic El
Ghriba Synagogue on the island.
The Government took a wide range of security measures to protect
synagogues, particularly during Jewish holidays, and Jewish community
leaders said that the level of protection that the Government provided
them increased during the year. Government officials and private
citizens alike often cited the country's tradition of religious
tolerance as one of its strengths.
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 only practice their faith in private. Ministry of
Interior officials periodically met with prominent citizens of the
Baha'i faith to discuss their activities, and Baha'i leaders asserted
that, as a result, their community's relationship with the Government
improved during the year.
Muslims who converted to another religion faced social ostracism.
There were reports that the Government did not allow married couples to
register the birth of their children, or receive birth certificates if
the mother was Christian and the father was Muslim, and if the parents
tried to give their children non Muslim names.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, Repatriation, and Exile.--The Constitution 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 5 year period of ``administrative
controls'' at sentencing on certain former prisoners that constituted a
type of internal exile.
The law provides that the courts can 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 requests to seize or withhold a
citizen's passport through the public prosecutor to the courts;
however, the Ministry of Interior routinely bypassed the public
prosecutor with impunity. The public prosecutor deferred to the
Ministry of Interior on such requests.
There were numerous reports of citizens experiencing difficulty
applying for or renewing their passports. Many applicants accused the
Government of not acting on their applications solely on the basis of
their opposition to the ruling party or Government policies. Mokhtar
Boubaker, a labor leader and former chief editor of the General Union
of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) weekly, Esch Chaab, reported that the
Government has refused him a passport since 2001. He said the Ministry
of Interior refused to tell him the reason for not processing his
renewal application. In another case, former Islamist leader Dr.
Mohamed Sedki Labidi allegedly has been deprived of his passport for
the last decade without a court decision. In February, the Government
allegedly refused to issue a passport for the 8 month old daughter of a
former political prisoner, now living in Europe.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile; however, the Penal Code
provides for the imposition of a form of internal exile (which the
Government calls ``administrative control'') on convicts for up to five
years. 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 assigns those individuals a
place to live, 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 several times each day, and at
times that are determined only the previous evening. At the police
station, they reportedly may be forced to wait hours before they are
allowed to sign in, which made employment impossible and childcare
difficult. Numerous Islamists released from prison in recent years have
been subjected to such requirements.
On September 10, the Government released former journalist Abdullah
Zouari, who was originally sentenced to 9 months in prison in August
2003 for violating the terms of the administrative control measures
imposed on him (see Section 2.a.).
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 extra judicial administrative control
measures since 1991, when he received a suspended sentence for
membership in An Nadha.
Some political opponents in self imposed exile abroad were
prevented from obtaining or renewing their passports in order to return
to the country.
The Constitution provides for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The country is a party to the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1967 Protocol
Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the Convention Governing the
Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. However, in practice,
the Government has instituted no measures to protect against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and has not granted refugee status and asylum. The
Government cooperated to a certain degree with the office of the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government
has not officially provided temporary protection to foreign nationals
who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967
Protocol.
Section 3. Political Rights: Citizens' Right to Change Their Government
The Constitution provides that citizens shall directly elect the
President and members of the Chamber of Deputies for 5 year terms;
however, there were significant limitations on citizens' right to
change their government. Moreover, irregularities that called into
question the legitimacy of elections were routine. In the October 24
national elections, President Ben Ali faced three candidates, and
received 94.49 percent of the popular vote to secure a fourth term in
office. The third opposition candidate, Mohamed Halouani of the Et
Tajdid party, cited a number of government restrictions and other
irregularities to explain why he received less that 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 elections were characterized by notable irregularities, such as
voter intimidation. A coalition of three local independent NGOs (LTDH,
CNLT, and the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women) cited a lack of
media access by opposition candidates during the campaign period, and
media bias in favor of the ruling party as serious problems. Opposition
candidates and other observers also cited voter intimidation,
restrictions on disseminating campaign materials and organizing
campaign events, the ruling party's domination of state institutions,
and political activity which precluded credible and competitive
electoral challenges from unsanctioned actors.
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.
On August 31, the Government formed a body called the National
Election Observatory, whose members were to include ``national figures
known for their competence, experience, and independence.'' The
Observatory was tasked with monitoring all stages of the October 24
elections, and was to report directly to President Ben Ali. However,
independent human rights activists complained that the real purpose of
the Observatory was to co opt foreign observers, and reduce pressure to
allow independent groups to monitor both the elections and their
preparation.
The ruling party has maintained power continuously since the
country gained its independence in 1956. It dominates the Cabinet, the
Chamber of Deputies, and regional and local governments. The President
appoints the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the 24 governors. The
Government and the party are closely integrated, and current and former
senior government officials constitute the top ranks of the RCD. The
President of the Republic is also the president of the party, and the
party's vice president and secretary general each hold the rank of
minister. All the 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 children of RCD members were much more
likely to receive scholarships and housing preferences at school. RCD
members also were much more likely to receive small business permits
and waivers on zoning restrictions.
To mitigate 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 7 officially recognized opposition parties, and
distributes them on a proportional basis to those parties that won at
least a single directly elected district seat. Five of the opposition
parties gained seats under that provision in the October 24 elections.
The RCD continued to hold the remaining 152 seats. Since opposition
parties have been unsuccessful in their attempts to raise money from
private contributors, the Government partially funded their campaigns.
For the elections, each party represented in the Chamber of Deputies
received a public subsidy of approximately $42,000 (60,000 dinars),
plus an additional payment of $3,500 (5,000 dinars) per deputy.
Opposition newspapers had difficulty finding sources of advertising
revenue, so the Government gave each one up to $105,000 (120,000
dinars). The Government provided 3 minutes of airtime for a
representative of each legislative list, and 5 minutes of airtime for
each presidential candidate, in addition to limited coverage of
political party meetings following the main nightly news program;
however, there were reports that the statements of opposition
representative were not shown on TV at all. Opposition parties were
allocated equal space on bulletin boards placed in most neighborhoods
for the elections.
By law, the Government does not permit the establishment of
political parties on the basis of religion, language, race, or gender.
The government has used the prohibition to continue to outlaw the
Islamist An Nahdha party and to prosecute suspected members for
``membership in an illegal organization'' (see Sections 2.b. and 2.c.).
The Government refused to recognize the creation of the Tunisian Green
Party, which applied for registration with the Government on April 26
(see Section 2.b.).
Prior to the October 24 elections, several opposition leaders
protested the country's 2002 referendum vote, which amended half of the
Constitution, questioning the legitimacy of the amendments, including
the provision that allowed President Ben Ali to run for an additional
term of office. Others noted the inconsistent application of the
amendments, such as the Government's failure to create the new upper
house of the country's legislature, the Chamber of Advisors, even 2
years after the referendum. The Government stated that, ``the spirit
and import of the reforms cannot come down to some of its provisions,
given their wide range and diversity.'' For example, it cited laudable
provisions that in theory increased the power of the judiciary and
legislative branch relative to the executive.
Corruption in the Government existed. On March 17, the Minister of
Interior announced the 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 also were episodes involving petty corruption with the security
forces, in particular the solicitation of bribes by police at traffic
stops (see Section 1.d.).
On a number of occasions, President Ben Ali expressed the desire to
increase the level of representation of women in the Government to 25
percent. In April, he appointed Tunisia's first female governor. There
were 43 women in the 189 seat legislature. Two of the 25 ministers, and
5 of the 20 secretaries of state were women. More than one fifth of
municipal council members were women. Three women served as presidents
of chambers on the Supreme Court. Two women served on the 15 member
Higher Council of the Magistracy. The September 7 by elections in a
governorate on the outskirts of Tunis were one of the first elections
held in the country without gender segregation at polling stations.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international groups were able to investigate and
publish their findings on human rights cases; however, the Government
sought to discourage investigations of human rights abuses. According
to the Government, there were more than 8,000 NGOs in the country. The
vast majority was devoted exclusively to social and economic
development issues. There were approximately one dozen domestic human
rights NGOs, although only half were authorized. The Government met
with registered domestic human rights NGOs, and responded to their
inquiries; however, it also harassed, targeted, and prosecuted some of
them. Human rights activists and lawyers complained of frequent
interruptions of postal and telephone services (see Section 1.f.).
The LTDH was one of the most active independent advocacy
organizations, with 41 branches throughout the country. The
organization received and investigated complaints and protested abuses.
According to diplomatic representatives, 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.
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 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 RCD members continued
attempts to join independent NGOs, such as the LTDH and other civil
society groups, with the apparent intent of eventually gaining control
of the NGOs through elections. In some cases they used the NGOs' own
bylaws, while in other cases they exploited a provision of the
country's law on associations that requires ``organizations of a
general character'' to grant membership to all who apply. This strategy
brought mixed results, but it could achieve eventual success,
especially since the number of independent NGOs was relatively low.
During the year, the Government deterred several foreign NGOs from
visiting the country to work on election monitoring projects. The
Government cited the country's October 24 elections as an especially
sensitive time that precluded controversial visits. The Government also
sought to control and monitor the activities of some foreign NGOs
within the country.
The ICRC maintained a regional office in the country. During the
year, the Government entered into discussions with ICRC representatives
over granting the ICRC access to the country's prisons; however, no
agreement was reached during the year (see Section 1.c).
The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights has the lead on government
policy on human rights issues in the country. There were also human
rights offices in other ministries. 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,
addressed, and sometimes resolved, human rights complaints. The Higher
Commission submitted confidential reports directly to President Ben
Ali. The Government maintained several human rights websites, which
promoted the country's human rights record; however, it continued to
block access to the sites of domestic human rights organizations (see
Section 2.a.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides that all citizens are equal before the
law, and the Government generally respected these rights. Legal
discrimination was not pervasive; however, in some areas such as
inheritance and family law, Based based provisions in the civil code
adversely affected women.
Women.--Violence against women occurred, however, there were no
comprehensive statistics to measure its extent. Police officers and the
courts tended to regard domestic violence as a problem to be handled by
the family. Nonetheless, there are stiff penalties for spousal abuse.
Both the fine and imprisonment for battery or violence committed by a
spouse or family member are double those for the same crimes committed
by an unrelated individual. The National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT)
is a government sponsored organization that ran a center to assist
women and children in difficulty, and has undertaken national
educational campaigns for women. The UNFT reported that their shelter
handled 1,000 cases during the year. The Tunisian Democratic Women's
Association (ATFD) was active in debating and publicizing women's
issues, and also operated a counseling center for women who were
victims of domestic violence. The ATFD reported that their shelter
assisted approximately 1,000 women. The Center for Studies, Research,
Documentation, and Information on Women (CREDIF), a government research
organization, reports official information on women's issues.
The Penal Code specifically prohibits rape. There is no legal
exception to this law for spousal rape; however, in part due to social
stigma, there were no reports of spousal rape being prosecuted. The
penalty for rape with the use of violence or threat with a weapon is
the death sentence. For all other rape cases, the penalty is life
imprisonment.
The Penal Code prohibits prostitution; however, charges against
individuals were rare. Prostitution was not a problem. The penalty for
prostitution is 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.
The 2003 razorblade attacks, in which the victims were women
supposedly chosen because they dressed immodestly, stopped after the
arrest of two alleged perpetrators in 2003. No information was
available about the status of those arrested. If convicted, the Penal
Code stipulates a penalty of up to 5 years in prison for violence and
use of a knife or razorblade.
Sexual harassment occurred; however, there was no comprehensive
data to measure its extent. On August 2, the Chamber of Deputies passed
the country's first law making sexual harassment a criminal offense;
however, the Government subsequently suspended the law after civil
society groups vociferously criticized it. The law would have
instituted sentences of 1 year in prison and a fine of $2,500 (3,000
dinars) for individuals convicted of ``publicly insulting acceptable
standards of good behavior by gesture or speech.''
Women enjoy substantial rights, and the Government advanced those
rights in the areas of property ownership practices and support to
divorced women. Women comprised approximately 30 percent of the work
force. 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. In 2003, there were an estimated
2,000 businesses headed by women. A slight majority of university
students were women. There was a marked difference in female literacy
rates by age. According to UN statistics, the rate of female literacy
for those between the ages of 6 and 30 was over 90 percent. Female
literacy for those over 50 was 10 percent.
Women served in high levels of the Government as cabinet ministers
and secretaries of state, comprising more than 13 percent of the total,
and President Ben Ali appointed the country's first female governor in
April (see Section 3). Women constituted 37 percent of the civil
service and 24 percent of the nation's total jurists. However, women
still faced societal and economic discrimination in certain categories
of private sector employment.
Codified civil law is based on the Napoleonic code; however, 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, is held in the name of the husband. Muslim
women are not permitted to marry outside their religion. Marriages of
Muslim women to non Muslim men abroad are considered common law, and
are voided when the couple returns to the country. Application of
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 anything from their mothers.
Female citizens can convey citizenship rights to their children whether
the father is a citizen or not.
In February, the Government launched a morality campaign invoking a
1940 law penalizing ``immoral behavior'' that observers said primarily
affected women. There were reports that women were detained for wearing
jeans that police judged too tight, for holding hands with men in
public, and for driving with young men ``without authorization.''
According to newspaper reports, hundreds of citizens (both men and
women) were sentenced to prison terms varying from 4 to 12 months for
``immoral behavior.''
The Ministry for Women's Affairs, Family, Children and Senior
Citizens, has undertaken several national media campaigns to promote
awareness of women's rights. Nearly two thirds of its budget is devoted
to ensuring the legal rights of women, while simultaneously improving
their socioeconomic status. The Government supported and funded the
UNFT, the CREDIF, and women's professional associations. Several NGOs
focused, in whole or in part, 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 6 to 16
years. According to 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. During the year, female
students graduated from secondary school at a higher rate than male
counterparts. There were schools for religious groups (see Section
2.c.). The Government sponsored an immunization program targeting
preschool age children, and reported that more than 95 percent of
children were vaccinated. Male and female students received equal
access to medical care.
Penalties for convictions for abandonment and assault on minors
were severe. There was no societal pattern of abuse of children.
There were two ministries responsible for rights of children: the
Ministry of Women's Affairs, Family, and Childhood, and the Ministry of
Culture, Youth, and Leisure. 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.
On January 27, 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 3 to 20 years, and
fines of $67,000 to $83,000 (80,000 to 100,000 dinars). The amendments
brought national law into conformance with the international protocol
agreement on trafficking of persons. The Government was also prepared
to use provisions of the penal code to combat trafficking should the
need arise. For example, traffickers could be prosecuted under laws
prohibiting forced displacement of persons. Current law also prohibits
slavery and bonded labor.
The Ministry of Interior and Local Development and the Ministry of
Social Affairs, Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad were the agencies
responsible for anti trafficking efforts. Since trafficking was not a
problem, there were no specific government campaigns to prevent
trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was little discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. The law prohibits
such discrimination, and mandates that at least 1 percent of public and
private sector jobs be reserved for persons with disabilities. The law
also specifically prohibits discrimination against persons with mental
disabilities. All public buildings constructed since 1991 must be
accessible to persons with physical disabilities, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions. 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. 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, Solidarity and
Tunisians Abroad was responsible for protecting the rights of persons
with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the Labor Code
provide workers the right to organize and form unions, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The General
Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) is the country's only labor
federation. There are 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 restricted 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 modest union dues; however, UGTT
leaders stated that their only funding came from modest union dues, and
revenue from an insurance company and hotel owned by the union. Union
members and their families received additional support from the
National Social Security Account (CNSS). The Government has 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. The UGTT supported the
LTDH, and allowed LTDH regional chapters to use UGTT facilities for
conferences and meetings.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers; however,
the UGTT claimed that there was antiunion activity among private sector
employers, such as the firing of union activists and using temporary
workers to avoid unionization. In certain industries, such as textiles,
hotels, and construction, temporary workers accounted for a large
majority of the work force. The Labor Code protects temporary workers,
but enforcement was more difficult than in the case of permanent
workers. A committee chaired by an officer from the Labor Inspectorate
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 and employers. Forty seven collective bargaining agreements set
standards for industries in the private sector, and covered 80 percent
of the total private sector workforce. The Government's role in private
sector negotiations was minimal, consisting mainly of lending its good
offices as a mediator if talks stalled; however, the Government must
approve, but may not modify, all agreements. Once approved, the
agreements are binding on both union and nonunion workers in the line
of work that they cover. The UGTT also negotiated wages and work
conditions of civil servants and employees of state owned enterprises.
The Government was the partner in such negotiations. The 2002-03
triennial labor negotiations with the UGTT and the Union of Tunisian
Employers (UTICA), the private sector employer's association, resulted
in a compromise of a 5 percent wage increase in most sectors.
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;
however, 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, and the strikes were reported objectively in
the press. The law prohibited retribution against strikers. Labor
disputes were settled through conciliation panels in which labor and
management are represented equally. Tripartite regional arbitration
commissions settle industrial disputes when conciliation fails.
There were export processing zones (EPZs) in the country.
Organization and collective bargaining rights were not denied by law or
practice in EPZs, nor were there any special laws or exemptions of
regular labor laws for these zones.
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.--
Child labor did not pose a significant problem. The minimum age for
employment was 16 years, and was consistent with the age for completing
educational requirement (see Section 5). The minimum age for light work
in the non industrial and agricultural sectors, during non school
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 2 hours per day. The total time that
children spend in school and work may not exceed 7 hours per day. The
minimum age for hazardous or manual labor is 18 years.
The Government adhered to the standards of International Labor
Organization Convention 182, and enacted regulations concerning the
``worst forms of child labor'' and ``hazardous'' work. Inspectors of
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Solidarity examined the records of
employees to verify that employers complied with the minimum age law.
Nonetheless, as in most agricultural economies, young children
sometimes performed agricultural work in rural areas, and worked as
vendors in towns, primarily during their summer vacation from school.
There were no reports of sanctions against employers.
Child labor existed in the informal sector, disguised as
apprenticeship, particularly in the handicraft industry, and in the
cases of teenage girls whose families placed them as domestic servants.
There was no reliable data on the extent of this phenomenon.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Code provides for a
range of administratively determined minimum wages, which are set by a
commission of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the
Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad, and the
Ministry of Development and International Cooperation, in consultation
with the UGTT and the UTICA, and approved by the President. In July,
the industrial minimum wage was raised to $173 (218 dinars) per month
for a 48 hour workweek and to $151 (189 dinars) per month for a 40 hour
workweek. The agricultural daily minimum wage is $5.66 (7 dinars) per
day for ``specialized'' agricultural workers and $5.94 (7 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; however, that income
was only enough to cover essential costs. In addition, the more than
500,000 workers were employed in the informal sector, which was not
covered by labor laws.
Regional labor inspectors were responsible for enforcing standards
related to hourly wage regulations. They inspected most firms
approximately once every 2 years. However, the Government often had
difficulty enforcing the minimum wage law, particularly in non
unionized 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.
The Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad had
responsibility for enforcing health and safety standards in the
workplace. There were special government regulations covering hazardous
occupations like mining, petroleum engineering, and construction.
Working conditions and standards tended to be better in firms that were
export oriented than in those 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. 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
institutions or political parties. There are no general elections;
however, citizens may express their concerns directly to their leaders
through traditional consultative mechanisms, such as the open majlis,
or council. 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. On
November 4, the Council elected Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan to
succeed his late father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, as head of
state for a 5-year term. The Constitution requires the Council to meet
annually, although individual leaders meet frequently in more
traditional settings. The Cabinet manages the federation on a day-to-
day basis. A consultative body, the Federal National Council (FNC),
consisting of 40 advisors appointed for 2-year terms by the emirate
rulers, reviews proposed legislation, discusses the annual budget, and
may question federal government ministers in open sessions. The
Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, its
decisions were subject to review by the political leadership. The
country was not affected by serious international or internal conflict.
Each emirate maintains its own police force. The federal Ministry
of Interior oversees the Police General Directorates in each of the
seven emirates. While all emirate internal security organs
theoretically are branches of the federal Ministry of the Interior, in
practice they operate with considerable autonomy. Each Police General
Directorate supervises the police stations in that emirate. The
civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security
forces. There were no reports that security forces committed human
rights abuses.
The country has a free market economy based on oil and gas
production, trade, tourism, transportation, and light manufacturing.
The expatriate population comprises about 85 percent of the estimated
4.04 million population. Each emirate independently owns local oil and
gas production, although nearly all of the country's oil and gas
resources are located in Abu Dhabi. The emirate of Dubai has developed
into the lower Gulf's leading financial, commercial, transport, and
tourism center. The 2003 GDP real growth rate was 7 percent. The GDP
growth rate not including the oil sector was 5.8 percent. Oil price
increases during the year made a significant contribution to the
economy. Wage increases in both the private and public sectors were not
linked to the rate of inflation. The economy provided citizens with a
high per capita income, but it was heavily dependent on foreign skilled
and unskilled workers.
Problems remained in the Government's respect for human rights.
Citizens do not have the right to change their government. The
Government restricted freedom of speech and of the press. The press
practiced self-censorship. The Government restricted free assembly and
association, and it restricted religious freedom by banning
proselytizing of Muslims. The Government restricted the rights of
workers, many of whom were not protected by labor laws. There are no
labor unions. There were poor working conditions for some laborers,
failure to pay wages, and abuse of foreign domestic servants in an
economy in which 98 percent of the private sector workforce is foreign.
There were no independent human rights organizations. Trafficking in
women as prostitutes and very young foreign boys as camel jockeys
continue to be serious problems, despite government pledges to end
these practices.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the
Government or its agents.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture, and there were no
reports that government officials employed it; however, Shari'a
(Islamic law) courts sometimes impose flogging sentences on Muslims
(except in Dubai, where flogging is banned), and on some non-Muslims,
found guilty of adultery, prostitution, and drug or alcohol abuse.
There were reports that flogging, when imposed, generally was carried
out symbolically to prevent major or permanent injuries; however, in
2003 there was at least one case in Abu Dhabi Emirate of authorities
using a leather strap to administer the flogging sentence, which left
substantial bruising, welts, and open wounds on the recipient's body.
Prison conditions generally met international standards, and the
Government permitted visits by independent human rights observers.
However, prison conditions varied widely from emirate to emirate, and
some rural prisons were overcrowded and had spartan living conditions.
There were Ministry of Interior reports of prison overcrowding in Abu
Dhabi and reports by a Dubai prison official of overcrowding in Dubai
prisons. Noncitizens represented approximately 75 percent of all
prisoners. Men and women are housed separately. Conditions for women
were equal to or slightly better than those for men. Pre-trial
detainees were held separately from convicted criminals before trial.
Juveniles were held separately from adults. Security prisoners were
held separately from the general populace, in special sections of the
regular prisons. Conditions in these sections were not significantly
different than other parts of the prisons.
Police in Dubai and Abu Dhabi allow NGOs access to observe prison
conditions, if requested; however, there were no reports of any
requests for such visits during the year. Members 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
financially, and paid airfare, when necessary, to repatriate
noncitizens after their release.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions. However, the law permits incommunicado detention,
and the Government has in the past used it in sensitive criminal cases
in which the police claim that communication between the accused and a
third party could jeopardize their investigation. There were no reports
of incommunicado detention during the year.
The federal Ministry of Interior oversees the Police General
Directorates in each of the seven emirates; however, each emirate
maintains its own police force and supervises the police stations in
that emirate. While all emirate police forces theoretically are
branches of the federal Ministry of the Interior, in practice they
operate with considerable autonomy. Police stations take complaints
from the public, make arrests, and forward all cases to the Public
Prosecutor. These cases are then transferred to the courts. All cases
are filed with the Ministry of Interior. Incidents of police corruption
are uncommon, and there was no evidence of police impunity during the
year.
The Government has taken a number of measures to train the police
with respect to human rights issues. During the year, Dubai police
opened Human Rights Care Departments in all Dubai emirate police
stations. These departments are mandated to protect the human rights of
both victims and perpetrators of crimes, and to prevent illegal law
enforcement practices that might be committed against crime suspects.
In January, Dubai police held a law enforcement training seminar
focusing on human rights protection, including crime victim protection.
In April, Dubai police and the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) sponsored the First Regional Arab Police Human
Rights Training Workshop. The 5-day, 400-delegate workshop covered a
broad range of human rights issues for participants from 17 countries.
The Abu Dhabi Police Officers' Training Institute held an Anti-
Trafficking in Persons training symposium in May and a Human Rights
training symposium for law enforcement personnel in November.
The law prohibits arrest or search without probable cause, and the
Government generally observed its provisions. The security forces
generally obtained warrants.
Under the Criminal Procedures Code, police must report arrests
within 48 hours to public prosecutors, who must determine within the
next 24 hours whether to charge, release, or order further detention
pending an investigation. 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. Court-ordered extensions
may not exceed an additional 30 days of detention without charge.
Judges may renew this 30-day detention indefinitely. Suspects have the
right to protest any extensions of their detention periods ordered in
absentia. An anti-terrorism law passed in July increases the amount of
time that public prosecutors can hold suspects in terrorism-related
cases without charge from 21 days to 6 months. Afterward, terrorism
cases are handled by the Supreme Court, which may extend the detention
period indefinitely.
There were complaints from several diplomatic missions that
authorities did not always notify them 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 regular charges were generally allowed
to telephone third parties while in detention.
Defendants in cases involving loss of life, including involuntary
manslaughter, can be denied release in accordance with the law.
However, bail usually is permitted after a payment of compensation to
the victims' families, commonly called ``blood money,'' or diya, 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.
There were no reports of political detainees.
Rulers of the individual emirates regularly pardon prisoners on
religious and national holidays. Most pardoned foreign nationals were
deported.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, its decisions were subject to review by
the political leadership.
There is a dual system of Shari'a (Islamic) courts for criminal and
family law matters and civil courts for civil law matters. Civil courts
generally are part of the federal system, except in the Dubai and Ras
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 Ras Al Khaimah have
their own local and appellate courts, which have jurisdiction over
matters within their territories that the Constitution or federal
legislation does not specifically reserve for the federal system. The
emirates of Dubai and Ras Al-Khaimah do not refer cases in their courts
to the Federal Supreme Court for judicial review, although they
maintained a liaison with the federal Ministry of Justice, Islamic
Affairs, and Endowments.
Each emirate administers Shari'a courts. In some emirates, these
courts consider all types of civil and commercial cases as well as
serious criminal cases and family matters. They act in accordance with
traditional Islamic law and practice, but also are required to answer
to the Federal Supreme Court. Dubai has a special Shi'a council to act
on matters pertaining to Shi'a family law (see Section 5).
The Constitution provides accused persons the right to a speedy
trial. This right was invoked most often in civil cases, with civil
defendants at times demanding same day disposition of the cases filed
against them. Authorities generally brought criminal defendants to
trial in 2 to 3 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.
Trials can last more than a year, depending on the seriousness of
the charges, number of witnesses, and availability of judges. Review of
criminal cases by the local ruler's court, or diwan, as well as
bureaucratic delays in processing or releasing prisoners, at times
resulted in time served beyond the original sentences.
Many judges were noncitizen Arabs, whose mandates were subject to
periodic renewal by the Government. The percentage of citizens serving
as public prosecutors and judges, particularly at the federal level,
continued to grow. Between 55 and 60 percent of all judges were
citizens.
Legal counsel may represent defendants in both court systems. Under
the Criminal Procedures Code, the defendant has a right to 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 provides counsel to indigent
defendants charged with felonies punishable by imprisonment of 3 to 15
years.
Defendants are presumed innocent. 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.
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. The Government normally
negotiates with victims' families, often offering financial
compensation, or diya, to the victim's families to receive their
forgiveness and commute death sentences. Eliminating death sentences
does not affect prisoners' incarceration periods.
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. The appellate standard for overturning an
acquittal is ``without the slightest doubt of guilt.''
The local rulers' diwans, following traditional prerogatives,
maintain the practice of reviewing many types of criminal and civil
offenses before cases are 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 long delays prior to and following the
judicial process.
The military has its own court system. Military tribunals try only
military personnel. There is no separate national security court
system.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits entry into homes without
the owner's permission, except with a warrant and in accordance with
the law, and the Government generally respected these prohibitions in
practice. 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 subject 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 is 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 determined to be ``objectionable'' (see Section 2.a.).
Family matters for Muslims are governed by Shari'a law 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,'' which means 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 law prohibits, under penalty of
imprisonment, criticism of the Government, ruling families, and
friendly governments, as well as other statements that threaten social
stability; however, the law was rarely enforced because journalists
practiced self-censorship.
Two of the country's newspapers, Al-Ittihad and Al-Bayan, were
government-owned and one privately owned newspaper, Al-Khaleej,
received government subsidies. Most privately-owned newspapers no
longer received government subsidies. The country's largest English-
and Arabic-language newspapers, Al-Khaleej and Gulf News, were
privately owned. Newspapers often relied on news agencies for material.
The government owned Emirates News Agency regularly provided material
printed verbatim by most newspapers.
By law, the Ministry of Information licenses all publications. The
Ministry also approves the appointment of editors. The law governs
press content and contains a list of proscribed subjects. Government
officials reportedly warned journalists when they published material
deemed politically or culturally sensitive. In March, the Minister of
Education and Youth temporarily banned some reporters from accessing
the ministry building and speaking with ministry employees because the
reporters had previously published articles criticizing the performance
of the Ministry and its officials.
A de facto ban dating from 2002 prohibiting 10 prominent
intellectuals from publishing opinion pieces in the country's Arabic
and English language media continued. In 2002, six academics from Al
Ain University were also banned from teaching. Some of these academics
were also among the 10 intellectuals banned from publishing editorials.
The ban has been lifted on at least two of the individuals, and they
have returned to writing and teaching. There were no new reports of
additional banning of university professors or intellectuals from
giving lectures or from publishing in the newspapers.
The government-owned Emirates Media, which publishes Al-Ittihad
newspaper and owns Abu Dhabi's radio and television stations, forbids
all its employees, including journalists, from speaking with
representatives of foreign diplomatic missions without prior approval.
In practice, this rule was not enforced.
While self-censorship affected what is reported locally, 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.
Except for those located in Dubai's Media Free Zone, 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. The main pan-Arab dailies were not censored and
were distributed on the same day of publication. Censors at the
Ministry of Information and Culture 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.
Internet access, which was open to public use with an estimated
1.11 million users, was provided through a state owned monopoly,
Etisalat. A proxy server blocked material regarded as pornographic,
violent, morally offensive, or promoting radical Islamic ideologies, as
well as anti-government sites. The proxy server occasionally blocked
individual news stories on news websites such as CNN. The Etisalat
proxy server provides access to AOL email but blocks other features
that enable users to chat online, and (according to Etisalat) those
that facilitate hacking. The Internet monopoly solicits suggestions
from users regarding ``objectionable'' sites, and at times the
Government responds by briefly blocking some politically oriented
sites, which are sometimes later unblocked. Etisalat also blocks
commercial ``voice chat'' sites on the Internet.
Academic materials destined for schools were censored. Students
were banned from reading texts featuring sexuality or pictures of the
human body.
Unlike the previous year, the Ministry of Education and Youth did
not prohibit additional books from school use.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
does not provide for freedom of assembly and association. Organized
public gatherings require a government permit. In practice, the
Government does not regularly interfere with informal gatherings held
without a government permit in public places, unless there are
complaints.
During the year, there were approximately 20 widely publicized,
organized gatherings of workers complaining of unpaid wages and
unsuitable working conditions before the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs building (see Section 6).
Citizens normally confined their political discussions to the
numerous gatherings, or majlises, held in private homes. There were
many citizen associations subsidized by the Government, organized for
economic, religious, labor, social, cultural, athletic, and other
purposes.
Although the Government does not permit freedom of association
without prior permission, there were no reports that the Government
interfered with associations that formed without prior permission.
There are no political organizations, political parties,
independent human rights groups, or trade unions (see Sections 3 and
6.a.). All nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are required to
register with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and receive
subsidies from the Government. There were approximately 100 domestic
NGOs registered with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. However,
a number of unregistered local NGOs, focused on a multitude of non-
political topics, operate with little or no government interference.
The Human Rights Committee of the Jurists Association, a government-
subsidized association of lawyers and judicial personnel, focused on
local and regional human rights issues. The percentage of citizen
membership in NGOs varied widely. All private associations, including
children's clubs, charitable groups, and hobby associations, required
approval and licensing by local authorities, although 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 restricted. 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; however, there are
some restrictions on this right in practice. The Federal Constitution
declares that Islam is the official religion of all seven emirates.
According to the country's first census in 2001, 76 percent of the 4.04
million total population was Muslim, 9 percent was Christian, and 15
percent belonged to other religions.
The Government controls all Sunni and Shi'a mosques, prohibits
proselytizing, and restricts the 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 the majority of Sunni mosques and employed all
Sunni imams; approximately 5 percent of Sunni mosques were entirely
private, and several large mosques have 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. The
Government monitors all sermons for political content.
The Government supports a moderate interpretation of Islam. 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 sheikhs 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.
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 and 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.
Individual emirates exercised considerable autonomy in religious
matters. There did not appear to be a formalized method of granting
official status to religious groups. 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 are 24 Christian churches in the country, and
Christian primary and secondary schools operate in four emirates. There
are two Sikh temples and one Hindu temple operating in the country, all
located in Dubai. There are no Buddhist temples; however, Buddhists,
along with Hindus and Sikhs in cities without temples, conducted
religious ceremonies in private homes without interference. There are
only two cremation facilities and associated cemeteries for the large
Hindu community, one in Dubai and the other in Sharjah. Official
permission must be obtained to use the facilities in every instance,
which poses 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 is no restriction on proselytizing non-
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.
During the year, the media reported widely on several cases where
women claimed private sector employment discrimination due to their
decision to wear the ``hijab'' head covering, considered a religious
mandate by many Muslim women. Some people called for legal protection
for female employees who wear the hijab. The Government did not publish
an official position on the issue by the end of the year.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
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 have lived in the country for more than one
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.
There is no formal procedure for naturalization, although foreign women
receive citizenship through marriage to a citizen, and anyone may
receive a passport by presidential fiat. Because naturalized citizens
were 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 all 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.
In July 2003, the Government banned the widespread practice of
employers forcing foreign national employees to surrender their
passports as a condition of employment, although enforcement is
reportedly uneven. This practice had prevented international travel or
repatriation by foreign national employees without their employers'
consent, and it had 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
6 months, unless the former employer agrees to waive the requirement
(see Section 6.e.).
The Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees who meet the definition in the 1951 U.N.
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and
it is not a party to the Convention or the Protocol. The Government
does not provide protection against refoulement, or the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government does
not routinely grant refugee status or asylum.
Refugees generally are 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.
Last year, there were cases in which the Government indicated its
intention to force refugee seekers to return home to countries where
they feared persecution; however, there were no reports that such
deportations took place before the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) resettled the refugees in safe countries of transit.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reported
cases during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law does not provide citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully. There are no democratic elections or
institutions, and citizens do not have the right to form political
parties.
Citizens could not freely change the laws that govern them. 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 were made by
consensus among the rulers, their families, and other leading families.
The seven emirate rulers, their extended families, and those persons
and families to whom they are allied by historical ties, marriage, or
common interest, held political and economic power in their respective
emirates. On November 4, the Federal Supreme Council elected Sheikh
Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan to succeed his late father, Sheikh Zayed
bin Sultan al-Nahyan, as head of the state for a 5-year term.
The rulers appoint the Federal National Council (FNC), a 40-person
advisory federal consultative body. The advisors are drawn from each
emirate, with proportion based on emirate population. The FNC has no
legislative authority but it may question ministers and make policy
recommendations to the Cabinet. The FNC's sessions were usually open to
the public.
The ruling families, in consultation with other prominent tribal
figures, choose new emirate rulers. By tradition, rulers and ruling
families were presumed to have the right to rule, but their incumbency
ultimately depended 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 positions. There were no female
members of the FNC or the judiciary, although the law does not prohibit
women from serving in these capacities, and several senior Government
officials have publicly encouraged more female participation in
governance. In a November Cabinet reshuffle, a prominent businesswoman
was appointed Minister of Economy and Planning, the first woman to
serve on the federal Council of Ministers. In Sharjah, there were seven
women serving on the 40-seat Consultative Council. In no other emirates
were there women in non-federal senior government positions. Other
women in senior federal government positions included an undersecretary
in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and two assistant
undersecretaries for planning and evaluation in the Ministry of
Education. The number of women serving in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs' diplomatic corps doubled from last year to 40, comprising
approximately 17 percent of the diplomatic corps. Prior to 2001, women
were not allowed to serve as diplomats.
Although the small Shi'a minority enjoyed commercial success, there
are no Shi'a in top positions in the federal government.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There are no truly independent human rights organizations in the
country. The only local human rights NGO 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, a group of citizens petitioned the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs to approve the registration of an independent human
rights NGO. The Ministry accepted the application, and the press
reported widely on the move. Although the Ministry, by its own
regulation, is required to act on all such applications within 30 days
of receipt, the group did not receive approval or refusal by the end of
the year.
Government officials were cooperative and responsive to some
international human rights groups that visited the country. In January
and July, Amnesty International (AI) visited the country and met
government officials, citizens, and noncitizens.
Domestic NGOs are required to register with the Government and are
subject to many regulations and restrictions, particularly those
regulating the investigating and publishing of their findings. In
practice, these restrictions, if violated, were often overlooked.
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
institutional and cultural discrimination based on sex and nationality.
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 cannot pass citizenship to their
children (see Section 2.d.). Migrant workers infected with HIV are
denied all healthcare benefits, quarantined, and subsequently deported.
Women.--Shari'a, or Islamic law, governs the personal status of
women, but civil law governs their activities in the civic and
commercial sphere.
Abuse and rape are criminal offenses, and offenders are prosecuted
and penalized. There were some reported cases of spousal abuse. The law
protects women from verbal abuse and harassment from men, and violators
are subject to criminal action. 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. When abuse is reported to local police,
authorities may take action to protect the complainant. 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. The Government was
generally effective in enforcing women's rights and protecting women
from abuse. While abuse against women does exist, it is not considered
to be a pervasive problem.
There continued to be credible reports of physical and sexual abuse
of female domestic servants by some local and foreign employers (see
Section 6.e.).
Prostitution is illegal; however, it has become an increasing
problem in recent years, particularly in Dubai. Substantial numbers of
women reportedly arrive regularly from the states of the former Soviet
Union, Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, other states of
the Middle East, and most recently China, for temporary stays, during
which they engage in prostitution and other activities connected to
organized crime. While some prostitutes were trafficked into the
country, there was credible evidence that many entered the country
willingly, for economic reasons.
While prostitution was widely acknowledged to exist, the Government
did not address the issue publicly because of societal sensitivities.
However, during the year, there was an increasing number of 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.
There are no legal prohibitions against women owning their own
businesses. Women working as doctors, architects, and lawyers typically
did not face restrictions on licensing their own businesses. The Abu
Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and the General Women's Union regularly
conducted programs to encourage small business entrepreneurship by
women. In April, three women were appointed Board Members of the Dubai
Chamber of Commerce, marking the first time a woman had been appointed
to the Board.
Women who worked outside the home sometimes did not receive equal
benefits. For example, if a woman and her husband were both employed by
the Government, both housing allowances would be paid to the husband
because he is obliged under Shari'a to provide housing for his
immediate family. The Government provided housing allowances to single
women and to married women whose husbands were employed in the private
sector. Women also reportedly faced discrimination in promotion.
Maternity leave for public sector employees can amount to 6 months.
However, in November, the Ministry of Education implemented a
regulation canceling the appointments of teachers who were pregnant.
Several schools reportedly asked applicants to sign pledges not to
become pregnant. The unpopular moves sparked protests from teachers and
community members, and the press printed several editorials criticizing
the regulation. The Ministry of Education later modified the regulation
to reduce maternity leave from six months to 45 days for citizen
teachers, and guaranteed that their jobs would be restored after the
maternity leave.
Opportunities for women were growing in government service,
education, private business, and health services. According to a
Ministry of Planning report issued in 2003, citizen and noncitizen
women constituted approximately 22 percent of the national workforce.
The Government publicly encouraged citizen women to join the workforce
and ensured public sector employment for all that apply. Women
comprised the majority of primary and secondary school teachers and
health care workers, and they accounted for almost half of all
government workers.
Shari'a law of inheritance applies equally to men and women,
although laws of distribution may differ. When a woman marries, her
separate property, including her dowry, which is set by law at a
maximum of approximately 50,000 dirhams ($13,700), and the income of
her separate property remain under her control and are not commingled
with the separate property of her husband. 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.
There are no legal restrictions on the travel of women. However,
custom dictates that a husband can bar his wife, minor children, and
adult unmarried daughters from leaving the country. When practiced,
this was commonly accomplished by the husband taking custody of their
passports (see Section 2.d.). Authorities at exit points generally did
not enforce this practice without a court order.
Shari'a law is applied in personal status cases. The law permits
men to have more than one wife, but not more than four at any given
time.
Divorce is permissible, although often 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 3
months, or if he has not maintained the upkeep of her or her children.
Divorced women normally receive custody of female children until
the children reach the age of maturity or marry. Divorced women are
normally granted custody of male children until the age of 13. 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. In the event
that a court sentences a woman to prison for such an offense, local
authorities, at the request of the prisoner, may hold the newborn
children in a special area within the prison or place them with a
relative. In rare cases, children are held in other facilities until
the mother's release from prison.
The law prohibits sexual harassment. During the year, the press
reported incidents of men being arrested and prosecuted for publicly
sexually harassing women.
Women constitute nearly 72 percent of university students.
Coeducation is prohibited in government schools and universities, with
the one exception of the UAE University Executive MBA Program. In this
program, men and women, as well as Emirati and expatriate students,
were allowed to take classes together. The American Universities in
Dubai and Sharjah, both private institutions, along with the new
private university campuses being opened in Dubai's Knowledge Village,
are coeducational as well. Government-sponsored women's centers
provided adult education and technical training courses. Women are
actively recruited to work as police officers in airports, immigration
offices, and in women's prisons. The Dubai Police College also recruits
women. The armed forces still accept female volunteers and their
numbers are increasing yearly.
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 law to ban his wife from working if she was
employed at the time of their marriage. By custom and tradition, some
government administrations do not employ married women without their
husbands' written consent.
Children.--The Government is committed to children's rights and
welfare, and expends resources on the welfare of child citizens;
however, noncitizen children receive fewer benefits.
Male and female children receive free health care and free public
education through the university level.
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 2003-04
academic year, the Ministry of Education reported student dropout rates
as 2.7 percent of the 107,296 primary level students (grades 1-5); 4.0
percent of the 100,138 middle school students (grades 6-9); and 6.5
percent of the 67,714 students at the secondary level (grades 10-12).
The percentage of dropouts for the same year at the 10th grade level
was 6.0 percent for females and 12.8 percent for males, which was the
highest rate for any group of students at any level. The Ministry of
Education lists the primary reasons for secondary-level dropouts as
truancy, parents' will, and ``others.''
Housing benefits are 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 are under the age of 18, are unmarried, or have
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.
Noncitizen resident children are not permitted to enroll in public
schools unless they live in rural areas that lack private schools. Many
foreign workers in private sector employment received education
allowances as part of their salary packages. The Government provided an
annual subsidy of approximately 6000 dirhams ($1600) per family to its
noncitizen employees for private school tuition for those who do not
receive the extra salary benefit.
Child abuse was not prevalent. Trafficking of young, noncitizen
boys employed as camel jockeys continued to be a serious problem,
although the Government has pledged to eliminate this practice for boys
under the age of 15 (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, although child smuggling, forced prostitution,
kidnapping, fornication, and pornography are crimes. In practice,
trafficking in women and girls used as prostitutes and domestic
servants, men used as servants, laborers, and unskilled workers, and
very young boys used as camel jockeys, continued to be serious
problems. The Government has pledged and taken some measures of limited
effectiveness against these practices.
A number of reliable sources confirm that young boys were still
being used as camel jockeys during the year. According to NGO and press
reports, including one in-depth documentary by HBO's ``Real Sports''
program which aired in October, many boys remained subject to extremely
harsh living and working conditions that, at times, led to serious
injuries and death. The program alleged that not only were very young
boys still being used as camel jockeys, but that these boys were
subjected to physical abuse, including sexual abuse, by their
supervisors and trainers. While there is no evidence that the camel
farm owners/employers participated personally in these abuses, there is
likewise no evidence that the camel farm owners and employers took any
measures to prevent or stop the abuse occurring on their farms. Further
reports accused some supervisors of subjecting boys to malnutrition.
One child was killed in September after falling from a camel during a
race, and many more children were reportedly injured from camel racing.
The HBO television documentary highlighted the efforts by the Ansar
Burney Welfare Trust International (ABWTI), a Pakistan-based human
rights NGO, which has helped rescue almost 400 children from farms and
tracks within the country over the past year.
Until December, camel racing was regulated by the Camel Racing
Federation, composed of wealthy and influential owners. Camel racing is
now instead regulated by the Ministry of Interior.
Regulations by presidential decree prohibit (or ``ban'') the use of
boys under the age of 15 and less than 45 kilograms (99 pounds) as
camel jockeys, in an effort to eliminate the trafficking of young boys
to the country for this purpose. A draft law formalizing these
regulations was not passed by year's end.
To enforce the regulations, the Government tightened immigration
controls and mandated DNA testing for boys with questionable family
ties suspected to be trafficking victims. The Government requires all
camel jockeys to undergo medical testing to prove their age and fitness
level before issuing ID cards, which are required to be displayed by
all jockeys at racetracks. Police and Camel Racing Federation officials
reported they regularly conducted inspections at camel races to ensure
the jockeys met regulations.
Camel farm owners who are first-time offenders of the child camel
jockey ban are liable for a fine of 20,000 dirhams ($5,500). Repeat
offenders can receive a 1-year participatory ban from camel racing.
Third-time and subsequent offenders receive imprisonment. There were no
publicly available statistics on prosecutions and fines.
The Government worked with source country embassies, consulates,
and NGOs to repatriate some of the boys who were trafficked in the past
to work as camel jockeys. There are no government statistics available
to estimate how many underage foreign boys, currently or previously
working as camel jockeys, remained in the country. ABWTI estimates
approximately 5,000 boys are still in the country working as camel
jockeys. Combined, ABWTI, the Government, and the Embassy of Pakistan
were responsible for, and in many cases collaborated on, the rescue and
repatriation of at least 400 underage boys during the year.
In December, the Government opened a shelter and rehabilitation
center for rescued underage camel jockeys, located on a military
compound near Abu Dhabi. The center, which is run in coordination with
human rights activist Ansar Burney, offers the children medical care
and basic education while awaiting repatriation. Approximately 30 of
the rescued boys were housed in the shelter by the end of the year.
There was an increasing number of media reports during the year of
trafficking in women and girls to the country, especially to Dubai, for
the purposes of sexual exploitation, although the Government pledged
and took some measures to eliminate this practice. It was unknown
whether these measures were effective. Often, women were brought into
the country with false job offers in the hotel or medical sectors or as
domestic servants, but upon arrival they were forced into prostitution.
The traffickers, who almost always were citizens of the victims' home
countries, reportedly seized their passports and forced them to work as
prostitutes to repay their travel and living expenses, which quickly
became unmanageable. However, the women received little or no payment
for their work, which made it difficult or impossible to repay their
debts. There were reports that traffickers commonly ``sold'' their
victims to other traffickers, and the new traffickers held victims
responsible for paying off the new, higher debt.
Observers believe that trafficking activity was conducted with the
complicity of some of the women's citizen sponsors and with noncitizen
traffickers who were exploiting the sponsorship system to engage in
illicit activity.
Law enforcement, particularly in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, investigated
reports of trafficking. The police in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the
Ministries of Interior, Health, and Justice, all held anti-trafficking
training courses throughout the year.
The Government also provided assistance to trafficking victims.
Counseling services are available in public hospitals and jails. The
Dubai police sponsored a Crime Victims' Assistance Program, and
assigned program coordinators in police stations throughout the city.
In July 2003, the Government banned the widespread practice of
sponsors forcing workers to surrender their passports as a condition of
employment. However, the practice reportedly continued to be
widespread.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no federal legislation
requiring accessibility for persons with disabilities; however, most
public buildings provided access to disabled persons. 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 and Social Affairs sponsored six government-
managed physical and mental rehabilitation centers and one employment
center, which were open only to citizens. The Ministry of Interior also
operates a training and employment center in Al Ain, which trained 100
citizens from all emirates, primarily for public sector jobs, during
the year. In 2003, individuals, associations, and local governments
created 17 additional centers. The Government of Dubai emirate opened a
training center during the year to build professional skills, including
English language and computer skills, for the visually impaired.
Other rehabilitation centers were partially owned by the Government
or were maintained by charity associations. There was also a
significant amount of nongovernmental financial assistance, services,
and emotional support to citizens with disabilities.
One percent of all jobs in the federal government 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. Employment, immigration, and security
policies, as well as cultural attitudes towards noncitizens, who
comprised approximately 85 percent of the national population, were
conditioned by national origin.
More than 50 percent of foreign workers were estimated to have come
from the Indian subcontinent. Noncitizens are denied access to many
free or reduced-cost services provided by the Government to citizens,
including child and adult education, health care, housing, and social
and recreational club memberships. While citizens who contact HIV are
afforded full, continuous, and free healthcare, noncitizen migrant
workers who contract the same disease are denied healthcare and
deported. In December, the local press reported that the Ministry of
Health would offer a health insurance plan for citizens and expatriates
that would give them coverage in all private and public health
facilities. Coverage programs were not implemented by the end of the
year.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Both civil and Shari'a
law criminalize homosexual activity. In practice, reports of
governmental or societal discrimination against individuals based on
sexual orientation are uncommon.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law does not specifically entitle
or prohibit workers from forming or joining unions; however, if they
existed, unions would be subject to general restrictions on the right
of association.
Since 1995, the country has been suspended from the U.S. Overseas
Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) insurance programs because of the
Government's non-compliance with some internationally recognized worker
rights standards.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the
law does not grant workers the right to engage in collective
bargaining, it expressly authorizes collective work dispute resolution.
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 address the right to strike; however,
Ministry of Labor officials have said that the law does not forbid
strikes, and if laborers feel they are denied their rights, they can
stop working. In that case, such workers would be subject to
deportation for breach of contract. There were no reports of groups of
workers being deported for striking. In practice, there were numerous
strikes by private sector employees in addition to organized gatherings
of workers who complained of unpaid wages and hazardous or unfair
working conditions to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. The
Government prohibits strikes by public sector employees on national
security grounds.
The Ministry of Labor (MOL) reviews employment contracts for
workers in the industrial and service sectors to ensure compliance with
the labor laws.
The MOL distributed information to foreign workers outlining their
rights under the labor law and how to pursue labor disputes, whether
individually or collectively. Employees may file individual or
collective employment dispute complaints 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. In a collective work dispute concerning a subject of
interest to a group in an establishment, trade, vocation or in a
certain vocational sector, employees or employers may file complaints
with the Ministry of Labor if they are unable to settle such disputes
amicably. The labor law gives the MOL 2 weeks to resolve the dispute or
refer it to courts. In practice, it generally takes a month or more for
this to happen. If the Ministry of Labor is unable to mediate a
settlement within 10 business days, the complaint is to be submitted to
a Conciliation Committee for mediation. 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 their dispute be referred to the Court of First
Instance.
The labor law does not cover, and therefore does not protect,
government employees, domestic servants, and agricultural workers;
however, a Civil Service Law covers government employees. The Ministry
of Interior's Naturalization and Residency Administration mandated 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, and most disputes between employers and domestic servants are
settled by the Ministry of the Interior.
Domestic servants and agricultural workers have historically faced
considerable difficulty 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 6 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 been widely
used to restrict foreign worker labor mobility inside the country. Some
professional-level workers, such as doctors, engineers, and
consultants, are allowed to switch employers without leaving the
country.
In 2003, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs increased the
number of inspectors from 48 to 60 and, for the first time, enabled
them to fine violators.
Businesses in free trade zones must comply with federal labor law;
however, the Ministry of Labor did not regulate them. Instead, each
free trade zone maintains its own labor department to address workers'
concerns.
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.
The law prohibits forced or compulsory child labor, and the
Government generally enforced this prohibition effectively, except in
the cases of child camel jockeys (see Sections 4, 5, and 6.d.).
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 those 15 to 18 years of age. The
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs 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 tolerated, with
the exception of child camel jockeys (see Sections 4, 5, and 6.c.).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Noncitizens comprised
approximately 98 percent of the private sector workforce. The country
was a destination for a large number of unskilled workers, including up
to 300,000 domestic servants, most of them women from South and East
Asia, and a much larger number of unskilled male workers, mostly from
South Asia. These unskilled laborers actively competed for jobs in the
country and in other Gulf countries, and they were sometimes subject to
poor working conditions. Female domestic servants sometimes faced
abusive working conditions.
The standard workday is 8 hours per day, and the standard workweek
is 6 days per week; however, these standards were not strictly
enforced. Domestic servants and agricultural workers were not covered
by the labor law and were often obliged to work longer than the
mandated standard. According to the Ministry of Labor and the labor
law, employees are entitled 2 days of annual leave per month after
finishing six months on the job, up until that person passes the 1-year
mark, after which the employee is entitled to 30 calendar days of
annual leave in addition to national holidays.
There is no minimum wage. Salaries depended on the occupation and
employer and ranged from 400 dirhams ($109) per month for domestic or
agricultural workers to 600 dirhams ($164) 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,'' lack of electricity,
lack of potable water, and lack of adequate cooking and bathing
facilities. In addition, other benefits, such as food, homeward passage
or health cards for minimal to no-cost healthcare were often provided
for employees by their employers. 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, but
also reported the Ministry of Labor blacklisted nearly 1,100 firms in
the first 7 months of the year in Dubai and the northern Emirates, for
violating the labor law, particularly for failing to pay salaries,
employing workers who are sponsored by others, or providing substandard
living or working conditions.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs reviews labor contracts
and does not approve any that stipulate substandard wages.
Most foreign workers do not earn the minimum salary required to
obtain residency permits for their families. The Government wishes to
ensure that accompanying families are supported adequately.
Accordingly, the required monthly minimum salary to permit accompanying
families is 3,924 dirhams ($1,090), or 2,941 dirhams ($817) per month
when housing or an additional housing allowance is provided.
The law requires that employers provide employees with a safe work
environment. Local medical experts recommend that it is inadvisable for
laborers to work outdoors when the temperature exceeds 40 degrees
Celsius, and that employers provide safety helmets and adjust work
hours to reduce exposure to the sun. However, there were numerous press
reports that workers were required to work without such safety measures
in temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius and higher. Workers often
complained that employers did not provide water, shade, or break
periods for outdoor laborers working in the summer heat, and often
laborers' cramped living accommodations did not include air
conditioning. According to press reports, as many as 80 laborers per
day were treated for heat stroke in hospital emergency rooms in the
summer.
The Ministry of Labor received 11,424 complaints involving 16,424
laborers during the year. The majority of complaints concerned unpaid
wages. 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.
Workers' jobs were not protected if they removed themselves from
what they considered to be unsafe working conditions. However, the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs 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 their complaint referred to
the Court of First Instance. Workers, particularly unskilled workers,
in dispute with their employers over unpaid wages, generally agree to a
mediated settlement for less money than they are owed 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.
There were reports that some employers abused domestic workers.
Allegations included excessive work hours, nonpayment of wages, verbal,
physical, and sexual abuse, and restriction of movement. Domestic
workers may file complaints with the Ministry of Interior or go to
court. During the year, the Ministry of Interior 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.
Sponsorship and residency laws do not permit most foreign national
employees to change employers. 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 to foreign workers advising them to report
employers who violated this regulation. However, there were reports
that, in many cases, the law did not have a practical impact on either
the private or public sectors, and withholding passports from employees
still occurred.
When employees leave their work without a valid reason before the
expiration of the contract from a limited period, they may not, even
with the employer's consent, take up other employment for 1 year from
the date on which they left their work. The Ministry of Labor is the
concerned authority for enforcing this rule (see Section 2.d.).
Employers did not always follow laws regarding the sponsorship of
foreign employees. Under these regulations, a company that has one or
more employees with an expired work permit will be barred from
employing new staff. However, the rule was not enforced consistently.
A law enacted in 2003 requires all foreign workers seeking jobs in
the private sector to have at least a high school certificate or
equivalent degree. Arabs and construction, agricultural, and domestic
workers were exempt from the law.
The Government enforced health and safety standards and required
every large industrial enterprise to employ a certified occupational
safety officer; however, these standards were reportedly not observed
uniformly.
There were no reports of citizens who were involuntarily
transferred, retired, or terminated from government employment sectors,
including universities, due to their political affiliations or
opinions.
__________
YEMEN
Yemen is a republic with an active bicameral legislature composed
of an elected 301 seat House of Representatives (Majlis Al Nuwaab) and
an appointed 111 member Consultative Council (Majlis Al Shura).
President Ali Abdullah Saleh is the leader of the ruling party, the
General People's Congress (GPC), which dominates the Government. The
Constitution provides that the President be elected by popular vote
from among at least two candidates endorsed by Parliament. In 1999,
President Saleh was directly elected in a popular vote to another 5
year term, amended in a 2001 referendum to a 7 year term. A competitive
candidate did not oppose the President because his sole opponent was a
member of the ruling GPC. In April 2003 parliamentary elections, the
GPC maintained an absolute majority. International observers judged
elections to be generally free and fair, although there were problems
with underage voting, confiscation of ballot boxes, voter intimidation,
and election related violence. The Parliament was not an effective
counterweight to executive authority, although it increasingly
demonstrated independence from the Government. The head of the leading
opposition party, Islah, led the elected House of Representatives,
which effectively blocked some legislation favored by the Executive.
Effective political power rested with the executive branch,
particularly the President. The Constitution provides for an
``autonomous'' judiciary and independent judges; however, the judiciary
was weak, and corruption and executive branch interference severely
hampered its independence.
The primary state security and intelligence gathering apparatus is
the Political Security Organization (PSO), which reports directly to
the President. In 2002, the government formed a new organization, the
National Security Bureau (NSB), which also reports directly to the
President's office. The NSB is still carving out its responsibilities,
many of which appear to overlap with the PSO; however, its duties were
not clearly delineated at year's end. The Criminal Investigative
Department (CID) of the police reports to the Ministry of Interior and
conducts most criminal investigations and arrests. The Central Security
Organization (CSO), also a part of the Ministry of Interior, maintains
a paramilitary force. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces. Members of the PSO and MOI
police forces committed serious human rights abuses, including police
beatings, arbitrary arrests, and detentions without charge.
The country had a population of approximately 20 million; more than
40 percent of the population lived in poverty, and the estimated
unemployment rate was 37 percent. The country's illiteracy rate was 50
percent, with 67.5 percent illiteracy among women. The country's market
based economy remained impeded by government interference and
corruption. The economy was mixed with a GDP growth rate of 2.8
percent. Oil and remittances from workers in other Arabian Peninsula
states were the primary sources of foreign exchange. Foreign aid was an
important source of income.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous abuses. There were limitations
on citizens' ability to change their government. Security forces
arbitrarily continued to arrest, detain, and torture persons. In many
cases, the Government failed to hold members of the security forces
accountable for abuses, although the number of officials in the PSO and
MOI police forces tried for abuses increased for a second consecutive
year. Prison conditions remained poor, although the Government took
some steps to alleviate the situation. Despite constitutional
constraints, PSO and MOI police officers routinely monitored citizens'
activities, searched their homes, detained citizens for questioning,
and mistreated detainees. Prolonged pretrial detention, judicial
corruption, and executive interference undermined due process. During
the year, there was a marked increase in limits on freedom of speech
and of the press. The Government increased its harassment of
journalists. The Government imposed some limits on freedom of movement.
Violence and discrimination against women remained problems. There
was some discrimination against persons with disabilities and against
religious, racial, and ethnic minorities. Child labor remained a common
problem. The Government imposed restrictions on labor unions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, there were a few reports that security forces killed or
injured persons whom they were apprehending, and believed were engaging
in criminal activity, or were resisting arrest.
In June, the Government used military force against an armed
rebellion in the northern governorate of Saada. The rebellion was led
by Shi'ite cleric Hussein Badr Eddine Al Houthi, founder of the
``Shabab al Moumineen'' (The Believing Youth). Numerous cease fires and
mediation attempts failed to end the conflict. On September 10, the
Government announced that Al Houthi had been killed in combat. The
Government prevented the media from fully conveying the extent of
casualties on both sides, as well as the collateral damage. Estimates
of civilian deaths ranged from 500 to 1,000, according to Amnesty
International (AI). Opposition media and political leaders claimed the
Government used excessive force in suppressing the rebellion. Some Al
Houthi supporters captured during the conflict remained in detention at
year's end (see Section 1.d).
In April 2003, election related violence resulted in three
documented deaths (see Section 3). There were no reports of arrests in
relation to this violence.
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 cases, long standing tribal
disputes were resolved through government supported mediation by
nongovernmental actors (see Section 4). Fatal shootings and violence
continued during the year. In most cases, it was impossible to
determine the perpetrator or the motive, and there were no claims of
responsibility. Although a few may have had criminal, religious, or
political motives, most appeared to be cases of tribal revenge or land
disputes.
On July 7, the trial of six suspects in the 2000 bombing of the USS
Cole began, and observers judged it to be fair (see Section 1.e.). Two
defendants received death sentences, while the other four received
prison terms ranging from 5 to 10 years.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Unlike in the past, during the year, there was only one incident in
which a tribe used kidnapping to bring their political and economic
concerns to the attention of the Government. The kidnappers demanded
jobs for fellow tribesman; all three foreigners were released in August
after several hours. There were no arrests or punishments. There were
several known instances of carjacking during the year, most perpetrated
by economically motivated tribal elements.
c. Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were reports that members of the PSO and MOI police forces tortured and
abused persons in detention. There were also reports that authorities
used force during interrogations, especially against those arrested for
violent crimes.
The Government acknowledged publicly that torture occurred;
however, it claimed that torture was not official policy. Most
observers reported that both the instances and severity of torture in
PSO and Ministry of the Interior prisons have declined; however, there
were reports the PSO increased its use of nonphysical indicator abuse
such as sleep deprivation, cold water, and threats of sexual assaults.
There were reports that the CID routinely used torture in order to
obtain confessions.
Illiteracy, lack of training among police, PSO and MOI forces,
corruption, and pressure from superiors to produce convictions also
played a role in the undue use of force. The immunity of all public
employees from prosecution for crimes allegedly committed while on duty
hindered accountability. The Government has taken some effective steps
to end torture and to punish those who commit such abuses. In 1998, the
use of leg irons and shackles in confinement was outlawed. This was
adhered to in most MOI run prisons in the past year.
During the year, approximately 54 police officials were disciplined
or tried for abuses. All received sentences ranging from 20 days to
more than 10 years imprisonment for physical attacks during
investigations, shootings, accidental and intentional killings, fraud,
and extortion. Seven members of the police force in Taiz were
undergoing trial for the severe torture of a juvenile murder suspect in
2002. The case was suspended in October after the defendants failed to
appear for court. At year's end, the defendants remained at large, and
there was further action in the case.
The Constitution may be interpreted as permitting amputations, in
accordance with Shari'a (Islamic law), and physical punishment such as
flogging for some crimes. There were no reports of amputations or
floggings during the year.
Tribal violence continued to be a problem during the year, causing
numerous deaths and injuries (see Section 5).
Prison conditions were poor and did not meet internationally
recognized standards, and the Government permitted limited visits by
independent human rights observers. The Government allowed limited
access to detention facilities by parliamentarians and some
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Prisons were extremely overcrowded, sanitary conditions were poor,
and food and health care were inadequate to nonexistent. Prison
authorities often exacted bribes from prisoners to obtain privileges,
or refused to release prisoners who completed their sentences until
family members paid a bribe. In some cases, authorities arrested
without charge and held refugees, persons with mental disabilities, and
illegal immigrants in prisons with common criminals.
Women were held separately from men, and conditions were equally
poor in women's prisons. By custom, young children and babies born in
prison were likely to be incarcerated along with their mothers. At
times, male police and prison officials subjected female prisoners to
sexual harassment and violent interrogation. 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 alleged behavior.
Security and political prisoners generally were also held in separate
facilities operated by the PSO.
Children were held in separate facilities from adults. Pretrial
detainees were also held in separate facilities in major urban areas.
Unauthorized ``private'' prisons, in rural areas 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 indiscretions or to protect them from retaliation.
At times, such prisons were simply rooms in a tribal sheikh's house.
Persons detained in such prisons often were held for strictly personal
or tribal reasons, and without trial or sentencing. Although senior
officials did not sanction these prisons, there were credible reports
of the existence of private prisons in government installations. During
the year, modest efforts by the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of
Human Rights continued to implement directives intended to align the
country's arrest, interrogation, and detention procedures more closely
with international standards.
Persons with mental illness who had committed crimes were
imprisoned in conditions without adequate medical care. In some
instances, authorities arrested without charge persons with mental
illness and placed them in prisons with criminals. In August, the
Government acknowledged this problem to the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC), and committed to rectify the situation. There was
no further action made by the Government by year's end.
In July 2003, the President declared the release of mentally
disturbed prisoners into the custody of mental institutions. Despite
the national Red Crescent's attempt to build and staff adequate and
separate detention facilities for prisoners with mental illness, there
were not enough mental institutions at year's end.
Access to detainees held by the PSO was limited. Requests for
access by parliamentarians were routinely denied. In June, the ICRC
suspended a second round of visitations citing a lack of understanding
of its universally applied procedures. The ICRC was still working on
understandings of protocols for access to PSO prisons at year's end.
The ICRC reported that after an October 30 meeting, the Ministry of
Interior demonstrated a clearer understanding of its protocols that
allowed for greater access to the Ministry's prisons.
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.
The CID reports to the Ministry of Interior and conducts most criminal
investigations and arrests. The CSO, also a part of the Ministry of
Interior, maintains a paramilitary force. Corruption was a problem.
There was no official government response to or investigations of
police corruption during the year.
There were reports that some police stations maintained an
``Internal Affairs'' section commissioned to investigate abuses, and
that any citizen has the right to raise an abuse case with the
Prosecutor's office commissioned to investigate cases. Enforcement of
the law and effective investigations were irregular due to weak
government power in tribal areas and lack of resources. Fifty four
police officials were prosecuted for abuses (see Section 1.c.).
According to the law, individuals cannot be arrested, unless caught
in the 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 7 days without a court order. Despite these
constitutional and other legal provisions, arbitrary arrest and
prolonged detention without charge remained common practices.
The law prohibits incommunicado detentions and provides detainees
with the right to inform their families of their arrests, and to
decline answering questions without an attorney present. The Government
must provide attorneys for indigent detainees; however, in practice,
this did not always occur. Almost all rural cases are settled out of
court with tribal mediators. There are provisions for bail; however,
many authorities abided by these provisions only if bribed.
There were reports that an unknown number of supporters of the
rebel Shi'ite cleric Al Houthi remained in detention. According to
Amnesty International (AI), security forces conducted mass arrests in
Sa'da Province, as a result of the June conflict. AI reported that
those arrested have been detained incommunicado. There were no trials
held by year's end.
Citizens regularly claimed that security officials did not observe
due process procedures when arresting and detaining suspects. There
were also claims that private individuals hired lower level security
officials to intervene on their behalf and harass their business
rivals. Security forces at times detained demonstrators (see Section
2.b.). Members of security forces continued to arrest and detain
citizens for varying periods of time without charge or notification to
their families. 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. In some cases where a criminal suspect was at large,
security forces detained a relative 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 Ministry of
Interior and the PSO operated extrajudicial detention facilities.
Unauthorized private prisons also existed (see Section 1.c.).
A large percentage of the total prison population consisted of
pretrial detainees, some of whom have been imprisoned for years without
charge.
Some government inspection missions and local human rights groups
helped secure the release of a few persons held without charge;
however, in some instances, the Government did not investigate or
resolve these cases adequately.
Throughout the year, the Government sponsored ideological
dialogues, led by Islamic scholars, to attempt to release detainees in
exchange for repentance of past extremism, denunciation of terrorism,
commitments to obey the laws and Government, respect non Muslims, and
refrain from attacking foreign interests. Such efforts had limited
success.
During the year, the Government continued to detain suspects,
accused of links to terrorism. The Government did not publish numbers
of detainees held under suspicion of terrorist affiliations or
activities; however, estimates ranged between 200 and 400 individuals.
In November, the President released approximately 120 security
detainees in honor of Ramadan. The prisoners were released for good
behavior and had either completed or nearly completed sentences. All
participated in the ideological dialogues.
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 executive branch appoints judges, removable at the
executive's discretion. There were reports that some judges were
harassed, reassigned, or removed from office following rulings against
the Government. Many litigants maintained, and the Government
acknowledged, that a judge's social ties and occasional bribery
influenced the verdict more than the law or the facts.
On December 22, President Saleh announced new directives to bring
about judicial reform and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), an
executive branch council tasked with managing the judiciary, dismissed
22 judges for corruption. The SJC also designated 8 judges for
investigation of ``alleged violations committed in the course of their
work,'' and forced 108 judges into retirement. Many judges were poorly
trained; some, closely associated with the Government, often rendered
decisions favorable to it. 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.
There are five types of courts: criminal; civil and personal status
(covering cases such as kidnapping, carjacking, attacking oil
pipelines, and other acts of banditry and sabotage); commercial; and
court martial. In recent years, other limited jurisdiction courts have
been established under executive authority such as a juvenile and
public funds court. The judicial system is organized in a three tiered
court structure. At the base are the Courts of First Instance, which
are broadly empowered to hear all manner of civil, criminal,
commercial, and family matters. A single judge may hear a case in these
courts. Decision 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 Court of Appeals is the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, the highest 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 with determining 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.
All laws are based on a mixture of old Egyptian laws, Napoleonic
tradition, and Shari'a. 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 high crime (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
have a role in investigating criminal cases. The police are generally
weak and play a limited role in developing cases.
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 adjudicate criminal cases as well. The results carry
the same if not greater weight as court judgments. Persons jailed under
the tribal system usually are not charged formally with a crime, but
stand publicly accused of their transgression.
A special court exists to try persons charged with kidnapping,
carjacking, attacking oil pipelines, and other acts considered to be of
``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. It is more efficient and takes better care to enforce
those rights than regular courts. There are no military or security
tribunals that try civilians.
The Government continued modest judicial reform efforts. During the
year, the Ministry of Justice conducted conferences around the country
to strengthen the reform process. Some improvements included an
increase in judges' salaries, an increase in the Ministry's budget,
participation of judges in workshops, and study tours conducted by
foreign judicial officials.
There were no reports of prosecutors being dismissed for violating
the law. The security services continued to arrest, charge, and submit
cases to the prosecutor's office to try persons alleged to be linked to
various shootings, explosions, and other acts of violence. Citizens and
human rights groups alleged that the security forces and judiciary did
not observe due process in most cases.
On May 29, the trial began of 15 suspects accused of Al Qa'ida
connections and involvement in 5 terrorist incidents including a plot
to assassinate a foreign ambassador and attack foreign embassies.
Defendants claimed that they were not allowed full access to the
prosecution's evidence. Observers concluded that the trial was
conducted according to the law and was generally fair. Sentences ranged
from death in one case to 5 to 10 years for others. The Appeals court
heard arguments of all the defendants in the case, but no decisions
were rendered by year's end.
On July 7, the Government opened its case against six suspects in
the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden. Despite defense claims to the
contrary, observers evaluated the conduct of the trial as generally
fair. At year's end, defendants in the case had submitted their cases
to the Appeals court, which did not render a decision.
The Government continued to maintain that Abdulkarim Al Khaiwani
was not a political prisoner since he was convicted lawfully in
September for violations of the press law and treason (see Section
2.a.). The Government has allowed limited access to him by various NGO
groups. Several hundred armed supporters of the Al Houthi rebellion
were captured and imprisoned during and shortly after the fighting in
Saada. Most were released after participation in the ideological
dialogues led by Islamic scholars (see Section 1.d.). On October 10,
Judge Mohammed Luqman was sentenced to ten years in prison for sedition
and fanning sectarian discord. Luqman had publicly opposed the
Government's action in Saada against cleric Hussein al Houthi (see
Section 2.a.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits interference with privacy;
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. Such
activities were conducted without legally issued warrants or judicial
supervision. PSO and MOI police forces sometimes detained relatives of
suspects while the suspect was being sought (see Section 1.d.).
Government informers monitored meetings and assemblies (see Section
2.b.).
The Government blocked some sexually explicit websites and some
politically oriented sites (see Section 2.a.). The Government claimed
that it did not monitor Internet usage; however, security authorities
in the PSO reportedly read private e mail messages.
The law prohibits arrests or the serving of a subpoena between the
hours of sundown and dawn; however, there were reports, in some
instances, that persons suspected of crimes were taken from their homes
without warrants in the middle of the night. In some cases where a
criminal suspect was at large, security forces detained a relative
while the suspect was being sought. Detention of the family member
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.
No citizen may marry a foreigner without permission from the
Ministry of Interior (see Section 5). This regulation does not carry
the force of law, and appears to be enforced irregularly.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--The 10 week Saada rebellion ended on
September 10, following the death of the rebel cleric, Badr Eddine Al
Houthi. According to media estimates, more than 600 persons were
killed; however, the actual number of civilians killed was unknown.
There were reports that rebel prisoners were held in incommunicado
detention (see Section 1.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press ``within the limits of the law'';
however, the Government did not respect these rights in practice. The
country's security apparatus, including the newly formed NSB, often
threatened and harassed journalists to influence press coverage.
Although most citizens were uninhibited in their private discussions of
domestic and foreign policies, they generally were cautious in public,
fearing harassment for criticism of the Government. 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 Ministry of Information influenced the media through its
control of printing presses, subsidies to certain newspapers, and its
ownership of the country's sole television and radio outlets. Few
newspapers owned their own presses. There are 6 government controlled,
19 independent, and 14 party affiliated newspapers. There are
approximately 80 magazines of which 50 percent are private, 30 percent
are government controlled, and 20 percent are 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, but edited them selectively
to remove criticism.
Press Law regulations specify 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 denied registrations;
however, there were reports that the Government revoked the license of
one newspaper and closed down the operations of a magazine. The
Government closed one newspaper for allegedly not adhering to a
registration deadline. On November 6, the Government informed several
press sources that no new press licenses would be issued for an unknown
period of time.
In June, the President publicly declared an end to the practice of
detaining journalists; however, in practice, detention of journalists
continued. During the year, the Government increased pressure on
independent and political party newspapers. Newspaper journalists also
reported several instances of government harassment including
threatening phone calls to them and their families, attacks on their
homes, brief imprisonments, and personal surveillance. Journalists
practiced self censorship due to fear of government reprisal. The
Government also announced that legal proceedings would be taken against
anyone who supported the rebel cleric Al Houthi once an extensive
investigation on the rebellion was completed. The investigation was
ongoing at year's end.
Journalists were tried and sentenced for writing articles critical
of the President or reporting on issues sensitive to the regime. On
April 14, a prominent journalist was arrested for writing a report
about an alleged assassination attempt on the President's son, and
sentenced to a fine and a 6 month work ban. On May 17, three
journalists received prison sentences from 3 to 5 months, although
sentences were held in abeyance pending appeals. There was no further
action on the appeal at year's end.
On June 2, the Government closed the Al Shmuu newspaper for three
months, and imposed a fine of $270 (50,000 riyals) for publishing a
list of banks that owed money to the Central Bank. The editor received
a 1 year prison sentence, held in abeyance pending appeal. There was no
further action on the appeal at year's end.
On September 5, the Government closed the As Shura newspaper for
six months. The editor, Abdulkarim Al Khaiwani, received a 1 year
prison sentence for publishing articles critical of the President's
handling of the Al Houthi rebellion, succession, and other criticisms
of the Government. Despite repeated calls by several local parties,
syndicates, NGOs and international groups, the Government refused to
release Al Khaiwani. Furthermore, the Government summoned and
questioned seven other writers from the same paper. They were informed
that they were also subject to possible prosecution. There was no
appeal action by year's end.
The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) defended freedom of the
press and publicized human rights concerns. The YJS has been vocal in
condemning recent government actions that closed several publications
and imprisoned journalists.
Customs officials confiscated foreign publications regarded as
pornographic or objectionable due to religious or political content.
During the year, there were some reports that the Ministry of
Information delayed the distribution of international Arabic language
dailies in an effort to decrease their sales in the country.
Authorities monitored foreign publications and banned those deemed
harmful to national interests.
Authors were required to obtain a permit from the Ministry of
Culture to publish a book and also were required to submit copies to
the Ministry. Publishers usually did not deal with an author who had
not yet obtained a permit. Most books were approved, but the process
was time consuming.
The Government did not impose restrictions on Internet use;
however, it blocked access to some sites (see section 1.f.).
The Government restricted academic freedom to some extent, claiming
it was necessary due to politicization of university campuses. On
August 23, the PSO arrested and jailed four members of the University
Student Federation in the Mahaweet governorate when the opposition
Islah party won a student election.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly; however, in practice, the Government
limited this right. The Government claimed that it banned and disrupted
some demonstrations to prevent them from degenerating into riots and
violence. In February, authorities forcibly removed, arrested, and
incarcerated 112 Ethiopian men, women, and children who were staging a
sit in outside the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR)
headquarters in Sana'a. The women and children, who comprised
approximately half of the protesters, were released after 2 days; some
of the men were incarcerated for as long as a month.
The Government required a permit for demonstrations, which it
issued routinely. Government informers monitored all meetings and
assemblies.
On June 6, authorities fired shots into the air to disburse a crowd
of striking pilots (see Section 6.b.). On September 3 and September 6,
the authorities blocked two planned protests against the Government's
handling of the Al Houthi insurgency (see Section 1.a.). On November
28, 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. There was no further action on the incident by year's end.
The Constitution provides for the freedom of association, and the
Government usually respected this right in practice. In some instances,
the GPC ruling party attempted to control professional associations and
NGOs by influencing internal elections (see Section 6.b.).
Associations must obtain an operating license, usually a routine
matter, from the Ministry of Social Affairs or the Ministry of Culture.
The Government cooperated to some extent with NGOs, although NGOs
complained that there was a lack of response to their requests for more
funding. According to NGO professionals, the Government's limited
responsiveness was due to a lack of material and human resources.
All political parties must be registered in accordance with the
Political Parties Law, which stipulates that each party must have at
least 75 founders and 2,500 members (see Section 3).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government limited this right in some cases. The
Constitution declares that Islam is the state religion.
Followers of other religions were free to worship according to
their beliefs and to wear religiously distinctive ornaments or dress;
however, Shari'a forbids conversion from Islam and prohibits non
Muslims from proselytizing. The Government requires permission for the
construction of all places of worship, and prohibits non Muslims from
holding elected office.
Under Islam, the conversion of a Muslim to another religion is
considered apostasy, which the Government interprets as 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.
Services for Catholic, Protestant, and Ethiopian Christians were
held in various locations without government interference.
Public schools provided instruction in Islam, but not in other
religions; however, most non Muslims were foreigners who attended
private schools.
The Government has taken steps to prevent the politicization of
mosques in an attempt to curb extremism. This included the monitoring
of mosques for sermons that incited violence or other political
statements considered harmful to public security. Private Islamic
organizations maintained ties to pan Islamic organizations and, in the
past, have operated private schools; however, the Government monitored
their activities. Through its religious ministry, the Government
sponsored two events: In April, approximately 350 Imams attended
training against Islamic extremism. From June 20-24, more than 270
Muslim clerics, scholars, and ministers of religious affairs from
Muslim states discussed ways to promote moderate and tolerant aspects
of Islam, and to disassociate from ideas of extremism and terrorism.
Following unification of North and South Yemen in 1990, owners
(including religious institutions) of property expropriated by the
Communist government of the former People's Democratic Republic of
Yemen (PDRY) were invited to seek restitution of their property.
Implementation of the process has been extremely limited, and very few
properties have been returned to previous owners.
Shari'a based law and social customs discriminated against women
(see Section 5).
There were reports that citizen of religious minorities were
prohibited from participating in the political process (see Section 3).
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts against Jews or Jewish
property. The country's once sizable Jewish population has largely
emigrated. The Government issued a press release in June accusing Jews
living in the North of backing the Al Houthi rebellion in Saada. The
Government shortly thereafter retracted the statement, which had been
carried by the local media. After the ruling party tried to put forward
a Jewish candidate, the General Election Committee adopted a policy
barring all non Muslims from running for Parliament (see Section 3).
There were no legal restrictions on the few hundred Jews who remained,
although there were traditional restrictions on places of residence and
choice of employment (see Section 5).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, Repatriation, and Exile.--The Constitution provides for
these rights, and the Government respected them, with some
restrictions. The Government placed some limits on the freedom of
movement of women, foreigners, and tourists. The two latter groups were
required to obtain government permission before traveling. 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, bribe demands, or
theft.
The Government did not routinely obstruct foreign travel or the
right to emigrate and return. Although not required by law, women
customarily were asked if they had permission from a male relative
before applying for a passport. 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
forced exile in practice.
During the year, the Government continued to deport an unknown
number of foreigners, many of whom were 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 deported them using existing laws that require all
foreigners to register with the police or immigration authorities
within a month of arrival in the country.
Although the law does not include provisions for the granting of
refugee status or asylum to persons who meet the definition in the 1951
U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967
Protocol, there were no reports of the forced return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution. The country is party to the
convention and the protocol. The Government continued to grant refugee
status to Somalis who arrived in the country after 1991.
The Government cooperated with the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. At times,
authorities arrested without charge and imprisoned an unknown number of
undocumented refugees (see Section 1.c.).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government; however, there were limitations in practice. By law, the
Government is accountable to the Parliament; however, the Parliament is
not an effective counterweight to executive authority. Decision-making
and effective political power rests in the hands of the executive
branch, particularly the President. In addition, 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 President appoints the Prime Minister, who forms the
Government. The cabinet consists of 35 ministers. Parliament is elected
by universal adult suffrage. International observers judged the April
2003 parliamentary elections to be ``generally free and fair'';
however, there were some problems with underage voting, confiscation of
ballot boxes, voter intimidation, and vote buying. In addition,
international observers reported that some officials were allegedly
prevented from approving results that gave victory to opposition
parties. There were reports that supporters of rival candidates shot
and killed at least three persons and wounded another. No arrests
occurred. President Saleh's ruling GPC party maintained its large
majority in Parliament. Approximately 75 percent of those eligible
voted (8 million) and 43 percent of voters were women.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the President and leader of the GPC, was
elected to a 5 year term in the country's first nationwide direct
presidential election in 1999, winning 96.3 percent of the vote. In
2001, the 5 year term was amended to a 7 year term. The Constitution
provides that the President is elected by popular vote from at least
two candidates endorsed by Parliament. Despite the fact that the
President's sole opponent was a member of his own party, NGOs, foreign
embassies, and U.N. Development Program (UNDP) observers found the
election free and fair. The candidate selected by the leftist
opposition coalition did not receive the minimum number of required
votes from the GPC dominated Parliament.
The Constitution permits Parliament to initiate legislation;
however, to date it has not done so. In addition, the Government
routinely consulted senior parliamentary leaders when it drafted
important national legislation. Parliament debates policies that the
Government submits. Although the GPC, enjoyed an absolute majority,
Parliament has rejected or delayed action on major legislation
introduced by the Government, and has forced significant modification.
The Parliament also has criticized the Government for some actions,
including the issue of detainees, corruption, and aspects of the
Government's counter terrorism campaign. Ministers frequently were
called to Parliament to defend actions, policies, or proposed
legislation, although they sometimes refused to appear. At times,
parliamentarians were sharply critical during such sessions.
There were several political parties. The GPC dominated Parliament,
and Islah was the only other significant party. All parties must be
registered in accordance with the Political Parties Law, which
stipulates that each party must have at least 75 founders and 2,500
members. Some government opponents contended that they were unable to
organize new parties because of the prohibitively high legal
requirements regarding the minimum number of members and leaders. The
Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) and several smaller parties returned to
active political life by participating in the 2001 local elections,
constitutional referendum, and the April 2003 parliamentary election.
The law mandates that political parties should be viable national
organizations, and cannot restrict their membership to a particular
region. Parties based on regional, tribal, sectarian, class,
professional, gender, or racial identities are not permitted. The
Government provided financial support to political parties, including a
small stipend to publish their own newspapers.
Corruption was a problem, particularly in the judicial branch.
During the year, Parliament became more active in areas of economic
reform and corruption, winning a major victory by voting to cancel a
suspect oil deal arranged by the Ministry of Oil, and calling ministers
to account for their actions. Parliament continued to call on the
executive branch to reform the administration of government, including
decentralization of finances, fighting corruption, and providing clear
and transparent processes for government contracts.
Formal government authority is centralized in Sana'a; many
citizens, especially in urban areas, complained about the inability of
local and governorate entities to make policy or resource decisions.
The Local Authority Law decentralizes authority by establishing locally
elected district and governorate councils, headed by government
appointed governors. The first elections for the councils were held
concurrently with the constitutional referendum in 2001. At year's end,
a few local councils were still not constituted, and many continued to
lack sufficient resources. In some governorates, tribal leaders
exercised considerable discretion in the interpretation and enforcement
of the law.
The law requires a degree of transparency and public access to
information, and the Press and Publications Law provides journalists
with some access to government reports and information; however, in
practice, the Government offers few procedures to ensure transparency,
open bidding, or effective competition in awarding government
contracts. Detailed accounting of expenditures rarely occurs in a
timely fashion. The Government provided limited information on
websites; however, most citizens did not have access to the Internet.
Although women voted and held office, cultural norms rooted in
religious interpretation often limited their exercise of these rights,
and the number of women in government and politics did not correspond
to their percentage of the population (see Section 5). An increasing
number of women held senior leadership positions in the Government.
During the year, a group of women from the major parties secured
agreement from the Supreme Committee for Elections and Referenda (SCER)
to establish a Women's Department within the SCER.
Many Akhdam, a small ethnic minority, who may be descendants of
African slaves, did not participate in the political process due to
socioeconomic factors. All non Muslims are banned from running for
Parliament. This policy of the General Election Committee was reached
in 2001 after the ruling GPC party tried to run a Jewish candidate.
There were no reports that persons with disabilities were prohibited
from participating in the political process.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Law for Associations and Foundations regulates the formation
and activities of NGOs. Domestic and international human rights groups
generally investigated and published their finding on human rights
cases without restriction. Government officials were somewhat
cooperative and responsive to their views; however, NGOs reported there
was often a lack of response to their requests. During the year,
several government sponsored initiatives, particularly those promoted
by the Ministry of Human Rights, were aimed at furthering cooperation
with NGOs. There were reports that a few local NGOs were not invited to
participate in some of these activities.
Several human rights NGOs continued to operate throughout the year.
Groups included the Human Rights Information and Training Center, the
National Organization for Defending Rights and Freedoms, the Sisters
Arab Forum, and the Civic Democratic Forum. Although some NGOs were
supported by the Government or ruling party, others were clearly
supported by opposition parties or fully independent. A few NGOs
practiced self censorship.
The Government gives AI, Human Rights Watch, the Parliament of the
European Union, and the Committee to Protect Journalists access to
officials, records, refugee camps, and prisons (see Section 1.c.). The
ICRC maintained a resident representative to inspect prisons during the
year, although access to PSO prisons was restricted.
The Ministry of Human Rights, established in 2003, attempted to
raise awareness of human rights via public information campaigns,
training of human rights activists, and participation in numerous
conferences. Through a newly established complaint mechanism, the
Ministry resolved an unknown number of human rights cases out of
approximately 500 submissions, primarily through coordination and
correspondence with other ministries and human rights NGOs. Observers
concluded that the new system was operational and had great potential,
but that it was too early to evaluate its effectiveness.
Parliament has an active committee on human rights; however, some
members complained the committee did not operate independently due to
personal conflicts of interest by its leadership. During the year, the
committee addressed issues of prison conditions, torture, and child
trafficking. The committee issued unofficial reports citing the causes
of child trafficking.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equal rights and equal opportunity
for all citizens; however, discrimination based on race, sex, and
disability existed. Entrenched cultural attitudes often affected
women's ability to enjoy equal rights.
Women.--The law provides for protection against violence against
women; however, the provision rarely was enforced. Although spousal
abuse reportedly was common, it generally was undocumented. Violence
against women and children was considered a family affair, and usually
not reported to the police. Due to social norms and customs, an abused
woman was expected to take her complaint to a male relative (rather
than the authorities) to intercede on her behalf, or provide her
sanctuary if required. A small shelter for battered women in Aden
assisted victims, and telephone hotlines operated with moderate success
in Aden and Sana'a.
The law prohibits rape; however, it was a problem. The punishment
for rape is imprisonment up to 15 years; however, it was seldom
imposed.
The press, women's rights activists, and the Ministry for Human
Rights continued to investigate or report on violations of women's
rights. During the year, NGOs, in conjunction with each other and the
Ministry of Human Rights, sponsored several women's rights conferences
dealing with issues such as violence against women, honor killings, and
increasing the political representation of women.
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 continued to discourage the practice.
Prostitution is illegal; however, it occurred. The punishment for
prostitution is imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine. In a new
phenomenon, there were widespread reports of Iraqi women traveling to
the country to work in the sex industry (see Section 5, Trafficking in
Persons).
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 1 year or less.
The 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). The practice of bride
price payments was widespread, despite efforts to limit the size of
such payments.
The law states that the wife must obey the husband. 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; however, enforcement of this requirement was not
consistent. Some women reported that they were able to travel freely
without male accompaniment.
Shari'a permits a Muslim man to marry a non Muslim woman; however,
no Muslim woman may marry a non Muslim. 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. The
foreign wife of a male citizen must remain in the country for two years
in order to obtain a residence permit.
According to a Ministry of Interior 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 Ministry of Interior. 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.''
The Government continued to support women's rights as exemplified
by local law, and the expansion of the public role of women. The
President and Government strongly encouraged women to vote and
supported several NGO sponsored conferences to increase the role of
women in political life.
According to 2002 government statistics, approximately 67.5 percent
of women were illiterate, compared with approximately 27.7 percent of
men. The fertility rate was 6.5 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 19 percent of the
paid labor force. In 2003, the Government amended a law to require that
every public or private institution employing more than 50 female
workers must provide assistance with the care of their children;
however this regulation was not enforced.
The Labor Law stipulates that women are equal to men in conditions
of employment and employment rights; however, female activists and NGOs
reported that discrimination was a common practice in both the public
and private sectors. Mechanisms to enforce equal protection were weak
or nonexistent.
There were no laws prohibiting sexual harassment; however it was a
problem in the workplace.
The National Women's Committee completed a report on the United
Nations Beijing +10 Conference for women's rights in the country. It
also completed a second phase of a review of discriminatory laws
against female citizens, and began an initiative to support a quota
system.
The NGO Women Rights and Social Justice specialized in influencing
policy makers to counter prejudice against women. It held its third
symposium titled ``Women's Rights in Islam.''
The Sisters Arab Forum held a regional conference on strengthening
women's rights vis-a-vis the 1994 Beijing Conference. Women from across
the region attended.
There were a number of NGOs working for women's advancement,
including: the Social Association for Productive Families, which
promoted vocational development for women; the Women and Children's
Department of the Center for Future Studies, which organized seminars
and published studies on women and children; the Woman and Child
Development Association, focused on health education and illiteracy;
the Yemeni Council for Motherhood and Childhood, which provided micro
credit and vocational training to women; and the Zahara Women's
Association for Welfare, which conducted voter education and grassroots
education.
Children.--While the Government asserted its commitment to protect
children's rights, it lacked the resources necessary to ensure adequate
health care, education, and welfare services for children. Malnutrition
was common. According to 2003 UNDP statistics, the infant mortality
rate was 71 deaths per 1,000 births. Male children received
preferential treatment and had better health and survival rates.
The law provides for universal, compulsory, and free education from
age 6 to 15 years; however, compulsory attendance was not enforced.
Many children, especially girls, did not attend primary school.
According to a 2003 UNDP report, average student attendance in primary
schools was 76 percent for boys and 45 percent for girls. In rural
areas, 52 percent of children attended school, whereas the rate in
urban areas was 81 percent.
Child marriage was common in rural areas. 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 (see Section 5, Women).
The law does not prohibit child abuse. Although exact figures were
lacking, it was a widespread problem.
FGM was practiced on a limited scale (see Section 5, Women).
Child labor was a problem. The Child Rights Law prohibits child
labor; however, the law has not been implemented and children as young
as 4 years of age worked in workshops, agriculture, or as street
vendors (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were credible reports of trafficking in women and
children. 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 trafficking in persons. During the year, one child
trafficker received a 3 year prison sentence. Other laws forbid and
severely punish kidnapping, sexual assault, and facilitation of
prostitution. The Child Rights law mandates the protection of all
children from economic and sexual exploitation.
Trafficking was a relatively new phenomenon in the country, and
there were no reliable statistics available. During the year, there
were reports of Iraqi women trafficked to the country for the purpose
of prostitution. As the problem of sex trafficking was new, authorities
were unable to provide information on the scope and methods of sex
trafficking, but they suspected that many women were trafficked to the
country by organized criminal syndicates. The Government took steps to
address this problem by instituting a new visa requirement for Iraqi
citizens traveling to the country.
Press reports claimed that children were trafficked out of the
country to work as street beggars, domestic help, or as camel jockeys
in oil rich Gulf States at a rate of approximately 200 children per
week. The Government increased its efforts to combat child trafficking.
Parliament sent numerous delegations to areas known as points of origin
for child trafficking in order to investigate the problem. Authorities
increased the number of arrests of alleged traffickers and prosecuted
two traffickers. The Government worked with UNICEF on a study to
examine and increase its understanding of the problem of trafficking in
children. Government investigations revealed that extreme poverty was
the primary motivation behind child trafficking and that the victims'
families were almost always complicit. There were no information
campaigns to raise awareness of the problem. A lack of resources,
skills, and awareness hindered government action against trafficking in
persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was discrimination against
persons with mental and physical disabilities in education and
employment. The Government mandated the acceptance of persons with
disabilities in universities, exempted them from paying tuition, and
required that schools be made more accessible to persons with
disabilities; however, it was unclear to what extent these laws have
been implemented. There is no national law that mandates the
accessibility of buildings for persons with disabilities. Public
awareness regarding the need to address the concerns of persons with
disabilities appeared to be increasing.
During the year, the Handicapped Society, the Challenge Society,
the Yemeni Development Foundation, Al Saleh Social Establishment, and
the Islamic World Handicap and Training Council provided assistance to
persons with disabilities, including rehabilitation assistance,
vocational training, cultural and sports activities, and collaborative
workshops on how to address the issue of disabilities in the country.
The Government's Social Fund for Development, administered by the
Ministry of Social Affairs, provided limited basic services to assist
persons with disabilities.
At times, authorities arrested without charge and imprisoned
persons with mental disabilities (see Section 1.c.).
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 also provided basic services
to assist the group.
Human rights groups have reported that some immigrants of African
origin had difficulty in securing Ministry of Interior permission to
marry citizens (see Section 1.f.).
Tribal violence continued to be a problem during the year, 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.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and law provide that
citizens have the right to form and join unions; however, this right
was restricted in practice. The Government sought to place its own
personnel in positions of influence in unions and trade union
federations.
The law permits trade unions to establish only if federated within
the General Federation of Trade Unions of Yemen (GFWTUY), the sole
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.
Only the General Assembly of the GFWTUY may dissolve unions. The
law provides equal labor rights for women. The law does not stipulate a
minimum membership for unions or limit them to a specific enterprise or
firm. Thus citizens may associate by profession or trade.
The law generally protects employees from antiunion discrimination.
Employers do not have the right to dismiss an employee for union
activities. Employees may appeal any disputes, including cases of
antiunion discrimination, to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.
Employees also may take a case to the Labor Arbitration Committee,
which is chaired by the Ministry of Labor, and 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.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law
applies to all workers except public servants, foreign workers, day
laborers, and domestic servants. The law provides workers with the
right to organize and bargain collectively. The Government permitted
these activities; however, it sought to influence them by placing its
own personnel inside groups and organizations. The Ministry of Labor
has veto power over collective bargaining agreements, a practice
criticized by the International Labor Organization (ILO). 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.'' 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.
In some instances, the GPC ruling party attempted to control
professional associations and NGOs by influencing internal elections
(see Section 2.a.). In April, the Medical Association of Sana'a elected
a chairman associated with the opposition Islah party, the Government
refused to accept the results of the election and formed an alternative
medical association.
The labor law provides for the right to strike only if prior
attempts at negotiation and arbitration fail. The proposal to strike
must be submitted to at least 60 percent of all concerned workers, of
whom 25 percent must vote in favor. Permission to strike also must be
obtained from the GFWTUY. Strikes for explicit ``political purposes''
were prohibited.
On June 6, police fired into the air to disburse a crowd of
national airline pilots, who were striking for higher wages; no
injuries were reported. There were some peaceful strikes during the
year.
There were reports that private sector employers discriminated
against union members through transfers, demotions, and dismissals.
There were no export processing zones in operation.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, 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 9 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.
The Ministry of Labor estimated that there are close to half a
million working children, ages 6 to 14 year, and that working children
equaled 10 to 15 percent of the total work force. The Government was an
active partner with the ILO'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. In September, the Government entered into a grant
agreement with a foreign government aimed at combating the worst forms
of child labor in the country.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no established minimum
wage for any type of employment. 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. The
minimum civil service wage during the year 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. 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. These laws were
generally respected in practice.
__________
SOUTH ASIA
----------
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan oversaw the ratification of a new Constitution on
January 4. Hamid Karzai was elected President in the country's first
presidential election held on October 9, which was deemed acceptable by
the majority of its citizens. Although a few major provincial centers
remained under the effective control of regional commanders for most of
the year, the Government made progress in asserting its authority, and
the commanders acknowledged the central government's legitimacy. Karzai
dismissed and appointed new governors to many of the 34 provinces.
Judicial power rested with the Supreme Court. Under the new Government,
the rule of law applied throughout the country; however, in practice,
recognition of the rule of law, particularly outside of Kabul, was
limited. The nominally independent judiciary was accused by some of
corruption and being subject to political pressure from officials and
commanders, especially at the provincial and local levels. The judicial
system operated on an intermittent basis during the year, while the
Government and the international community trained judges and lawyers
and reconstructed courthouses.
Police, under the Ministry of Interior, had primary responsibility
for internal order; however, civilian authorities did not always
maintain effective control of security forces. Some local and regional
commanders maintained considerable power, as the Government was not in
a position to exercise effective control nationwide. NATO retained
command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul;
its U.N. Security Council mandate was extended to October 13, 2005.
Some members of security forces committed serious human rights abuses.
The economy, based primarily on agriculture and animal husbandry,
is market based. A July estimate found the population to be
approximately 28.5 million, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
estimated the economic growth rate at 7.5 percent for the year. Wages
kept pace with inflation. Persistent drought, low literacy, and slow
recovery from over two decades of war were a strain on the economy. The
country remained heavily dependent on foreign assistance, and
approximately 50 percent of the Government's operating budget came from
external donor support. According to the World Food Program (WFP), some
1.4 million citizens have been affected by continued drought and crop
failures, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
reported in November that opium cultivation increased by two-thirds and
spread to all 32 provinces of the country. According to the UNODC
report, narcotics became the main factor of economic growth, involving
10 percent of the population.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained. There
were instances where local security forces and police committed
extrajudicial killings, and officials used torture in prisons. Efforts
to bring to justice serious human rights offenders were often
ineffective; impunity from the law remained a serious concern.
Punishment of officials usually took the form of administrative actions
rather than prosecution. Prolonged pretrial detention and poor prison
conditions led to deteriorating health conditions and death among some
prisoners. The Government generally provided for freedom of speech, the
press, assembly, association, religion, and movement; however, problems
remained. Violence--including rape and kidnapping--and societal
discrimination against women and minorities continued. Trafficking of
persons was a problem. There was widespread disregard for, and abuse
of, internationally recognized worker rights. Child labor continued to
be a problem.
Terrorist attacks and severe violence continued during the year.
Taliban, local commanders, and other antigovernment forces threatened,
robbed, attacked, and occasionally killed local villagers, political
opponents, and prisoners. Some areas outside Kabul were not under the
Government's control. Increased Taliban, al-Qa'ida, and other
antigovernment groups' activity, particularly in the south and
southeast, added to security concerns. U.N. agencies and
nongovernmental organization (NGOs) temporarily cancelled or curtailed
their activities in these and other areas at various times during the
year.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were reports
of politically motivated or extrajudicial killings by the Government or
its agents. For example, on August 14, 17 bodies were discovered at the
Shindand market place with evidence that 6 of the 17 individuals,
including a 60-year-old man, were tortured and beheaded. An
investigation was launched and remained open at year's end.
On January 2, officials hanged four bandits in the central bazaar
of Farah when they were arrested after a gunfight with government
forces. In March and April, while in police custody, four detainees in
Herat were killed as the result of torture, according to the Afghan
Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
During the year, no trial date was set for police officers arrested
for killing two demonstrators in Kabul in 2002.
There were no known politically motivated killings by the
Government or its agents; however, factional forces killed civilians
during the fight against Taliban supporters.
The Government and government-allied coalition forces carried out
raids and attacks on alleged militant settlements that resulted in the
deaths of civilians. On September 17, government-allied coalition
troops accidentally killed one Afghan youth and injured another during
a clash with militants in Uruzgan Province (see Section 1.g.).
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that
landmines and unexploded ordnance killed or wounded 847 persons during
the year (see Section 1.g.).
Rebel forces, including Taliban, al-Qa'ida, and Hizb-e-Islami
Gulbuddin, killed numerous civilians during their attacks. There were
reports that the Taliban and its allies summarily executed NGO workers
and other persons. Attacks on international organizations, on
international aid workers and their local counterparts, and on foreign
interests and nationals increased significantly (see Sections 1.g. and
4).
In many areas, the lack of an effective police force, poor
infrastructure and communications, instability, and insecurity made it
difficult to investigate unlawful killings, bombings, or civilian
deaths, and there were no reliable estimates of the numbers involved.
On June 29, authorities announced that one man was sentenced to
death for the 2002 assassination of Vice President and Public Works
Minister Haji Abdul Qadir; two other accomplices were given jail
sentences. There were no developments in other 2002 cases.
The Government made few efforts to bring to justice those persons
responsible for the most serious abuses committed during the past 24
years (see Section 4).
b. Disappearance.--Abductions and disappearances occurred during
the year. On October 28, armed militants abducted three U.N. workers.
The three were released in Kabul in November, and in December,
Pakistani security forces arrested Haji Fazal Karim, chief of the
militant group Jaish-al Muslimeen, in Karachi, for the kidnapping. The
case remained open at year's end.
The whereabouts of most of the women and girls who were kidnapped
or abducted by the Taliban between 1998 and 2001, and of those persons
arrested by the Taliban for political reasons, remained unknown at
year's end.
In January, the Governor of Herat and the AIHRC claimed that three
policemen taken from the Herat central police district and held without
charge for several months in July 2003 were released. The AIHRC alleged
that the three were beaten while in custody. There was no judicial
follow up. Local Shindand district commander Amanullah Khan denied any
responsibility in the December 2003 abduction of a commander of Herat's
21st Division, based in Shindand.
There continued to be reports of abduction by Taliban, allied
militias, and unknown gunmen. The whereabouts of an international NGO
driver abducted by the Taliban on January 5 remained unknown. The
driver for a mine-clearance agency who was abducted by gunmen in Ghazni
in November 2003 was released to his family. There were numerous
reports of kidnapped--and possibly trafficked--children during the year
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were reports of some abuses. For example, there were continued reports
that some local police authorities in Herat and other locations
routinely employed torture on detainees (see Section 1.a.). There was
no followup to the 2002 incident in which Herat Governor Ismail Khan's
security forces arrested journalist Mohammad Rafiq Shahir and
reportedly beat him severely.
In March, Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed that coalition forces
operating in the country arbitrarily detained civilians and committed
cruel, inhumane, and degrading acts against detainees.
Security forces reportedly used excessive force during their fight
against Taliban and al-Qa'ida remnants, including looting, beating, and
torturing of civilians. Violence and instability hampered relief and
reconstruction efforts in different parts of the country and led to
numerous human rights abuses.
Prison conditions remained poor, and there were reportedly many
other secret or informal detention centers in the country (see Section
1.d.). Prisoners lived in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions in
collective cells and were not sheltered adequately from severe winter
conditions. Prisoners reportedly were beaten, tortured, or denied
adequate food. The Justice Ministry's assumption of prison management
from the Interior Ministry in March 2003 improved conditions
marginally. The humanitarian NGO Emergency reported in January that
infectious diseases were common among prisoners.
A number of regional leaders, particularly Ismail Khan in Herat and
General Dostum in Sheberghan, maintained secret or unofficial prisons
that most likely held political detainees (see Section 1.d.). In May,
following a prison riot and hunger strike, most of the approximately
900 Taliban and Pakistani prisoners at Sheberghan Prison were moved to
Pul-e-Charkhi Prison in Kabul. In September, President Karzai ordered
from this group the release of 416 ex-combatants, mainly Taliban, as
well as 433 Pakistanis.
According to the AIHRC, six prisoners died in prison during the
year, two from illness, and four others from injuries received during
fights.
Approximately 4,500 convicts were held in 32 government-run prisons
across the country. There were 15 correctional centers for juveniles,
and approximately 8 women's detention centers. Men and women were
housed in separate facilities. Living conditions of all prisons did not
meet international standards, and conditions in women's facilities were
worse than in men's facilities. Children under 12 years were
incarcerated with their mothers. Juveniles (under 18 years) were
detained in juvenile correctional facilities; however, juveniles
charged with murder were detained in adult facilities but were assigned
to a separate area within the facilities. There were no pretrial
detention facilities.
The Government permitted the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) to visit all prisons that the Government controlled, and
the ICRC conducted such visits during the year; however, the ICRC
alleged that it lacked full and transparent access to some prisoners.
The AIHRC monitored prison conditions regularly during the year, and
independently of the Ministry of Justice.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest or detention; however, arbitrary arrest and detention
were serious problems. Legal and law enforcement institutions operated
unevenly throughout the country, and justice was administered on an
intermittent basis according to a mixture of codified law, Shari'a law,
and local custom.
Human rights groups reported that local police authorities extorted
bribes from civilians in return for their release from prison or to
avoid arrest. The Afghan National Police (ANP) had approximately 26,000
trained policemen and women at year's end, roughly half of the
Government's target of 62,000 ANP. Judicial and police procedures and
practices for taking persons into custody and bringing them to justice
followed no established code and varied depending on the area and local
authorities. Some areas had a more formal judicial structure than
others. Limits on lengths of pretrial detention were not respected. The
AIHRC received several hundred reports of pretrial detention during the
year. According to the laws, police can detain suspects for up to 24
hours, primary and secondary courts can detain for up to 2 months, and
the final court can detain for up to 5 months.
Private prisons were a problem. The country's intelligence agency
ran at least two prisons, and there were unconfirmed reports of private
detention facilities around Kabul and in northern regions of the
country. Representatives of international agencies and the AIHRC were
unable to gain access to these prisons during the year. The AIHRC
reported numerous cases of arbitrary arrest and detention. For example,
in Ghazni Province, Governor Asadulah arbitrarily arrested seven
suspects in December and did not allow anyone to visit these detainees.
No charges were filed, and these detainees remained incarcerated at
year's end. During the year, the Governor of Helmand arbitrarily
arrested a suspect and detained him for 4 months. At year's end, no
charges were filed against the suspect, and the suspect remained in
prison at year's end.
The Constitution provides for access to legal counsel (see Section
1.e.). The country's law limited pretrial detention to 9 months;
however, there were documented cases where suspects were held for
longer periods. There were credible reports that some detainees were
tortured to elicit confessions while awaiting trial.
The AIHRC confirmed cases of troops loyal to Commander Ismatullah
in Laghman Province looting and forcing women into marriages; however,
allegations of rape were not substantiated (see Section 5).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The Government, in accordance with Islamic principle
and international standards, assigned the Government to reorganize and
reform its judiciary system, and the Government, with assistance from
the international community, continued to work on reestablishing a
functioning nationwide judicial system. Many municipal and provincial
authorities relied on some interpretation of Islamic law and
traditional tribal codes of justice. The mandate of the Judicial Reform
Commission expired during the year, and its responsibilities shifted to
the Ministry of Justice.
In the cities, courts decided criminal and civil cases. The Supreme
Court was located in Kabul. There was a National Security Court that
tried terrorist and other cases, although it was unclear how the new
National Security Courts functioned in practice. In cases involving
murder and rape, convicted prisoners generally were sentenced to
execution, although relatives of the victim could instead choose to
accept other restitution or could enforce the verdict themselves.
Decisions of the courts could be appealed. The courts reportedly heard
cases in sessions that lasted only a few minutes.
In rural areas, local elders and shuras (community councils) were
the primary means of settling criminal matters and civil disputes and
sometimes allegedly levied unsanctioned punishments, including flogging
or death by stoning, as well as ordering, in murder cases, the
defendant to provide young girls in marriage to the victims' family. In
such proceedings, the accused typically had no right to legal
representation, bail, or appeal.
The courts' procedures did not meet internationally accepted
standards for fair trials. The administration and implementation of
justice varied from area to area, as many judges were uneducated or
poorly trained and based their judgments on a combination of their
personal understanding of Islamic law and tribal codes of honor. Low
pay was a factor in reports of widespread corruption. Insecurity and
pressure from public officials and the family of the accused also
threatened judicial impartiality.
During the year, codification and harmonization of laws started;
however, the Judicial Reform Commission (JRC) and Ministry of Justice
lacked the capacity to handle the large volume of new and amended
legislation.
Defendants had the right to an attorney under the law, but this
right was inconsistently applied. Citizens' lack of awareness of their
constitutional rights was a problem, and there was no functioning
public defender system. Juries were not used, and defendants were not
allowed to confront or question witnesses.
A number of regional leaders were suspected of holding political
prisoners, but there were no reliable estimates of the numbers
involved.
On April 20, Abdullah Shah, convicted of mass murder, was executed.
Human rights groups criticized Shah's execution because they considered
his trial and appeals process seriously flawed, and they held that Shah
was a material witness to abuses committed by other prominent Afghans,
including some members of the current Government.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such action; however, armed
groups of police officials forcibly invaded and looted the homes and
businesses of civilians with impunity, due to the absence of a
responsive and strong police force or legal protection for victims. On
April 10, troops from the Junbesh and Jamiat parties' military wings
looted houses during fighting east of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Police authorities often placed women under detention in prison at
the request of family members for defying the family's wishes on the
choice of a spouse, or for other moral offenses. An unknown number of
women were imprisoned for these reasons. Some women were in detention
centers because they were runaways from home.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--During the year, continued internal
conflict resulted in instances of the use of excessive force that
caused the deaths of civilians, property damage, and the displacement
of residents.
Interfactional fighting between regional commanders, persistent
Taliban and al-Qa'ida activity, and criminal activity contributed to
continued reports of unlawful depravations of life. Militants targeted
foreigners and local employees of NGOs for unlawful killings. Civilians
also were killed during fighting between coalition and rebel forces.
During the year, battles between rival tribes and local commanders
resulted in numerous civilian casualties. For example, on February 25,
five employees of an indigenous NGO were killed near Kabul. In April,
two suspects in the case were arrested. At year's end, the case
remained ongoing. On June 2, three foreign and two local staff members
of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were killed in an ambush in the
provincial capital of Badghis Province when a car carrying the five
workers reportedly was hit by gunfire and attacked with grenades. On
June 10, 11 Chinese construction workers were killed in northern parts
of the country. Security officials said they arrested 10 militants
linked to Hizb-e-Islami-Gulbuddin and the Taliban for the killings.
Militants also targeted civilians and elections officials in a
campaign to derail national elections. Taliban spokesmen declared that
all presidential candidates were high priority targets. During the
year, six election workers were killed and at least seven others
wounded. On June 27, Taliban fighters stopped a bus carrying 17
passengers in Uruzgan Province and killed 14 of the 17 passengers for
possessing voter registration cards.
Sporadic fighting between forces loyal to General Dostum and
General Atta continued during the year. On August 14, commander
Amanullah Khan, and other rivals of Herat Governor Ismail Khan,
launched an offensive against Ismail Khan's troops. In southern Herat
alone, at least 21 men, and perhaps dozens more, were killed in the
initial fighting. Coalition and government forces intervened to halt
the fighting.
There were numerous bombings during the year. For example, on June
26, two female election workers were killed in a bomb blast in
Jalalabad carried out by the Taliban. On August 28, another bomb blast
killed nine children and an adult at a school in Paktia Province.
The Ministry of Interior stated that, of 2 individuals arrested for
the July 2003 mosque bombing in which 17 persons were injured in
Kandahar, 1 was released by court order and the other escaped from jail
in October 2003.
Police arrested three foreign nationals in July for allegedly
running a private prison in Kabul and jailing and torturing at least
eight Afghans as part of a private war on terror. On September 15, a
court in Kabul handed the group 8- to 10-year prison sentences; their
four local accomplices received between 1- and 5-year prison sentences.
Intimidation or violence directed at NGO workers increased during
the year. During the year, suspected Taliban killed at least 31 aid
workers, compared to approximately 13 during 2003. For example, the
Taliban claimed responsibility for the June 2 killing of five employees
of MSF, including three Europeans, in Badghis Province. On June 9,
police announced they had arrested 10 suspects.
The status of two suspects arrested by security forces for the
killing of two local aid workers in September 2003 was unknown at
year's end. The two suspects arrested for the November 2003 killing of
Bettina Goislard, a French United Nations High Commission on Refugees
(UNHCR) worker in Ghazni Province, were sentenced to death. It was
believed that the attackers acted with the assistance of Taliban
remnants and al-Qa'ida terrorists (see Section 1.a.).
Violence and instability hampered relief and reconstruction efforts
in different parts of the country, and there were reports by NGOs that
some local commanders were charging them for the relief supplies they
were bringing into the country. The delivery of assistance was also
limited by the difficulties in moving relief goods overland to remote
areas.
There was no further significant displacement of Pashtuns and
others from Faryab, Jawzjan, and Badghis Provinces; however, continued
harassment and insecurity limited the return of Pashtun families to
their villages in northern areas. On the border of Nangarhar and Logar
provinces, an unknown number of persons were killed during heavy
fighting between rival tribes over natural resources. Sporadic fighting
and lawlessness remained a hindrance to assistance efforts in the north
and northwest through much of the year.
There were no developments in the 2002 investigation of bodies of
Taliban prisoners in Dasht-i Leili, where international experts found
evidence of summary execution and death by suffocation.
Estimates of the remaining number of landmines planted during and
after the Soviet occupation ranged from 450,000, according to the Halo
Trust, to 7 million, according to the U.N. The most heavily mined areas
were the provinces bordering Iran and Pakistan. The landmines and
unexploded ordnance caused deaths and injuries, restricted areas
available for cultivation, and impeded the return of refugees to mine-
affected regions. During the year, the ICRC recorded 847 new victims of
mines and other explosive remnants of war. Including unreported
incidents, the ICRC estimated there were approximately 100 incidents
per month taking place in the country.
With funding from international donors, the U.N. organized and
trained mine detection and clearance teams, which operated throughout
the country. More than 1.5 million refugees and internally displaces
persons (IDPs) returned to areas cleared of mines and unexploded
ordnance. U.N. agencies and NGOs conducted a number of educational
programs and mine awareness campaigns for women and children in various
parts of the country.
Continued warfare, as well as prolonged and severe drought, also
resulted in the involuntary displacement of civilians.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Article 34 of the Constitution
provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however, some senior
officials, particularly at the local level, attempted to intimidate
journalists and influence their reporting. The 2002 Press Law contained
an injunction against information that ``could mean insult to the
sacred religion of Islam and other religions.'' The ambiguity about
offensive material offered the potential for abuse of this clause in
order to restrict press freedom. On April 1, President Karzai signed an
amended Press Law following its review by the Ministry of Information
and Culture. The new law retains the broad and vague content
restriction on ``subjects that are contrary to principles of Islam and
offensive to other religions and sects,'' but excludes any reference to
Shari'a and created a government commission with powers to decide
whether journalists accused of violating the law should face court
prosecution or an administrative punishment, such as a fine.
The independent media were active and publicly reflected differing
political views, although this varied from region to region. 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. Factional
authorities tightly controlled media in some parts of the country, and
the degree of freedom of expression varied significantly between
regions. The foreign media was covered under the freedom of speech law;
however, they were prohibited from commenting negatively on the Islamic
religion and from publishing materials that were considered a threat to
the President.
During the year, some government departments were predisposed to
crack down on journalists, and members of the intelligence service
reportedly intimidated and threatened journalists. General unspecified
threats against media organizations were also a common occurrence.
While some independent journalists and writers published magazines
and newsletters, according to Reporters Without Borders, circulation
largely was confined to Kabul, and many publications were self-
censored. In practice, many persons listened to the dozen international
stations that broadcast in Dari or Pashto. The BBC, Voice of America,
Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Afghanistan were available throughout the
country. In the countryside, some radio and television stations were
under the control of local authorities. There were approximately 300
publications, 40 radio stations, and several television stations in the
country. Mazar-e-Sharif alone had an estimated 50 publications. On
September 12, the first independent radio station established entirely
by private sector funds was inaugurated in Ghazni Province.
Journalists were subjected to harassment, intimidation, and
violence during the year. In June, authorities in Herat interfered in
the functioning of an independent women's community radio station,
Radio Sahar. The situation was resolved through negotiation and
dialogue with the authorities, according to Internews. In August, the
Ministry of Information and Culture announced the creation of a
commission of religious clergy to monitor the media, but its authority
in practice to censor content was not specified.
In June 2003, police briefly arrested the editors of the weekly
newspaper Aftaab and shut down the newspaper for allegedly contravening
the old press law's injunction against anti-Islamic content. The
charges were eventually dropped; however, the newspaper never resumed
publication.
On August 5, authorities announced the arrest of a man suspected of
involvement in the killing of four journalists in 2001. The case
remained open at year's end. In April 2003, five other suspects were
arrested--two of whom confessed, according to authorities--for
suspected involvement in the killing. Their status was unknown at
year's end.
There were a few reports that government forces prohibited music,
movies, and television on religious grounds. For example, in January,
the Supreme Court briefly stopped a television station from airing
female singers. The Government lifted the ban in late January, saying
female singers on television were permitted under the new Constitution.
In April, officials in Nangarhar Province briefly banned the
performance of female singers on television and radio; however, this
decision was reversed a few days later. The central Government has not
banned any form of media, although there was a brief ban on cable
television in early 2003. Cable operators provided a wide variety of
channels, including Western movie and music channels. The Government
did not restrict the ownership of satellite dishes by private citizens.
The Government did not limit or block Internet access during the
year.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly, association, and the right to form
political parties without prior permission; however, this right was
restricted in practice. Insecurity and interference from local
authorities inhibited freedom of assembly and association in some areas
outside Kabul. Political parties based on ethnicity, language, Islamic
school of thought, and region were not allowed; however, political
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). The
October 2003 Political Parties Law obliges parties to register with the
Ministry of Justice and requires political parties to pursue objectives
that are consistent with the principles of Islam. There was a report
that Noorulhaq Olomi's Afghanistan National United Party was denied the
right to registration, allegedly because Noorulhaq was a communist,
despite meeting all legal requirements (see Section 3).
In Herat Province, party activists did not conduct political
activities openly because of Governor Ismail Khan's intolerance of
political activities. On June 18, police in Kabul allegedly disrupted
and threatened a meeting of party activists; however, the police denied
this incident. On September 12, Afghan security forces killed seven
demonstrators in Herat. In September, demonstrators protesting the
removal of Ismail Khan as Governor allegedly attacked U.N. offices and
government-allied forces.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The new Constitution proclaims that Islam
is the ``religion of the state,'' but provides that non-Muslim citizens
are free to perform their rituals within the limits determined by laws
for public decency and public peace; however, there was some harassment
of foreign missionaries and others. The Constitution also declares that
no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred
religion of Islam. The new Constitution does not grant preferential
status to the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence associated with
the Sunnis, and makes no reference to Shari'a law. The Government
continued a policy of religious tolerance during the year; however,
custom and law required all citizens to profess a religious
affiliation.
Historically, the minority Shi'a community faced discrimination
from the majority Sunni population. The authorities did not require
licensing and registration of religious groups in any part of the
country. There were no laws forbidding proselytizing, although
proselytizing was viewed as contrary to the beliefs of Islam. Blasphemy
and apostasy were in theory punishable by death under the current,
unreformed penal code. In early September, the Supreme Court ruled that
presidential candidate Latif Pedram be disqualified for making
allegedly un-Islamic remarks in public. After some government offices,
the AIHRC, and the international community questioned the
constitutionality of this ruling, Pedram was allowed to remain in the
race.
Public school curriculums included religious subjects, but
religious leaders conducted detailed religious study. Non-Muslims were
not required to study Islam, and there was no restriction on parental
religious teaching.
The Shi'a religious affiliation of the Hazaras was historically a
significant factor leading to their repression, and there was continued
social discrimination against Hazaras.
Militants sometimes harassed foreign missionaries and other
religiously oriented organizations. There was an unconfirmed report
that the Taliban killed a former Muslim cleric on June 30, allegedly
for preaching Christianity. There were unconfirmed allegations that
converts to Christianity faced societal discrimination and threats.
Sikhs and Hindus returning to the country faced difficulties in
obtaining housing and land in Kabul and other provinces. Both
communities did not receive land on which to cremate their dead;
however, unlike in previous years, the Hindu and Sikh communities
reportedly did not face any acts of discrimination.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for these
rights; however, certain laws limited citizens' movement. The passport
law requires women 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 law also prohibits
women from traveling alone outside the country without a male relative,
and male relatives must accompany women participating in Hajj.
Additionally, sporadic fighting, brigandage and landmines hampered
travel within the country. Despite these obstacles, many men and women
continued to travel relatively freely, with buses using routes in most
parts of the country.
Taxi, truck, and bus drivers complained that militia and police
personnel operated illegal checkpoints and extorted them for money and
goods; however, the number of such checkpoints decreased during the
year. In March, local militants shot and injured a police chief at an
illegal checkpoint in Mazar-e-Sharif.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use either forced internal or external exile in practice.
There were estimates that up to 165,000 persons were displaced
internally. However, during the year, over 750,000 refugees and a
modest number of IDPs were resettled. Since 2002, over 3 million
citizens have returned to the country. Women and children constituted
75 percent of the refugee population. Refugee returnees settled
primarily in urban areas and placed additional strain on the cities'
already overburdened infrastructures. There were further population
movements from rural to urban areas due to drought, insecurity, and
inadequate assistance in rural areas.
Sporadic fighting and related security concerns, as well as the
drought, discouraged some refugees from returning to the country. For
example, in mid-August, refugees returning from Iran were stranded for
several days due to fighting between different provincial governors and
warlords in and around Herat Province (see Section 1.a.).
Ethnic Hazaras prevented some Kuchi nomads from returning to
traditional grazing lands in the central highlands for a number of
reasons, including allegations that the Kuchis were pro-Taliban and
thus complicit in the massacres perpetrated against Hazaras in the
1990s. Hazaras also found difficulty in returning to the country. In
December, a local leader from Karukh district in Herat blocked the
return of approximately 200 Hazara refugees from Iran.
According to the U.N., 100,000 Pashtuns, displaced from northern
areas after 2001 because their ethnic group was closely associated with
the Taliban regime, remained displaced.
The Government has not established a system for providing
protection for refugees or those seeking 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 for the first
time on October 9, directly electing Hamid Karzai from a slate of 18
candidates. Karzai received 55.4 percent of votes cast in an election
that was deemed acceptable to the majority of Afghans.
A Constitutional Loya Jirga (CLJ) approved a new Constitution on
January 4, replacing the 1964 Constitution in operation under the 2001
Bonn Agreement. According to HRW, local authorities used fraud and
intimidation to get their supporters elected to the CLJ; however, other
reports, including those prepared by the U.N., suggested that
intimidation was localized and did not significantly affect the outcome
of elections.
At the CLJ, there were 502 delegates, 100 women and 402 men. The
then-Interim President, Hamid Karzai, appointed 52 of the delegates,
while the rest were elected. Of the 52 appointed delegates, 25 were
women and 27 were men. Debate was intense during the CLJ, and citizens
had the opportunity to question senior leaders; however, some observers
criticized the proceedings for alleged vote buying and intimidation.
According to HRW, some delegates expressed alarm at the intrusive
presence of agents from the Government's intelligence service. Also
participating in the CLJ were representatives of refugees, IDPs,
Kuchis, Hindus and Sikhs, and persons with disabilities.
The Government did not ban any political parties, other than the
Taliban; however, the Supreme Court banned communists from forming a
political party because it alleged that communists were atheists. The
Ministry of Justice courted claims of selective discrimination because
it avoided registering the National Unity Party, whose leaders were
former communists, although the party met all legal requirements for
registration. During the year, approximately 40 accredited political
parties registered with the Ministry of Justice and began preparing for
national elections.
Political parties generally were able to conduct activities
throughout the country without opposition or hindrance, except in
regions where antigovernment violence affected overall security. Joint
reports by UNAMA and AIHRC revealed that officials sometimes interfered
with political parties, mainly due to 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. For example, the Republican Party's
activities were restricted in provinces that were controlled by Ismail
Khan and General Rashid Dostum. However, UNAMA and AIHRC's conclusions
were that political freedom improved substantially and steadily during
the year.
There was widespread public perception of corruption in the
executive branch of government, including the involvement of officials
up to the ministerial level in the illegal narcotics trade. However, no
visible actions were taken to combat corruption beyond public
statements by government officials.
Article 50 of the Constitution provides citizens the right to
access government information, except where this right might violate
the rights of others. The national Government generally provided such
access in practice, but officials at the local level were less
cooperative.
The Constitution reserves 2 seats from each province in the lower
house of Parliament specifically for women, for a total of 68. There
were two women in President Karzai's ethnically inclusive Cabinet. The
chairperson of the AIHRC was also a woman. There were two women on the
6-member Interim Electoral Commission. The CLJ included 100 female
delegates. The Constitution requires that 2 seats in each province must
be filled by women in Parliament, 3 seats by religious scholars, 11
seats by refugees in Iran, 13 seats by refugees in Pakistan, 9 seats by
Kuchis, and 6 seats by IDPs.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. Some of these
human rights groups were based in Pakistan, with branches inside the
country. The lack of security and instability in some parts of the
country severely reduced NGO activities in these areas. In the first
half of 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.). During rioting in Herat to protest Governor Ismail
Khan's removal, protestors burned U.N. agencies' offices and the
provincial office of the AIHRC. MSF suspended its activities after five
of its employees were killed on June 2, claiming government inaction on
security and apprehending the killers. Police later arrested several
suspects in the case (see Section 1.g.).
NGOs accused Minister of Planning Ramazan Bashardost of indirectly
contributing to violent attacks on NGOs through his repeated critical
public remarks about their activities and functioning.
Local employees ran several international NGOs, including Global
Rights (formerly International Human Rights Law Group) and HRW, which
monitored the situation inside the country.
The AIHRC, created by Article 58 of the Constitution, continued its
role in addressing human rights problems within the country. The 11-
member appointed commission generally acted independently of the
Government, often voicing strong criticism of government institutions
and actions, and accepting and investigating complaints of human rights
abuses. During the year, the AIHRC established three field offices
outside Kabul. The ICRC visited some of the AIHRC field offices and
collaborated with AIHRC on some human rights abuse cases. During the
year, the AIHRC assisted the ICRC in sharing information on detention
cases and issues of national prison monitoring.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for the equal rights of men and women;
however, some local customs and practices that discriminated against
women generally prevailed in much of the country. 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. Historically, the minority Shi'a faced
discrimination from the majority Sunni population.
Women.--Women in urban areas regained some measure of access to
public life, education, health care, and employment; however, the lack
of education perpetuated during the Taliban years, and limited
employment possibilities, continued to impede the ability of many women
to improve their situation. In February, the Government established the
first unit of female police, and small numbers of women began to join
the police force during the year.
Violence against women persisted, including beatings, rapes, forced
marriages, and kidnappings. Such incidents generally went unreported,
and most information was anecdotal. The Ministry of Women's Affairs
estimated that more than 50 percent of marriages involved women under
16, the legal minimum age of marriage for women. It was difficult to
document rapes, in view of the social stigma that surrounded them.
Information on domestic violence and rape was limited. In the climate
of secrecy and impunity, domestic violence against women and rape
remained a serious problem.
Women composed 7 out of the 35 members of the Constitutional
Commission set up before the CLJ. Women also participated actively in
the CLJ proceedings (see Section 3); however, some women delegates
denounced their colleagues in the CLJ for attempting to shut them out
of leadership positions. One woman served as Deputy Chairwoman of the
CLJ and chaired several sessions of the CLJ, and others held positions
of responsibility in the working groups. Women were able to question
leaders openly and discussed inter-gender issues during the CLJ.
Massouda Jalal, who challenged and lost to President Karzai in the 2002
race for ELJ president, was one of 18 candidates in the October 9
presidential election. There were also 3 female vice-presidential
running mates in the election, and 41 percent of all registered voters
were women.
In detention facilities, there were 136 women, many of whom were
imprisoned at the request of a family member. Many of the incarcerated
opposed the wishes of the family in the choice of a marriage partner,
were accused of adultery, or faced bigamy charges from husbands who
granted a divorce, only to change their minds when the divorced wife
remarried. Other women faced similar charges from husbands who had
deserted them and reappeared after the wife had remarried. Some women
resided in detention facilities because they had run away from home due
to domestic violence or the prospect of forced marriage, and there were
no shelters for women in this situation. There were approximately eight
detention centers for women in the country.
In previous years, women in the north, particularly from Pashtun
families, were the targets of sexual violence perpetrated by commanders
from other ethnic groups. During the year, 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,
southeastern, and central part of the country. In one of these cases, a
perpetrator was arrested and his trial was ongoing at year's end.
There were growing concerns about women committing self-immolation,
most often conducted in order to escape from oppressive family
circumstances, such as forced marriage. Although comprehensive and
accurate statistics were not available, hospital doctors reported that
self-immolations were increasingly common among young women in the
western part of the country. Self-immolation was also reported to be
particularly high in Farah Province. The AIHRC investigated 300 cases
by year's end. Reports of suicide among women were often related to
forced marriages. In September 2003, a fatwa was issued that allowed a
woman to marry again if her husband was missing more than 4 years.
There were reports of death threats against women activists.
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.). According to the Institute for
Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS), 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.
Many women continued to wear the burqa because of conservative
traditions and fear of harassment or violence; however, this varied
greatly among regions. Cases of local authorities policing aspects of
women's appearance, to conform to a conservative interpretation of
Islam and local customs, appeared to have diminished. Government-owned
media allowed female singers on television over the objectives of
religious conservatives, effectively ending a ban dating to 1992 (see
Section 2.a.). In February, authorities in Herat closed a driving
school for women.
A report released by the International Organization for Migration
in 2003 claimed that trafficking was an increasing problem. Human
rights violations related to trafficking take the form of forced labor,
forced prostitution, and sexual exploitation of children (see Section
5, Trafficking).
Government regulations prohibited married women from attending high
school classes; however, during the year this regulation was changed,
and married women are allowed to attend high school classes.
Women continued to be denied access to adequate medical facilities.
According to the AIHRC, nearly 40 percent of the 756 basic primary-
health facilities in 2002 had no female workers, a major deterrent for
women because societal barriers discouraged them from seeking care from
male health workers.
Children.--The Constitution makes education to the intermediate
level mandatory, and provides for free education to the college, or
bachelor's degree level. Local administrative bodies and international
assistance organizations took action to ensure children's welfare to
the extent possible; however, the situation of children was very poor.
A back-to-school campaign launched by the Ministry of Education and
coalition supporters increased school enrollment from 4.2 million
children in 2003 to over 4.8 million during the year.
UNICEF reported that 34 percent of children enrolled in school were
girls, although this figure hid large disparities from province to
province, with enrollment as low as 15 percent in some, and an
estimated 1.5 million school-age girls not yet enrolled in classes.
Since 2002, the number of girls attending school had increased by over
30 percent. Southern provinces also showed a net increase of about 30
percent, despite higher levels of insecurity and conflict.
Nevertheless, lack of teachers and materials as well as security
concerns remained deterrents to girls' education. In some parts of the
country, access to education was further impeded by violence in which
schools, teachers, and students were threatened or physically attacked.
For example, two girls' schools were partially destroyed in attacks in
Badakhshan and Farah on February 19 and March 2, respectively. Similar
attacks on schools in general took place throughout the year. There
were approximately 40 attacks on girls' schools during 2003.
While most girls throughout the country were able to attend school,
a climate of insecurity persisted in some areas. On April 28, suspected
Taliban burned and destroyed two primary schools in Kandahar Province.
Girls' schools also continued to be the target of attacks by Taliban
and other extremists (see Section 6.a.). The Government and
international donors built more than 2,000 schools during the year.
Child abuse was endemic throughout the country. Abuses ranged from
general neglect, physical abuses, abandonment, and confinement to work
in order to pay off families' debts. There were no child labor laws or
other legislation to protect child abuse victims (see Section 6.d.).
Children did not have adequate access to health care, and only one
children's hospital existed in the country; however, it was not
accessible to citizens in distant provincial districts outside Kabul.
Child trafficking was widespread and continued to be a problem
during the year (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Police were investigating 85 cases of children reportedly kidnapped
and killed for their organs.
In May 2003, President Karzai issued a decree that prohibited the
recruitment of children and young persons under the age of 22 to the
Afghan National Army. UNICEF initiated a program that demobilized and
reintegrated approximately 5,000 of an estimated 8,000 former child
soldiers. Afghan militias, including the Taliban and Northern Alliance,
used child soldiers in past years (see Section 6.d.).
c. Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking
in persons; however, traffickers were prosecuted under other
legislation. The country was a source and transit point for trafficked
persons. An International Organization for Migration (IOM) report
released in late 2003 reported qualitative and anecdotal evidence of
increased trafficking in girls and children to Pakistan, Iran, and the
Gulf States; however, the lack of systematic monitoring and crime
statistics in general prevented a quantitative assessment of the scale
of the problem. The few quantitative data available suggested that
trafficking in children, mainly boys, was the predominant form of
trafficking, at least across borders. An IOM report released during the
year confirmed that the buying and selling of women and girls
continued.
Some girls reportedly were kept in brothels. 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. UNICEF cited unconfirmed reports of the abduction
of women and children in the southern part of the country. Although
prosecutions of traffickers increased, and the Government devoted
greater attention to trafficking in persons during the year,
prosecution of perpetrators continued to be inconsistent. During the
year, the AIHRC received 198 reports of child trafficking, and there
were approximately 20 arrests and 7 convictions of child traffickers.
The Ministry of Interior reported 198 cases of kidnapping in 2003, but
it was unclear how many of these cases had a trafficking element.
President Karzai issued a decree mandating the death penalty for child
traffickers convicted of murder, and lengthened prison terms.
Trafficking victims, especially those trafficked for sexual
exploitation, faced societal discrimination, particularly in their home
villages, and the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
At year's end, according to the AIHRC, approximately 314 children
were repatriated after having been allegedly trafficked to Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, Zambia, and Oman. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs, 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 Constitution commits the State to
assist persons with disabilities and protect their rights; however, the
Government took no measures to mandate accessibility for persons with
disabilities
An estimated 800,000 persons suffered from disabilities requiring
at least some form of assistance. Although community-based health and
rehabilitation committees provided services to approximately 100,000
persons, their activities were restricted to 60 out of 330 districts,
and they were able to assist only a small number of those in need.
During the year, the Disabled Sports Federation was established, with
approximately 1,000 members across the country. The first center for
children with cerebral palsy was inaugurated in Kabul on May 17,
offering physiotherapy, counseling, and training courses.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--During the year, social
discrimination against Hazaras and other Shi'as continued. Pashtuns in
Herat Province accused Governor Ismail Khan, a Tajik, of discrimination
and abuses against 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 (JEMB) worked with this group to address their concerns.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes
homosexual activity, and this was enforced in practice. In August, a
foreign national was arrested in Kabul, initially on the charge of
homosexual rape; however, the charges were later dropped.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and a mixture of
labor laws from earlier periods provide broad provisions for protection
of workers; however, little was known about their enforcement or
practices. 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 only large employers
in Kabul were the minimally functioning ministries and local and
international NGOs.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not provide for the right to strike; however, the country lacks a
tradition of genuine labor-management bargaining. 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 reports of labor rallies or strikes.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
little information was available.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age For Employment.--The
Constitution prohibits children under the age of 15 from working more
than 30 hours per week; however, there was no evidence that authorities
in any part of the country enforced labor laws relating to the
employment of children. Children from the age of 6 often worked to help
support their families by herding animals, collecting paper, scrape
metal and firewood, shining shoes, and begging. Some of these practices
exposed children to the danger of landmines.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no available
information regarding a statutory minimum wage or maximum workweek, or
the enforcement of safe labor practices. Many workers were allotted
time off regularly for prayers and observance of religious holidays.
__________
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy, with broad powers
exercised by the Prime Minister. Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (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 higher levels of the judiciary displayed
some degree of independence and often ruled against the Government;
however, the judiciary was subject to influence from the executive and
the legislature. Lower judicial officers were reluctant to challenge
government decisions and suffered from corruption.
The Home Affairs Ministry controls the police and paramilitary
forces, which have primary responsibility for internal security. The
army is responsible for external security but also occasionally has
been given domestic security responsibilities. The Government created a
new police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), composed of
personnel from different law enforcement and security agencies,
including the military, to deal with violent criminals. The civilian
authorities maintained effective control of the security forces. The
RAB and security forces committed human rights abuses and were rarely
disciplined, even for egregious actions. Police were often reluctant to
pursue investigations against persons affiliated with the ruling party,
and the Government frequently used the police for political purposes.
Members of the security forces committed numerous serious human rights
abuses.
The country had a primarily agricultural and market-based economy;
however, the Government owned most utility companies, some transport
companies, and many large manufacturing and distribution firms. The
population for the year was estimated at 140 million. The economic
growth rate was 5.5 percent. Wages and benefits kept pace with the
relatively low rate of inflation. General strikes, often politically
motivated, took a heavy toll on the economy, as did monsoon flooding
that caused damage to crops and infrastructure.
The Government's poor human rights record worsened, and the
Government continued to commit numerous abuses. Security forces
committed a number of extrajudicial killings. The police; the
paramilitary organization, Bangladesh Rifles (BDR); the auxiliary
organization, Ansar; and the military deputed to the RAB used
unwarranted lethal force. Police often employed excessive, sometimes
lethal, force in dealing with opposition demonstrators, and police and
RAB personnel routinely employed physical and psychological torture
during arrests and interrogations. Prison conditions were extremely
poor and were a contributing factor in some deaths in custody. Police
corruption remained a problem. Nearly all abuses went unpunished, and
the climate of impunity, reinforced by 2003 legislation shielding
security forces from legal challenge of their actions, remained a
serious obstacle to ending abuse and killings. Violence, often
resulting in deaths, was a pervasive element in the country's politics.
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. Press reports of
vigilante killings were common. A large judicial case backlog existed,
and lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Police searched homes
without warrants, and the Government forcibly relocated illegal
squatter settlements. Virtually all journalists practiced some self-
censorship. Attacks on journalists and efforts to intimidate them by
government officials, political party activists, and others increased.
The Government limited freedom of assembly, particularly for political
opponents, and on occasion, limited freedom of movement. Violence and
discrimination against women remained serious problems, as did
trafficking in women and children for the purpose of prostitution and
at times for forced labor. Abuse of children and child prostitution
were problems. Religious freedom was restricted, and societal
discrimination against religious minorities, persons with disabilities,
and indigenous persons, was a problem. The Government limited worker
rights, especially in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs), and child
labor and abuse of child workers remained widespread.
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 politically motivated and extrajudicial killings.
The police, the BDR, and the RAB used unwarranted lethal force.
During the year, there were an increased number of killings by
security personnel (see Section 1.c.). Nearly all abuses went
uninvestigated and unpunished. The resulting climate of impunity
remained a serious obstacle to ending abuse and killings. In the few
instances where charges were levied, punishment of those found guilty
was predominantly administrative. According to press reports, the RAB
killed 79 persons during the year in an ongoing anticrime operation.
There were also reports of crossfire deaths at the hands of police. The
deaths, all under unusual circumstances, occurred while the accused
were in custody and during police operations; however, the Government
described the deaths of some identified criminals as occurring in
crossfire between the RAB and crime gangs.
On July 15, a RAB team arrested opposition Awami League (AL)
activist Sumon Ahmed Majumder, a witness to the May 7 killing of AL
legislator Ahsanullah Master. Sumon later died at the hospital after
his arrest, and independent human rights investigators determined that
Sumon died from torture while in the custody of the RAB. At year's end,
no one was charged for Sumon's death, while the Government charged
Sumon for extortion.
On August 5, RAB members killed a criminal, Pichchi Hannan, in a
crossfire incident. Hannan was arrested on June 26 and was killed in a
predawn shootout between RAB members and Hannan affiliates while Hannan
was reportedly trying to escape. The Government made no inquiry into
Hannan's death.
During the year, the court dismissed the case against police
accused in the July 2003 killing of Mobarak Hossain.
Violence, often resulting in deaths, was a pervasive element in the
country's politics and increased during the year (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, 526 persons were killed and 6,235 injured in
politically motivated violence during the year (see Sections 1.c.,
1.d., and 2.a.).
On May 7, gunmen killed AL legislator Ahsanullah Master at a party
meeting in Tongi. On July 10, police filed charges against 30 persons,
including a youth front leader of ruling BNP, accusing them of the
killing. The case remained open at year's end.
On May 21, an explosion at a Muslim shrine in Sylhet killed several
persons and injured dozens of others, including the British High
Commissioner to Bangladesh, Anwar Chowdhury. The Government did not
conduct a serious investigation, and no charges were filed.
On August 21, a series of explosions at a rally in Dhaka, where AL
president Sheikh Hasina was speaking, killed at least 20 persons,
including the AL women's affairs secretary Ivy Rahman, and injured
several hundred others. On August 22, the Government formed a judicial
commission to investigate the incident, and on October 2, the
commission submitted its report to the Government. Although the
Government did not release the report, newspapers stated that the one-
member inquiry commission hinted at the involvement of a foreign
intelligence agency in masterminding the attack and executing it with
internal assistance.
There were no developments in the case of the 1975 killing of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On October 20, the Dhaka Metropolitan Court
acquitted five BNP members, sentenced three army officers and nine
others to life in prison, and sentenced three others to death for the
1975 jail killing case of four AL politicians.
Vigilante killings and killings by mobs were common. On February 9,
mobs beat and killed four alleged members of a banned leftist group in
Khulna and Bagerhat. On April 1, a vigilante, identifying himself as
``Bangla Bhai'' or Brother of Bengal, launched an anticrime campaign in
the northern district of Rajshahi and adjoining areas, initially with
support from police. Several alleged criminals belonging to an outlawed
leftist group were killed in the vigilante campaign, which continued
for approximately 2 months until the Government ordered Bangla Bhai's
arrest in response to criticism by the press and opposition parties. At
year's end, Bangla Bhai remained free and in hiding. On September 26, a
mob burned to death three alleged robbers on Free School Street in
Dhaka.
During the year, no government action was taken in the case
involving the November 2003 police response to a protest at Narayanganj
(see Section 6.b.).
Violence along the border with India remained a problem. Domestic
human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that Indian
border forces killed as many as 76 citizens during the year. According
to press accounts and human rights groups, border violence claimed
several hundred citizens' lives during the past 6 years.
b. Disappearance.--Disappearances and kidnappings were problems
during the year. According to press accounts monitored by the
Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR), a total
of 344 kidnappings took place during the year. According to Odhikar,
another human rights organization, 28 persons were kidnapped for
political reasons during the year. Kidnapping for profit remained a
serious problem. For example, on February 23, Hasan Mahbub Bablu,
manager of a resort hotel in Bandarban Hill District, was freed after
his family reportedly paid a ransom of more than $25,400 (taka 1.5
million) for his release after 3 weeks of captivity. In general,
released victims were unwilling to admit to ransom payment for fear of
further attack, and it was difficult to verify such reports. There were
no major developments in the July 2003 kidnapping of BNP leader and
prominent businessman Jamaluddin Chowdhury from Chittagong.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or
degrading punishment; however, police and the RAB routinely employed
physical and psychological torture as well as cruel, inhuman, and
degrading treatment during arrests and interrogations. Torture
consisted of threats and beatings, and the use of electric shock.
According to the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Center for Trauma Victims,
there were 1,959 victims of torture and 42 deaths due to torture by
security forces during the year (see Sections 1.a., 1.d., and 2.a.).
Another human rights organization, Ain-O-Shalish Kendro (ASK), reported
26 deaths due to torture during the year. The Government rarely
charged, convicted, or punished those responsible, and a climate of
impunity allowed such police abuses to continue.
On May 14, in Chittagong, a team of Anwara police picked up retired
schoolteacher Abu Ahmed Master, took him to the police station, and
kicked and beat him. Upon his son's arrival at the station, the
officer-in-charge demanded $847 (taka 50,000) and threatened to kill
his father. Police released Master early in the morning on May 15, upon
payment of the bribe. The District Anti-Corruption office investigated
the incident and submitted a report, and at year's end, the case
remained open. On August 10, police sergeant Altaf Hossain Mollah hung
Aminul Kabir Sumon upside down from the ceiling of Wari police outpost,
spinning him until he lost consciousness. Sumon, a reporter for the
Bangladesh Crime News Agency, was in Dhaka seeking Altaf's comment on
allegations of his complicity in trafficking and prostitution. The
Government suspended Altaf but took no further action.
According to BSEHR, there were 11 incidents of rape by law
enforcement personnel or other officials during the year. On December
18, in Chuadanga, police took Dolly Khatun to a police camp for
questioning, where 14 police officers subsequently raped her.
Responding to public outcry, the Government withdrew all 14 policemen
from duty and arrested 5 of them. On December 21, Khatun filed criminal
charges against the policemen. The case remained open at year's end. In
most cases, law enforcement personnel accused of rape and torture were
not investigated; however, in some instances the Government took
action. In September, three policemen convicted of raping and killing a
teenage girl in Dinajpur in 1995 were hanged inside Rangpur prison. In
some cases, women were often detained in ``safe custody'' after
reporting a rape (in reality, confined in jail cells), where they
endured poor conditions and were sometimes abused and raped again (see
Section 5).
Human rights groups and press reports indicated that vigilantism
against women for perceived moral transgressions occurred in rural
areas, often under a fatwa (see Section 2.c.), and included punishments
such as whipping. The press monitoring unit of ASK recorded 35
incidents of fatwa during the year. In these cases, seven persons were
lashed and others faced punishments ranging from physical assault to
shunning of families by their communities.
Rejected suitors, angry husbands, or those seeking revenge
sometimes threw acid on a woman's face (see Section 5).
Prison conditions were extremely poor and were a contributing
factor to some custodial deaths. During the year, 103 persons died in
prison while 240 others died in the custody of police and other
security forces, either in an encounter or in security forces' or
police custody (see Section 1.a.). All prisons were overcrowded and
lacked adequate facilities. Government figures indicated that the
existing prison population of 76,148 was nearly 300 percent of the
official prison capacity of 25,823. Of the entire prison population,
52,137 were awaiting trial, 23,536 had been convicted, and 36 were
detained without any charges, according to figures received by a human
rights organization. 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 were
incarcerated with adult prisoners. In April 2003, the High Court
directed the Government to house accused juveniles apart from other
prisoners and to transfer them to correctional homes expeditiously. The
Court also directed the Government to include child rights'
organization representatives on the list of nonofficial jail visitors.
Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicted prisoners.
Women were detained separately from men but faced the same
extremely poor conditions.
Although the law prohibits women in safe custody from being housed
with criminals, in practice, no separate facilities existed. In 2002,
the Government began transferring women in safe custody to homes for
vagrants or NGO-run shelters, where available.
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 also visited prisons but rarely disclosed their findings.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, authorities frequently
violated these provisions, even in nonpreventive detention cases. The
Constitution 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 Special Powers Act (SPA) of
1974 to detain citizens without filing formal charges or specific
complaints.
Police were organized nationally. Other security forces were
charged with policing border areas and were asked to perform anticrime
drives. Police were seen as ineffective, often reluctant to investigate
persons affiliated with the ruling party, and were thought to be used
frequently for political purposes by the Government. There was
widespread corruption and a severe lack of resources, training, and
discipline. In February 2003, the Parliament adopted legislation to
shield security forces from legal consequences for their acts during
the countrywide anticrime drive known as Operation Clean Heart, which
resulted in an estimated 50 deaths and an unknown number of torture
victims. The Joint Drive Indemnity Act barred persons from seeking
justice through the courts for the deaths and human rights violations
that occurred during the drive, which began in 2002 and ended in
January 2003. In April 2003, the High Court issued a notice to the
Government regarding the legality of the Indemnity Act, but there were
no developments at year's end. The Government established the RAB, a
better-equipped, new police unit drawing personnel from other police
units and other security agencies, including the military, and
developed some plans for overall police reform, but few concrete steps
were taken to address human rights problems and the RAB committed
serious human rights violations. Victims of police abuse were generally
reluctant to file cases against police, as there was no independent
body charged with investigation of criminal allegations against members
of the police force.
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 the detention of
persons on the 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. Both ordinances were
misused during the year. Mass arrests, often politically motivated,
continued to occur. According to Odhikar, in the Dhaka Metropolitan
Area, a total of 4,126 persons were arrested from January through
August of the year under Section 54 and another 58,722 under Sections
86 and 100 of the DMP Ordinance.
Authorities used Sections 54 and 86 to detain persons on false
charges as punishment for the expression of views critical of or
different from the Government. On September 24, in Dhaka, police
arrested large numbers of opposition party members prior to the
opposition's planned public rallies on October 3. The High Court,
following the filing of a petition from human rights NGOs, barred
police from arresting any citizen under Section 86 until October 3;
however, police continued to arrest persons under section 54. The
Constitution provides for the right to a prompt judicial determination;
however, this was rarely enforced in practice. For example, on August
5, the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers' Association (BNWLA) filed a
petition seeking release of Shama Nishat, a 14-year-old girl, who
remained in prison without charge. The court granted the petition and
ordered transfer of the girl to BNWLA custody. In December 2003, a 14-
year-old boy was released from prison after 2 years in custody. The
child was arrested in a blanket sweep against criminals and was never
charged with any offense. Under the SPA, the Government or a district
magistrate may order a person detained for 30 days to prevent the
commission of an act that could threaten national security; however,
detainees were sometimes held for longer periods. In SPA cases, the
magistrate must, by the 15th day, inform the detainee of the grounds of
his detention, and an advisory board is supposed to examine the cases
of SPA detainees after 4 months. Detainees had the right to appeal.
There was a functioning bail system in the regular courts; however,
under certain security and crime law, a non-bailable period of
detention existed. On August 3, a High Court panel ordered the
Government to free on bail over 7,400 detainees who had been in prison
without undergoing trial for more than 360 days.
Criminal detainees were granted access to attorneys; however,
detainees were not entitled to be represented by a lawyer 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. In April
2003, the High Court issued a directive that allowed legal
representatives to visit those arrested under Section 54.
Arbitrary arrests were rampant during the year. The Government
sometimes used serial detentions to prevent the release of political
activists. On May 22, police arrested Kazi Faruque Ahmed, the president
of the NGO Proshika, ostensibly for cheating and corruption (see
Section 4).
During the year, the Government submitted to the court a list that
included 16 persons who had been in prison without trial for more than
11 years, 10 over 10 years, 29 more than 9 years, 51 more than 8 years,
111 for more than 7 years, 238 for more than 6 years, 502 more than 5
years, 917 more than 4 years, 1,592 more than 3 years and 3,673 more
than 2 years.
The Government frequently used Sections 54 and 86 to harass and
intimidate members of the political opposition and their families.
Police sometimes detained opposition activists prior to and during
demonstrations without citing any legal authority, holding them until
the event was over. On April 18, police conducted a mass arrest drive
to undermine the AL's efforts to unseat the Government. Police arrested
over 10,000 persons in reaction to the AL's campaign to unseat the
Government. According to media reports, courts handed down some short
prison sentences without giving the detainees the opportunity to defend
themselves, but most were eventually released.
Odhikar's press monitoring report found that a total of 526 persons
were killed, approximately 6,235 persons were injured, and 2,918 were
arrested for political reasons during the year (see Sections 1.a., 1.c,
and 2.a.). The Odhikar figure for arrests for political reasons did not
include the mass arrests from April.
It was difficult to estimate the total number of detentions 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, dismissal of wrongful charges or
acquittal took years.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution 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 the executive's influence.
The higher levels of the judiciary displayed some degree of
independence and often ruled against the Government in criminal, civil,
and politically controversial cases. Corruption, judicial inefficiency,
and a large backlog were serious problems. 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 of the Government, 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 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.
On August 17, the Supreme Court criticized the Government for its
failure to establish a timeframe in which to implement a 1997 High
Court order to separate the judiciary from the executive. At year's
end, the Government did not implement the order in full.
The law provides the accused with the right to be represented by
counsel, to review accusatory material, to call witnesses, and to
appeal verdicts. Trials were public, and defendants had the right to an
attorney; however, state-funded attorneys were rarely provided. Under
the provisions of the Public Safety Act, 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 periods.
Defendants were presumed innocent and had the right to appeal.
In July, Parliament codified the use of Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR) 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 has quickened the administration of justice.
The court system was plagued by corruption and a substantial
backlog of cases, and trials were typically marked by extended
continuances while the accused remained in prison. These conditions
effectively prevented many persons from obtaining a fair trial. A
September 14 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.). On April 20, the President dismissed Syed Shahidur
Rahman, a judge of the High Court, on the charge of misconduct for
accepting money to fix bail for an accused in a criminal case (see
Section 1.d.).
The Government stated that it held no political prisoners; however,
opposition parties and human rights monitors claimed that many
political activists were arrested and convicted for unfounded criminal
charges (see Section 1.d.). NGOs did not have access to prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions except in cases of the
SPA, which permitted them. Police, even in cases not affiliated with
the SPA, rarely obtained warrants, and officers violating these
procedures were not punished. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) claimed
that police monitored journalists' e-mail. The police Special Branch,
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, on occasion, forcibly resettled persons. In 2002, a
High Court bench stayed, for 3 months, a Ministry of Housing and Public
Works order to dismantle slums in the Amtali section of Dhaka and
ordered the Government to explain why it should not be directed to
resettle the slum residents.
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 Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and press, subject to what it deemed reasonable
restrictions in the interest of security, friendly relations with
foreign states, public order, decency and morality, or to prohibit
defamation or incitement to an offense; 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 both daily and weekly publications. Most
newspapers reported critically on government policies and activities,
including those of the Prime Minister. In addition to an official
government-owned news service, there was one private news service
affiliated with a major international company.
Despite this proliferation of news articles, in 2003 RSF reported
that armed rebel movements, militias, or political parties constantly
endangered the lives of journalists and that the Government did little
to protect them, and instead, provided immunity to those responsible
for violence.
Newspaper ownership and content were not subject to direct
government restriction; however, the Government was able to influence
journalists because it sponsored advertising and allocated cheap
newsprint, central to the viability of many newspapers. Unlike in
previous years, commercial firms were not as reluctant to advertise in
newspapers critical of the Government. The Government owned and
controlled most radio and television stations, and most of these
stations focused the bulk of their coverage on the Government.
Opposition party news often received little coverage in the government-
owned media.
The Ministry of Information authorized one private radio station
and three private television stations. Cable operators generally
functioned without government interference; however, all private
stations were required to broadcast, without charge, some government
news programs and speeches by the Prime Minister and the President as a
condition of operation.
During the year, the Committee to Protect Journalists and RSF
severely criticized the treatment and the security situation of
journalists in the country. Attacks on journalists and newspapers, and
efforts to intimidate them by the Government, political party
activists, and others, occurred frequently during the year. Attacks
against journalists by political activists were common during times of
political violence, and some journalists were injured in police
actions. According to Odhikar, 111 journalists were injured, 5 killed,
9 arrested, 2 kidnapped, 32 assaulted, and 293 threatened during the
year. Additionally, 6 newspaper offices came under attack during the
year. Also, editors and senior journalists allegedly received anonymous
phone calls regarding published articles unfavorable to the Government;
however, threats of explicit violence were rare in such calls.
On January 15, assailants killed Manik Chandra Saha, president of
the Khulna Press Club and reporter for the New Age and the Sangbad
newspapers, by targeting him with explosives. In March, police filed
charges against alleged members of a left-wing group for Saha's death.
On June 27, an explosion killed the editor of the Daily Janmabhumi;
police placed responsibility on alleged leftists. Both cases were
pending at year's end (see Section 1.a.).
On October 3, Dipankar Chakrabarty, the executive editor of the
Daily Durjoy Bangla and vice president of a faction of the Bangladesh
Federal Union of Journalists, died after being attacked on his way home
from work. Three persons were arrested but freed on bail, and the case
was pending at year's end.
The Government applied indirect pressure to coerce journalists into
self-censorship. For example, on July 1, an official of the Prime
Minister's press wing called a private television reporter and
threatened to limit his access to ruling party functions if he did not
stop covering an opposition candidate's campaign. The reporter was
withdrawn from voting day coverage by his supervisors for failing to
comply.
Foreign publications and films were subject to review and
censorship. A government Film Censor Board reviewed local and foreign
films and has the authority to censor or ban them on the grounds of
state security, law and order, religious sentiment, obscenity, foreign
relations, defamation, or plagiarism. Video rental libraries stocked a
wide variety of films, and government efforts to enforce censorship on
rentals were sporadic and ineffective.
The Government used censorship most often in cases of immodest or
obscene photographs, perceived misrepresentation or defamation of
Islam, and for objectionable comments regarding national leaders. On
April 15, the Government confiscated the April 2 issue of the Indian
magazine, Desh, for using indecent words about Adam and Eve. In April,
the Government condemned and forbade Time magazine from being placed in
government establishments, including on the national airline, Biman,
because of its negative portrayal of the country.
Novelist Taslima Nasreen remained abroad after being freed on bond
for criminal charges still pending against her for insulting Muslim
beliefs (see Section 2.c.). In 2002, a court sentenced Nasreen in
absentia to 1 year in jail for her ``derogatory remarks about Islam''
in a case filed in 1999 by a Jamaat-e-Islmani leader.
The Government did not directly restrict citizens' access to the
Internet. RSF claimed police continued surveillance of journalist's e-
mail (see Section 1.f.).
The Government did not limit academic freedom; however, research on
sensitive religious and political topics was not encouraged.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly, subject to restrictions in the
interest of public order and public health; however, the Government
frequently limited this right. The law allows the Government to ban
assemblies of more than 4 persons, and, according to 1 human rights
organization, the Government imposed 57 such bans during the year. The
Government sometimes used bans to prohibit rallies for security
reasons. On January 3, Piren Snal, a member of the Garo tribe in
Madhupur forest in Tangail district, was killed as police and forest
guards opened fire on a procession of tribal people protesting an eco-
park project in the forestland. The Magistrate Court conducted a
judicial investigation into the incident in response to a petition
filed by Snal's family and dismissed the case on November 17 on the
basis of insufficient information. Snal's family filed another petition
contesting the legitimacy of the investigation's report, and the case
was pending at year's end.
On March 11, pro-BNP activists, in tandem with police, attacked
former president Badruddoza Chowdhury and his supporters, injuring more
than 300 persons near Mohakhali in Dhaka as they were marching toward a
downtown venue where Chowdhury was scheduled to launch a new political
party. Police rarely interfered with ruling party processions on any
occasion, but police often used force to disrupt and discourage
opposition processions. On February 12, police clubbed participants at
an AL procession in Dhaka, causing injuries to dozens of activists,
including Member of Parliament (M.P.) Ahsanullah Master, and Saber
Hossain Chowdhury, political secretary to the AL president.
The Constitution 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 Constitution 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, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Although the
Government is secular, religion exerted a powerful influence on
politics. Discrimination against members of religious minorities
existed at both the governmental and societal level; however, there was
no clear evidence of government persecution, although religious
minorities were disadvantaged in practice in such areas as access to
government jobs, political office, and access to justice.
Religious organizations were not required to register with the
Government; however, all NGOs, including religious organizations, were
required to register with the NGO Affairs Bureau if they received
foreign funds for social development projects. The Government had the
ability to cancel the registration of an NGO or to take other actions
such as dissolving the executive committee of the NGO, freezing its
bank accounts, or canceling projects; however, such powers rarely were
used and did not affect NGOs with religious affiliations.
Discrimination against Ahmadiyas continued during the year. In
January, the Government announced a ban on Ahmadiya publications in
response to some Muslim groups' demand for the Ahmadiyas to be declared
non-Muslims. In December, the High Court ordered a stay, effectively
stopping the official enactment of the executive order. On two
occasions, police seized books from Ahmadiya mosques in Dhaka and
Patuakhali, and in January, in Khulna, a young man was briefly detained
for carrying Ahmadiya leaflets. At times police allowed, and even
assisted, demonstrators to remove signs referring to Ahmadiya mosques
as mosques instead of as houses of worship.
As in previous years, the Government failed to prepare a list of
property that was expropriated by the State from Hindus during
partition in 1947.
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; however, strong social resistance to conversion from Islam
meant that most missionary efforts by Christian groups were aimed at
serving communities that had been Christian for several generations.
Foreign missionaries were allowed to work in the country, but their
right to proselytize was not explicitly protected by the Constitution.
Some missionaries faced problems in obtaining visas or renewing visas,
which must be renewed annually. Some foreign missionaries reported that
internal security forces and others closely monitored their activities;
however, no missionaries reported other government harassment during
the year.
Discrimination against Ahmadiyas, Hindus, and Christians occurred
during the year. In April, police failed to prevent Muslim
demonstrators from destroying 12 houses belonging to Ahmadiyas and
harassing 15 converted Ahmadiya men and women in a village in Rangpur.
The converts were held against their will for several hours and
pressured to renounce their new faith by some local Muslims. The
Ahmadiyas appealed to the Government for protection in the face of
threats from Khatme Nabuyat Movement and Aamra Dhakabashi, and on
August 27, police arrested four leaders of Aamra Dhakabashi prior to
their planned siege of the central Ahmadiya complex in Dhaka.
On January 1, according to press reports, armed attackers led by a
local BNP leader allegedly set 20 houses belonging to Hindus on fire,
injuring 30 persons. Victims alleged that the attack originated over a
pending property dispute. On September 22, a group of Muslims set afire
seven houses belonging to Hindus at Adam Sarkerpara village in Rangpur
district. The alleged arsonists subsequently attacked those attempting
to extinguish the fire and reportedly stole 18 cattle.
On September 18, unidentified assailants killed Dr. Joseph Gomes, a
Christian convert, near his home in Jamalpur district. Police arrested
a local madrasah teacher, Maulana Abdus Sobhan Munshi, alias Michha
Munshi, for the killing, held him for 2 weeks, and released him. At
year's end, no one else was charged for this crime.
In September, police arrested 18 persons, 2 of whom confessed, for
the November 2003 arson in which 11 members of a Hindu family were
killed in Chittagong. The Government made no arrests, and none were
expected in the December 2003 killing of an Ahmadiya leader in Jessore.
On September 14, Ahmadiya leaders submitted a no-confidence petition to
the court rejecting the police investigation report of the murder. The
case was transferred from the local police to the Criminal
Investigations Department of the police for investigation at year's
end.
Religious minorities were disadvantaged in access to government
jobs and political office. Selection boards in the government services
often lacked minority group representation.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 these rights in
practice; however, there were instances in which the Government
restricted these rights.
On February 23, alleged members of a pro-Government group in
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) attacked a motorcade of eminent jurist and
president of Gono Forum, Dr. Kamal Hossain, on his way to Rangamati to
attend a rally organized by a tribal organization. Dr. Hossain and his
entourage returned to Chittagong city due to lack of security. On
February 26, AL president Sheikh Hasina's motorcade came under attack
near Charkawa ferry station in Barisal.
On February 6, Immigration officials at Zia International Airport
in Dhaka barred Jatiya Party chairman and former president Hossain
Muhammad Ershad from traveling to the Maldives. Ershad claimed that
immigration officials acted upon the instruction of higher authorities.
Talks between the Government and the Jatiya party leaders resolved the
problem, and Ershad was allowed to go abroad. In May, the Government
refused permission for Shantu Larma, chairman of the CHT Regional
Council, to leave the country to attend the third session of the U.N.
Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues.
The country's passports were invalid for travel to Israel, and
Salah Uddin Shoaib Chaudhury remained in prison for his attempted
November 2003 travel to Israel.
The Constitution does not provide for exile, and it was not used.
There was a pattern of continued neglect of refugees, specifically
towards the Bihari and Rohingya refugees. Approximately 300,000 non-
Bengali Bihari Muslims who emigrated to the former East Pakistan during
the 1947 partition of British India and who supported Pakistan during
the 1971 War of Independence continued to live in camps throughout the
country. According to Refugees International, they lived in camps in
the country with little access to education, medical attention, and in
unsanitary conditions. Some Biharis declined citizenship in 1972 and
were awaiting repatriation to Pakistan, where the Government was
reluctant to accept them. In May 2003, 10 Bangladesh-born Bihari
residents of the Geneva Camp were granted voting rights when the High
Court declared them citizens. Many of the stranded Biharis born after
1971 have assimilated into the mainstream Bengali-speaking environment
and likely would accept citizenship if it was offered.
During the year, 20,291 Rohingya refugees remained in 2 camps
administered by the Government in cooperation with the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Government continued to ignore
UNHCR requests to allow Rohingya refugees unable to return to Burma to
work, benefit from local medical programs, or participate in the
educations system, insisting that all Rohingya refugees remain in camps
until their return to Burma. The Government repatriated 210 refugees
during the year.
The Government denied asylum to the Rohingya by categorizing them
as illegal economic migrants and turned back as many persons as
possible at the border. According to the UNHCR, some refugees returned
by the Government were fleeing persecution and were entitled to refugee
status. Some unregistered persons in the UNHCR camps returned illegally
after their official repatriation to Burma, sharing food and lodging
with relatives who received rations based on the number of registered
members of the camps. On a number of occasions, camp officials handed
some of the unregistered persons over to police, who sent them to
prison under the Foreigners' Act. There were 109 Rohingya refugees in
local prisons in the Cox's Bazar area at year's end. UNHCR officials
visited the detained refugees once a month.
In June, to protest the Government's forced repatriation,
mistreatment by police, auxiliary Ansar personnel, and Majhis (refugee
community leaders selected by BDG camp officials to work as
volunteers), some refugees in Kutupaalong camp staged demonstrations,
refused their rations, and boycotted the government-run medical clinic.
The demonstrators also demanded relocation of the camp to a site closer
to Cox's Bazaar city to get better protection from UNHCR. The
demonstrators attacked an official of the World Food Program, prevented
children from attending school, and stopped women from attending a
self-help program. According to UNHCR, on June 6, police fired
approximately 15 rounds into a group of several hundred protestors
throwing stones during a regular night patrol. No injury was reported.
In early September, the Government officially rejected a UNHCR proposal
to grant the refugees rights for temporary stay and freedom of movement
under a self-reliance program.
The Constitution does not provide for the granting of asylum or
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 U.S. Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees or 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
UNHCR, the Government provided temporary protection to individual
asylum seekers whom the UNHCR interviewed and recognized as refugees on
a case-by-case basis.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
The country is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy in which
elections by secret ballot are held on the basis of universal suffrage.
M.P.s are elected at least every 5 years. The Parliament has 300
elected members. Party leaders appoint candidates for elections; some
candidates allegedly purchased nomination from party leaders with
generous campaign contributions or personal gifts.
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
alliance government with the Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Jatiya Party,
and the Islami Oikko Jote. The political scene was dominated by two
major parties, the BNP and the AL.
In June, the AL returned to Parliament after a year's boycott;
however, the AL walked out of Parliament again in September, alleging
the Speaker's biased role in favor of the ruling party. They later
returned to Parliament in November.
Corruption remained a problem. Transparency International
Bangladesh (TIB) indicated, in a report published in September, that
systemic corruption posed a serious challenge to efforts to promote
good governance. A TIB sample survey revealed that 90 percent of the
population paid bribes to officials during land transfer registration;
magistrates, court officials, and lawyers solicited bribes in more than
67 percent of the cases filed under the STA; and in Chittagong port,
officials belonging to the port authority and customs extracted an
estimated annual $133 million (taka 7.83 billion) in bribes from
importers and exporters. The Official Secrets Act of 1923 protected
corrupt government officials from public scrutiny, hindering
transparency and accountability at all levels.
In November, the Government announced the formation of a 3-member
Anti-Corruption Commission. At year's end, the commission was not fully
functional.
There was no law providing for public access to government
information. Instead, the Official Secrets Act protected government
officials from scrutiny, typically in the name of national security.
There were 7 women in the 300-seat Parliament. On May 17,
Parliament passed the 14th constitutional amendment bill, adding 45
parliamentary seats reserved for women. The seats were to be
distributed among political parties proportionate to their numerical
strength. The AL, which did not participate in the debate on adding the
45 seats, protested the amendment outside of Parliament, saying that it
fell short of the promise to make a provision for women to be elected
directly by the people. In October, Parliament passed a law detailing
new election procedures; however, election of women to the seats did
not occur by year's end. Some women's rights groups also protested the
amendment on similar grounds and challenged its validity in the High
Court.
There were four women holding ministerial positions, including the
position of Prime Minister. As of October, 4 of the 79 judges in the
Supreme Court were women.
There was no provision for providing seats for minorities. Members
of minority groups constituted approximately 17 percent of the
population but held less than 3 percent of the Parliamentary seats.
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. The Government pressured some
individual human rights advocates by filing false allegations against
them or by delaying reentry visas for international human rights
activists. Missionaries who advocated on behalf of human rights faced
similar problems. A few human rights activists reported harassment by
the intelligence agencies. For example, the Government blocked foreign
funding to the PRIP Trust because the organization's executive
director, Aroma Dutta, championed minority rights during the 2001
general election.
During the year, the Government drafted legislation to impose
stricter control on NGOs and prevent them from engaging in political
activities. The Government, however, withdrew a draft bill from
Parliament following protests by some NGOs and objections from some
development partners.
On June 20, after arresting him on 15 separate occasions during the
year, police filed a sedition case against Kazi Faruque Ahmed,
president of the NGO Proshika, and six of his colleagues, implicating
them in a plot to overthrow the Government in April. Police raided the
Proshika headquarters several times and seized some documents. On July
26, Ahmed was released on bail. The Government targeted Proshika
because the group allegedly helped the AL campaign in the last general
election (see Section 1.d.).
On August 21, a RAB team arrested Rafiq Al Islam, president of the
country's chapter of Non-Violence International, under Section 54. His
name was later included on the list of accused in a case filed under
the Arms Act. Islam, an antimine campaigner, remained free on bail
after September 19, and his case was pending (see Section 1.d.).
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, 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.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution 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.--Domestic violence was widespread. Although violence against
women was difficult to quantify because of unreliable statistics and
societal inhibitions about reporting such violence, much of the
reported violence against women was related to disputes over dowries.
During the year, according to BNWLA, husbands killed 155 women and
tortured 35 women. Odhikar found 166 reported dowry-related killings,
and 78 reported dowry-related incidents of torture during the year. The
law prohibits rape and physical spousal abuse but makes no specific
provision for spousal rape as a crime. During the year, 896 rapes were
reported; 117 victims were killed and 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
September, four persons were sentenced to life imprisonment for gang-
raping a girl in April 2003.
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 child prostitutes
worked in brothels. UNICEF estimated that there were 10,000 child
prostitutes working in the country, but other estimates placed the
figure as high as 29,000 (see Section 5, Children).
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 July 2003, an amendment to the
current law was passed, weakening provisions for dowry crimes and
addressing the issue of suicide committed by female victims of acts of
dishonor.
According to government sources, the Social Welfare Department ran
6 homes for vagrants and 1 training center for destitute persons, with
a total capacity of 2,300 individuals. In addition, the Women Affairs
Department ran six shelters, one each in the six divisional
headquarters, for abused women and children. In 2002, the Department
opened a Safe Custody Center in Dhaka. The BNWLA also had two shelters
in Dhaka, and other NGOs ran smaller facilities to provide shelter to
destitute persons and distressed women and children; however, this was
insufficient to meet victims' shelter needs. As a result, the
Government often held women who filed rape complaints in safe custody,
usually in prison. Safe custody frequently resulted in further abuses
against victims, discouraged the filing of complaints by other women,
and often continued for extended periods during which women were unable
to gain release (see Section 1.c.). In September, there were 184 women
in safe custody with 320 children accompanying them.
Incidents of vigilantism against women--sometimes led by religious
leaders (by means of fatwas)--at times occurred, particularly in rural
areas. These included punishments such as the whipping of women accused
of moral offenses (see Section 1.c.). ASK reported 35 such cases during
the year. For example, in October 26, in a village in Shatkira
district, rural elites forced Papia Khatam from her village and ordered
her not to return for 5 years because they concluded she gave birth to
an illegitimate child found dead in a pond.
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. According to Odhikar, more than 300 persons
fell victim to acid attacks during the year. Odhikar and Bangladesh
Shisu Adhikar Forum reported that 191 of the attacks were against
women, 65 against men, and 66 against children. Few perpetrators of the
acid attacks were prosecuted. In 2002, the Government enacted
legislation 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 impact. The new Acid Crime Control Law
provides for speedier prosecutions in special tribunals and generally
does not allow bail. While the special tribunals were not entirely
effective, during the year, according to the Acid Survivors Foundation,
36 persons were convicted of acid attacks.
Women remained in a subordinate position in society, and the
Government did not act effectively to protect their basic rights. The
Muslim Family Ordinance codifies traditional Islamic law concerning
inheritance, marriage, and divorce for registered marriages. Marriages
in rural areas sometimes were not registered because of ignorance of
the law.
Employment opportunities were greater for women than for men in the
last decade, largely due to the growth of the export garment industry,
80 percent staffed by women. Programs run by the Government and NGOs
extending microcredit to rural women improved their economic power. Pay
was generally comparable for men and women performing similar work.
No action was taken, and none was expected, in the deaths of 60
maidservants who died from alleged torture at the hands of their
employers in 2003. According to a Public Administration Reforms
Commission report in 2000, women held only 12 percent of government
jobs, and only 2 percent of senior positions. The government policy to
include more women in government jobs had only limited effect. In
recent years, approximately 15 percent of all recruits into government
service were 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 one-half of all children were chronically
malnourished.
Under the law, children between 6 and 10 years of age must attend
school through the fifth grade. Primary education was free and
compulsory. The implementation of compulsory primary education fell
short in part because parents kept children out of school, preferring
instead to have them working for money or helping with household
chores. Government incentives to families sending children to schools
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 per cent of school-age children were
enrolled in schools with almost an equal male-female ratio. In a 2002
report, they 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 6
to 12. Boys received free education only to grade 5.
There were a few government hospitals designated exclusively for
children, and boys and girls had equal access to medical care in
government hospitals.
According to human rights groups, 341 children were abducted,
nearly 1,401 suffered unnatural deaths, and more than 660 children fell
victim to serious abuses such as rape, sexual harassment, torture, and
acid attack during the year. According to child rights activists,
during the year, violence against children declined to some extent due
to growing awareness regarding child rights.
Child labor remained a problem and frequently resulted in the abuse
of children, mainly through mistreatment by employers during domestic
service and occasionally included servitude and prostitution (see
Sections 6.c. and 6.d.). Sometimes children were seriously injured or
killed in workplaces. Reports from human rights monitors indicated that
child abandonment, kidnapping, and trafficking continued to be serious
and widespread problems. There was extensive trafficking of children
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
According to a 2002 report published by the Government news agency
Bangladesh Shongbad Shongsta, there were approximately 400,000 homeless
children, of which 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 was a serious problem. 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, 43 cases were disposed of
by the Special Courts dealing with incidents of repression against
women and children. Accused persons in 33 of those cases were convicted
and given punishment ranging from death to 10 years in prison. Besides
police, the Coast Guard, Bangladesh Rifles (border guards), and the
RAB, a number of NGOs recovered victims and assisted victims of
trafficking.
According to government sources, law enforcement personnel
recovered 147 victims of trafficking during the year. In 17 different
incidents during the year, victims managed to escape from traffickers
and reported to police. The Government returned 85 of the victims to
their families, sent 9 to government homes, and transferred 19 to NGO-
run shelters.
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, mainly for prostitution
and in some instances for labor servitude. Some boys were trafficked to
the Middle East to be used as camel jockeys.
The BNWLA rescued 314 trafficking victims from within the country
and repatriated 32 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. A 2002 newspaper report
quoting statistics from the Center for Women and Children Studies
(CWCS) stated that only 1 percent of trafficked children and 55 percent
of kidnapped children were rescued between 2000 and 2002. According to
the CWCS, 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, but
some human rights monitors estimated that more than 20,000 women and
children were trafficked annually from the country for prostitution;
however, the Government did not support this figure. Most trafficked
persons were lured by promises of good jobs or marriage, and some were
forced into involuntary servitude outside of 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 by their new friends or
husbands into bonded labor, menial jobs, or prostitution. Criminal
gangs conducted some of the trafficking. The border with India was
loosely controlled, especially around Jessore and Benapole, making
illegal border crossings easy.
Human rights monitors credibly reported in the preceding years that
police and local government officials often ignored trafficking in
women and children for prostitution and were easily bribed (see
Sections 1.c. and 5).
In previous years, there were reports that police corruption
facilitated trafficking of women and children; however, there were no
reports of this occurring during the year.
Many NGOs and community-based organizations worked on the problem
of trafficking through prevention, research, data collection,
documentation, advocacy, awareness creation and networking, cross-
border collaboration, legal enforcement, and rescue, rehabilitation,
and legislative reform. For example, Action Against Trafficking and
Sexual Exploitation of Children, a national anti-trafficking network,
worked to link NGOs and government agencies by establishing a resource
center to disseminate data and provide technical support to grassroots
organizations. The Association for Community Development conducted
workshops and outreach programs to reach potential victims of
trafficking before they were victimized. Over the past 3 years, because
of the cooperation among NGOS and others involved, including the
Government, a common, unified umbrella program was established to
address the trafficking problem.
The Government developed a set of policies and plans regarding the
trafficking issue and initiated a program across a number of ministries
to address the problem. Arrests and prosecutions increased
significantly, and the Government launched a major national anti-
trafficking prevention campaign to increase awareness of the problem
among vulnerable groups. Nevertheless, the Government's capacity to
address this issue remained limited. Government projects included
conducting awareness campaigns, research, lobbying, and rescue and
rehabilitation programs. While the Government provided support for
returning trafficking victims, government-run shelters were generally
inadequate and poorly run.
In late May, the Government established a unit in the police
headquarters to monitor counter-trafficking activities by law
enforcement agencies. The cell started functioning in June. An
interministerial committee headed by the Secretary of the Home Ministry
regularly monitored the activities of the police cell and prosecution
of the cases relating to trafficking. In early July, a Deputy Attorney
General was designated to coordinate prosecution of the cases. The
Government also formed monitoring units in each of the 64 district
headquarters.
Despite constraints such as lack of birth and marriage records at
the village level, some trafficking cases were prosecuted. There was
also some 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 set up a task force, composed of
government officials and members of NGOs, who adopted an action plan at
year's end to improve the overall welfare of the disabled.
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. During the year, at least four visually impaired
persons were hired for government jobs.
Indigenous People.--Tribal people have had a marginal ability to
influence decisions concerning the use of their lands. Despite the 1997
CHT Peace Accord, which ended 25 years of insurgency in the CHT, 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.
Shantu Larma, a former insurgent leader, held talks with the Prime
Minister in December 2003, building upon several similar sessions in
2002, to discuss implementation of the Peace Accord; however, violence
continued in the CHT. According to a human rights organization, 41
persons died and 199 were injured in violence in the CHT during the
year. During the same period, 127 persons were abducted, 3 were
missing, and 106 were arrested.
During the year, the Parbatiya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity
(PCJSS), which had spearheaded the insurgency and later signed the
Peace Accord, blocked roads and observed general strikes, demanding
early implementation of all the provisions of the accord. Extortion and
kidnapping for ransom were rampant in the CHT.
PCJSS and the anti-accord tribal group, United People's Democratic
Forum (UPDF), blamed each other for most of the abductions in
Khagrachhari and Rangamati. On February 9, armed tribal youths abducted
seven UPDF members from a wedding party at Shabekong in Naniarchar.
There were also reports of violence involving Bengalis and tribal
people in Rangamati.
The army withdrew an estimated two dozen camps from the CHT in
partial fulfillment of the PCJSS demand for withdrawal of all army
camps as required in the Peace Accord. Police have replaced the army in
some of the camps.
Tribal people in other areas also reported loss of land to Bengali
Muslims. In 2001, the Forestry Department inaugurated an eco-park on
the lands inhabited by the predominantly Christian Khasi tribals in
Moulvibazar. Although indigenous Khasis had lived on these lands for
generations, the Government did not recognize their ownership. The
Government claimed ownership and stated that the Khasis were occupying
the land illegally. The Government slowly implemented the project
during the year. In 2003, the Government started implementing the
Modhupur National Park Development Project on Garo ancestral land
without consulting the Garo people.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law provides for
punishment for intercourse ``against the order of nature with any man,
woman or animal.'' In practice the law was rarely invoked; however,
according to HRW, gay men were harassed and raped by police and local
criminals without proper methods of recourse, due to societal
discrimination against gays. HRW also found that gay 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 Constitution 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 58 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.
According to the law, a workplace must have 30 percent union
participation for union registration. Would-be unionists technically
are forbidden to engage in many activities 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)
requested the Government to amend the 30 percent provision. The ILO
also requested 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 highly politicized, and unions were strongest in state-
owned enterprises and in such institutions as the government-run port
in 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 Registrar of Trade Unions may 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. 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 SPA or
regular criminal codes.
Trade unionists were required to obtain government clearance to
travel to ILO meetings, but unlike in previous years, there were no
known reports that clearances were denied during the year.
On May 7, union leader Ashan Ullah, executive president of the
International Confederation of Free Trade Union (ICFTU) affiliated with
the Jatiyo Sramik League, was shot and injured while addressing a rally
in Tongi.
The ICFTU noted a number of exclusions of international trade union
rights under the Industrial Relations Ordinance. These were
restrictions regarding membership in unions and election of union
officials, restrictions on activities of public servants' associations,
restrictions on the right to organize and bargain collectively in
export processing zones (EPZs), and restrictions on the right to
strike.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not explicitly ban discrimination by employers against union members
and organizers and, in practice, private sector employers usually
discouraged any union activity, sometimes working in collaboration with
local police. The Registrar of Trade Unions rules on 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 by workers is legal on the condition unions
legally registered by the Registrar of Trade Unions as collective
bargaining agents represent workers. 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.
The right to strike is not recognized specifically by the law, but
strikes were a common form of workers' protest and are recognized as a
legitimate avenue for addressing unresolved grievances by the
Industrial Relations Ordinance of 1969. 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.
Wildcat strikes were illegal but occurred, and wildcat strikes in the
transportation sector were particularly common.
There were no updates to the November 2003 incident at the Pantex
Factory, or the October 2003 case involving police harassment and
beating of striking diploma nurses (see Section 6.a.).
The Essential Services Ordinance permits the Government to bar
strikes for 3 months in any sector it declares essential. During the
year, the Government continued to impose the Ordinance, originally
applied in 2002, to the Power Development Board, the Dhaka Electric
Supply Authority, Bangladesh Biman Airline, the Chittagong Port
Authority, and the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation.
In 2003, the Government announced it would not allow 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 ban may be renewed for 3-
month periods. 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.
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 has not happened in recent years.
There are EPZs in the country. On July 14, Parliament passed a bill
allowing limited freedom of association rights in EPZs. The country's
five 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, unions for the 128,915 workers
are prohibited in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
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
enforce laws against forced labor, but these laws were not enforced
rigorously, partly because resources for enforcement 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 sometimes 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.--
Because of widespread poverty, many children began to work at a very
young age. According to the Government's National Child Labor Survey
published in November 2003, the Government estimated that approximately
3.2 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 years worked. Working
children were found in 200 different types of activities, such as
shrimp farming, of which 49 were regarded as harmful to children's
physical and mental well-being. Sometimes children were seriously
injured or killed in workplaces. For example, on January 17, a child
age 13 died when he became stuck to a conveyer belt while he worked in
a spinning mill at Savar.
Children often worked alongside family members in small-scale and
subsistence agriculture. Hours usually were long, the pay low, and the
conditions hazardous. Many children worked in the beedi (hand-rolled
cigarette) industry, and children under 18 years sometimes worked in
hazardous circumstances in the leather industry or the brick-breaking
industry. An estimated 10,000 children worked long hours on fish farms
on small islands in Southwestern Bagerhat district for 5 months a year
in hazardous conditions. The farm owners paid and fed the children
poorly. The Coast Guard periodically rescued and returned child workers
to their home villages.
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 5 or the age of 10 years. However, there was no effective
mechanism to enforce this provision.
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 $4 to $10 (taka 228 to taka
570). Most child workers were employed in agriculture and other
informal sectors, where no government oversight occurred.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers' and Exporters Association
(BGMEA), the Department of Labor, and the ILO jointly inspected an
estimated 4,000 BGMEA-member factories with the declared intention of
eliminating child labor in the garment sector. The inspectors found 23
children working in 11 of those factories between January and August
25. Each factory having child labor was fined $100 (taka 5,900).
According to the ICFTU, there was a significant reduction of child
labor in the garment industry; while 43 percent of exporting factories
used child labor in 1995, by 2001 the figure had fallen 5 percent to 38
percent. Former child employees were also offered a small monthly
stipend to help replace their lost income while attending UNICEF-
sponsored schools.
The Non-Formal Education Directorate of the Government,
international organizations, and some NGO partners sponsored programs
to provide education to some working children in urban slum areas
around the country. The Government has been a member of ILO-IPEC since
1994. ILO-IPEC programs include a $6 million project to eliminate the
worst forms of child labor in five targeted industries: beedi
production, matchmaking, tanneries, construction, and child domestic
workers. As of December 2003, 19,874 children had been removed from
hazardous work, 19,508 were attending non-formal education training,
7,623 had been admitted to formal schooling, and 3,060 were receiving
pre-vocational training. Employers from 51 beedi and brick-breaking
industries have declared their sites child labor free.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage. Instead, the Wage Commission, which convenes every several years,
sets wages and benefits industry by industry, using a range based on
skill level. In most cases, private sector employers ignored this wage
structure. For example, in the garment industry, many factories did not
pay legal minimum wages, and it was common for workers of smaller
factories to experience delays in receiving their pay or to receive
trainee wages well past the maximum 3 months. In 2001, according to the
ICFTU, 21.7 percent of textile workers in the country earned the
minimum wage. Wages in the EPZs were generally higher than outside the
zones. The declared minimum monthly wage for a skilled industrial
worker was approximately $58 (taka 3,400) for a worker in an EPZ and
approximately $45 (taka 2,650) for a worker outside an EPZ. This was
not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family.
The law sets a standard 48-hour workweek with 1 day off mandated. A
60-hour workweek, inclusive of a maximum 12 hours of overtime, was
allowed. The law was enforced poorly.
The Factories Act nominally sets occupational health and safety
standards. The law is comprehensive but largely was ignored by
employers. Workers may resort to legal action for enforcement of the
law's provisions, but few cases actually 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. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck
governs with the support of a National Assembly, a Cabinet, a Council
of Ministers, and the Monastic Body, a 3,500-member institution headed
by 4 representatives selected with the consent of the King. The King is
the head of state and is responsible for matters relating to the
country's security and sovereignty. There is no written constitution to
protect fundamental political and human rights. A committee consisting
of elected representatives, religious leaders, judicial and government
officials continued to draft a constitution. Citizens voted for 105 of
the 150 representatives in the National Assembly in 2003, with the
remainder appointed by the King, the Buddhist clergy, and the Council
of Ministers. The National Judicial Commission, a government-appointed
body, oversees the judiciary.
The Royal Bhutan Police, under full control of the Government, has
sole responsibility for the maintenance of internal security. The
civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security
forces. Some members of the security forces committed human rights
abuses.
The economy was centrally directed. It was based primarily on
agriculture, which provided the main livelihood for 80 percent of the
population and accounted for approximately half of the gross domestic
product (GDP); the population was approximately 800,000. Hydroelectric
power production and tourism were key sources of revenue. The GDP
growth rate was 6.5 percent, and wages generally kept up with
inflation.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were some improvements in a few areas, problems remained. The King
exercised strong and direct power over security and sovereignty, though
day-to-day governance was the responsibility of the Prime Minister and
the Council of Ministers. The Government placed limitations on civil,
political, and workers' rights. The Government prohibited political
parties, and none operated legally. Unlike in previous years, there
were no reports of arbitrary arrest or detention. The King, using
recommendations from the National Judicial Commission, made judicial
appointments to the High Court and District. The National Judicial
Commission reviewed judicial reform and processed appointments to the
bench. The authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights. The
Government restricted freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and
association. A significant refugee problem persisted. The Government
restricted worker 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 of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The laws proscribe torture and abuse. Unlike in previous
years, there were no reports of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.
Prison conditions reportedly were Spartan. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) conducted two visits to the Lodrai
Sub-district Jail and Chamgang Central Jail during the year. Prisoners
incarcerated for political reasons were kept in areas separate from
common criminals and men and women were kept in separate cells.
The Government and the ICRC signed a 5-year Memorandum of
Understanding in 1998, and in September, the Government extended the
ICRC prison visits program for another year, as it has done annually.
The ICRC was allowed generally unhindered access to prisons. An
exception was the country's denial of an ICRC request to visit Indian
prisoners of war and assist in the evacuation of women and children
stranded by fighting following the December 2003 military offensive
against guerillas from the United Liberation Front of Asom (Assam)
(ULFA), which had been using the country as a base of operations
against India. All of the ULFA prisoners reportedly were turned over to
Indian authorities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Under the law, police may not arrest a person without a warrant and
must bring an arrested person before a court within 24 hours, exclusive
of travel time from place of arrest. Human rights activists alleged
that legal protections were incomplete, due to deficiencies in police
training and practice. The initiation of ICRC prison visits and the
establishment of an ICRC mail service between detainees and family
members helped to alleviate reports in previous years of incommunicado
detention of prisoners.
According to the ICRC, of those persons detained in connection with
political dissidence and violence in 1991-92, 70 continued to serve
sentences after conviction by the High Court. Reports indicated that
six of those detained in 1991-92 were released in 2003. There were no
developments and none expected in the case of Damber Singh Pulami, a
member of the banned Bhutan People's Party, arrested in 2001. Some
Nepal-based refugees who reportedly returned to the country without
authorization were subsequently arrested.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The judiciary is overseen by the
National Judicial Commission, which was established in 2003. The King
appointed a 39-member committee to draft a constitution in 2001,
intended to establish a constitutional monarchy (see Section 3). The
judicial system consists of three branches, the Sub-Divisional Court,
the District Court, and a High Court. Only the King can pardon or
commute a sentence. Judges to the High Court and twenty District Courts
were appointed by the King on the recommendation of the National
Judicial Commission and may be removed, suspended or censured by him,
but only after the National Judicial Commission requests such action.
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 is
composed of a Legal Services Division with domestic, international, and
human rights sections, and a Prosecution Division, with a criminal
section and a civil section.
Citizens generally had the right to a fair trial. Criminal cases
and a variety of civil matters were adjudicated under both customary
law and legal code established in the 17th century, revised in 1958 and
1965, and codified in 2001 as the Bhutan Civil and Criminal Procedure
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 had the right to be presented with written
charges in their own language, and to be given time to prepare their
own defense. According to some political dissidents, this practice was
not always respected.
There were reports that defendants received legal representation at
trial, and could choose from a list of 165 government-licensed
advocates to assist with their defense; however, it was not known how
many defendants actually received such assistance. Defendants were also
able to present their own cases. 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. The High Court in Thimphu is the country's
Supreme Court.
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 supposed to be conducted in
open hearings, except for family law and cases involving juveniles.
There was a legal requirement that citizens pay for their legal
counsel; however, many citizens were unable to afford representation
and thus, in practice, did not receive legal assistance in court.
Questions on family law such as marriage, divorce, adoption and
child custody were addressed under the Marriage Act of 1980, amended in
1996.
Approximately 70 prisoners were serving sentences for offenses
related to political dissidence or violence. Most were ethnic Nepalese
who committed the alleged offenses during 1991-92, and may be political
prisoners (see Section 1.d.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The laws do not provide for these rights, and
according to human rights groups, police regularly conducted house-to-
house searches for suspected dissidents without explanation or legal
justification. The Government requires all citizens, including
minorities, to wear the traditional dress of the ethnic majority in all
public places, and strictly enforced this law for visits to Buddhist
religious buildings, monasteries, government offices, in schools, and
when attending official functions and public ceremonies; however, some
citizens commented that enforcement of this law was arbitrary and
sporadic (see Section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Government restricted freedom
of speech, and to a lesser extent, freedom of the press. The country's
only regular publication was Kuensel, a weekly newspaper with a
circulation of 15,000. It also reported stories on a daily basis
through its on-line edition (kuenselonline.com). Kuensel was formerly
government-run, and human rights groups stated that government
ministries reviewed editorial material and suppressed or changed
content. According to the Government, Kuensel was independent and
funded entirely through advertising and subscription revenue. Its board
consisted of senior civil servants and private individuals. Kuensel was
published in the English, Dzongkha, and Nepali languages, although the
Nepali edition had a minimal circulation. It supported the Government
but occasionally reported criticism of the King and of government
policies in the National Assembly. Unlike in previous years, there were
no reports that journalists working for Kuensel were subjected to
government threats and harassment. The Government maintained that there
were no restrictions on individuals starting new publications; it
argued instead that the market was too small to support any. Foreign
newspapers and magazines were available, but readership was in the
hundreds and primarily limited to government officials. There were no
reports of government restrictions on academic freedom.
The Government allowed television broadcasts of locally produced
and foreign programs. There were 50 cable providers in the country with
more than 15,000 subscribers. A large variety of programming was
available, including CNN and BBC. The Government did not censor cable
content. The radio station was government owned.
The Government did not restrict use of the Internet; however, the
Government did regulate all material it considered pornographic. In May
2003, the Royal Bhutan University, comprised of 10 colleges, opened in
Thimphu.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law does not
provide for freedom of assembly and association and the Government
restricted these rights 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 ``terrorist and antinational'' organizations
and declared them illegal. These parties, which sought the repatriation
of refugees and democratic reforms, did not conduct activities inside
the country.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, the Government restricted this right in practice and Buddhism
was the state religion. Approximately two-thirds of the population
practiced either Drukpa Kagyupa or Ningmapa Buddhism.
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. Societal pressure for conformity with Drukpa Kagyupa norms was
prevalent.
The King declared that major Hindu festivals were national
holidays, and the royal family participated in them. However, there
were no Hindu temples in Thimphu, despite the migration of many ethnic
Nepalese to the city. NGOs reported that permission from the Government
to build a Hindu temple was required but rarely granted. Followers of
religions other than Buddhism and Hinduism generally 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.
Proselytization through financial and material inducement was illegal,
and dissidents living outside the country claimed that the Government
prohibited conversions. The Government denied the dissidents' claims,
and asserted that any citizen was free to practice any religion openly.
According to dissidents living outside of the country, only
Buddhist religious teaching was permitted in the schools. Some
dissidents claimed that Buddhist prayer is compulsory in all
government-run schools. Applicants for government services sometimes
were asked their religion before services were rendered. All government
civil servants were required to take an oath of allegiance to the King,
the country, and the people. The oath did not have religious content,
but was administered by a Buddhist lama (see Section 5).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law does not provide for these
rights, and the Government placed some limits on them in practice.
Citizens traveling in border regions were required to show their
citizenship identity cards at immigration check points, which in some
cases were located a considerable distance from what is in effect an
open border with India. By treaty, citizens may reside and work in
India. In addition, ethnic Nepalese claimed that they were frequently
denied security clearances, which is a prerequisite for obtaining a
passport form. The ethnic Nepalese said that since the clearances were
based on the security clearance of their parents, the clearances
frequently excluded children of ethnic Nepalese. All citizens must have
a security clearance from the Government.
The law neither provides for nor prohibits forced exile. Although
the Government officially does not use formal exile, 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, and some relocated to India.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum in accordance
with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its
1967 Protocol (see Section 5); however, the Government recognizes the
right to asylum in accordance with international refugee law. The
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. There were no reports that the Government did not provide
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution.
During the mid- and late-1980s, citizenship became a highly
contentious matter. Requirements for citizenship resulted in the
denaturalization of many ethnic Nepalese residents of the country;
however, residents who lost citizenship under the 1985 citizenship law
were permitted to apply for naturalization if they were able to prove
residence during the 15 years prior to that time. The Government
declared all residents who could not meet the new citizenship
requirements to be illegal immigrants. In addition, citizens who
voluntarily emigrated lost their citizenship. Beginning in 1988, the
Government expelled large numbers of ethnic Nepalese to enforce the new
citizenship law.
Many of the ethnic Nepalese went to camps in Nepal where they
remained. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
over 100,000 ethnic Nepalese from the country have been living in 7
camps in southeastern Nepal since the early 1990s. Also, approximately
15,000 additional persons fled the country and now reside in the Indian
states of West Bengal and Assam, but UNHCR has not accorded them
refugee status. Since 1994, there have been an ongoing series of
negotiations between Nepal and the country to resolve the Bhutanese
refugee problem.
In June 2003, the Joint Verification Team (JVT), composed of
representatives of both the country and Nepal, released verification
results for one of the refugee camps, the Khudunabari camp. It
identified 2.4 percent of the total camp population as eligible
Bhutanese citizens, with the absolute right of return, 70.6 percent
were ``voluntary migrants,'' and would have to apply for citizenship in
Bhutan if they chose to return, 24.2 percent were found to be ``non-
nationals'' and could not return, and 2 percent were found to be
criminals and would have to face charges if they returned to the
country. The 2.4 percent categorized as Bhutanese citizens remained in
Nepal at year's end. During the year, the Government did not restart
the JVT process, citing concerns over the security situation in Nepal
following an attack on its verification team members by refugees in
Khudunabari camp in December 2003.
The Citizenship Act provided 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 ``antinationals,'' 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,
during the year, the 39-member Drafting Commission continued its
consultations with international constitutional law experts. The Chief
Justice of the High Court chaired the drafting committee, which was
composed of representatives of the Monastic body, the people, the
judiciary, and the Royal Government.
In 2003, citizens elected 105 members of the 150-member National
Assembly. Of the remaining 45 seats, the Buddhist clergy selected 10,
and the King appointed the remaining 35 members. The National Assembly
has the power to remove ministers whom the King appoints, but it never
has done so. Political authority has been devolved to the National
Assembly, which can pass legislation; however, ultimate control still
resided in the King and the Cabinet, which is composed of the Royal
Advisory Council and the Council of Ministers.
The National Assembly, which convenes once 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 consists of a number of
villages. Each village is permitted to nominate one candidate, and the
vote is 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.
Political parties were not allowed. Parties established abroad by
ethnic Nepalese and Eastern Bhutanese were banned (see Section 2.b.).
In 2003, human rights activists claimed that the only time
individual citizens have any involvement in choosing a National
Assembly representative is when they were asked by the village headman
for consensus approval of a village candidate. The activists claimed
that district officials suggested candidates, who in turn take their
direction from the central Government, and that consensus approval
takes place at a public gathering. Human rights activists stated that
there was no secret ballot; however, the Government refuted these
allegations. According to the Government, a secret ballot was now
mandatory, even if there was only one candidate.
All cabinet ministers are nominated by the King and elected by the
National Assembly. A minister's term is limited to 5 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 and to be replaced by the
next person in the line of succession. The position of chairman rotates
on a yearly basis, beginning with the minister who receives the most
votes. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers also serves as Prime
Minster and head of government. At year's end, Finance Minister Yeshey
Zimba served as chairman and prime minister.
Corruption was a growing concern during the year; however, the
Government took some steps to combat the problem. In December, the
Government created the Public Accounts Committee in the National
Assembly, an anti-corruption agency charged with monitoring how
government funds were spent. The Government also instituted an anti-
corruption fraud alert system where citizens could post information on
corrupt practices on the Royal Audit Authority website.
There is no law providing for public access to government
information.
There were 15 women in the 150-member National Assembly. There were
2 women in the High Court, 23 percent of civil service employees were
women, 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. However, NGOs reported that ethnic
Nepalese were underrepresented in the Assembly.
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 a biannual prison visit, and the
Government allowed them unhindered access to detention facilities,
including those in southern districts inhabited by ethnic Nepalese.
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. In the past, the Government
committed many abuses against ethnic Nepalese, which led to the
departure of 100,000 of them. At the time, the Government claimed that
it was concerned about the rapid population growth of and political
agitation by the ethnic Nepalese. The Government claimed that ethnic
and gender discrimination in employment was not a problem. It claimed
that ethnic Nepalese filled 16 percent of the civil service or
government employment, which was less than their proportion of the
total population. Bhutanese 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
underreported their numbers. The Government stated that 25 percent of
the population was ethnic Nepalese. Ethnic Nepalese claimed they were
subject to discrimination and prejudice.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence
against women; however, the provisions of criminal law generally cover
such crimes. 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 5 to 17 years in prison. In extreme cases, a rapist may be
imprisoned for life. 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. Dowries were not customary, even among ethnic Nepalese
Hindus. Among some groups, inheritance practices favoring daughters
reportedly accounted for the large numbers of women who owned shops and
businesses and for an accompanying tendency of women to drop out of
higher education to go into business. However, female school enrollment
has been growing in response to government policies and it was 47
percent. Women in unskilled jobs generally were paid slightly less than
men in the same positions. Women constituted approximately 30 percent
of the formal work force.
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; however, the application of
different legal practices based on membership in a religious or ethnic
group often resulted in discrimination against 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. Divorce was common. The law
requires that all marriages be registered.
The National Women's Association of Bhutan has been active since
1981 and has tried to encourage women to improve their living standards
and socio-economic status. A National Commission on Women and Children
was established during the year to promote the rights of women and
children.
Children.--The Government demonstrated its commitment to child
welfare by rapidly expanding the number of primary schools, healthcare
facilities, and immunization programs. For example, the King
established the Youth Development Fund in 1998 to provide assistance
for ongoing and new youth activities and programs. The Government
provided free and compulsory primary school education, and primary
school enrollment increased 9 percent per year since 1991, with
enrollment of girls increasing at an even higher rate. During the year,
the participation rate for children in primary schools was estimated at
85 percent, with the rate of completion of 7 years of schooling at 86
percent for girls and at 73 percent for boys. There is no law barring
ethnic Nepalese children from attending school. However, many primary
schools in southern areas heavily populated by ethnic Nepalese were
closed in 1990 and remained closed. The closure of the schools
effectively barred ethnic Nepalese in southern areas from obtaining
primary and secondary education. Dissidents claimed that the few
schools operating in the south gave preference to the children of
government officials and members of the security forces. The shortage
of places in these schools often forced local inhabitants to send their
children to other areas of the country for schooling.
The Government denied security clearance forms to children of
ethnic Nepalese who the Government claimed were ``anti-nationals.''
Exile groups claimed that Nepalese secondary-level students scoring
highly on national exams 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. This allegation was based on the fact that they were denied
the security clearance necessary to obtain a passport for travel
abroad. The Government refuted this claim, stating that all
scholarships were merit based.
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. In September 2003, Bhutan ratified the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) convention on
preventing and combating trafficking in women and children for
prostitution.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically protect
the rights of citizens with disabilities, nor does it mandate access to
buildings; however, there was no evidence of official discrimination
against persons with disabilities with regard to employment, education,
access to health care, or in the provision of other state services.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--After the expulsion of many
ethnic Nepalese in the early 1990s, discriminatory measures with regard
to ethnic minority communities continued. The law requires that the
national dress be worn for official occasions and as a school uniform,
and that Dzongkha be taught as a second language in all schools. No
instruction in Nepali as a second language was required or offered.
Drukpa Bhutanese have been resettled in the southern part of the
country on land vacated by the ethnic Nepalese living in refugee camps
in Nepal (see Section 2.d.). 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 citizens who
are ethnic Nepalese from the south sometimes were resettled on more
fertile land in other parts of the country. The failure of the
Government to facilitate the return of ethnic Nepalese refugees has
tended to reinforce societal prejudices against this group, as has 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. The Government
claimed 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 does not allow workers to
form or join unions and there were no labor unions. The Government
maintained that, with very little industrialization, there was little
labor to be organized. The total labor force numbered approximately
412,000 persons, of whom 279,000 worked in rural areas. In 2003, a
Ministry of Labor was established to analyze the country's labor
situation and provide vocational training.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law does
not authorize collective bargaining or the right to strike, and the
Government was not a member of the International Labor Organization.
Industry accounted for approximately 25 percent of the GDP but employed
only a minute fraction of the total work force. The country lacked a
large pool of ready labor; for major projects, such as road works, the
Government brought in hired laborers from India.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor and there were no reports that
such practices occurred. However, voluntary community service was often
practiced, which included building local roads, schools and hospitals.
The system of mandatory national work service was abolished in 1996;
however, NGOs stated that this practice was still administered
selectively. For instance, NGOs believed the practice often selected
poor agricultural workers at the height of the harvesting season. There
was no evidence to suggest that domestic workers were subjected to
coerced or bonded labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There is no minimum age for employment; however, the minimum age of 18
was established ``in all matters of the state.'' Children often
performed agricultural work and chores on family farms. The law does
not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor by children, but
there were no reports that such practices occurred. As a state party to
the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Government
supported the provisions contained therein.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A 1994 circular established wage
rates, rules and regulations for labor recruiting agencies. It also
established the regulations for payment of worker's compensation. Wage
rates were revised periodically, and range upward from a minimum of
roughly $2.50 (100 ngultrums) per day plus various allowances paid in
cash or kind. This minimum wage provided a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. The workday was defined as 8 hours with a 1-
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.
The largest salaried work force was the government service, which
had an administered wage structure last revised in 1988 but
supplemented by special allowances and increases. The last such
increase was in 1999. Civil Service regulations require equal pay for
equal work for men and women. According to the latest Census of
Manufacturing Industries, only 38 industrial establishments employed
more than 50 workers. The Government favored family-owned farms. Land
laws prohibit a farmer from selling his or her last 5 acres and require
the sale of holdings in excess of 25 acres. This, along with the
country's rugged geography, resulted in a predominantly self-employed
agricultural workforce. Workers are entitled to free medical care.
Persons who could not receive adequate care within the country were
flown to other countries (usually India) for treatment. Workers are
eligible for compensation for 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 parliamentary democracy with a bicameral
parliament. The Head of State is President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was
elected in 2002 by an electoral college consisting of Members of
Parliament (M.P.s) and members of state assemblies. Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led a multiparty
coalition, headed the Government until May. Manmohan Singh was named
Prime Minister following the victory in the April-May general elections
of his Congress-led coalition. The general elections, and the October
State Assembly elections held in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra were
considered free and fair, despite scattered episodes of violence. The
judiciary is independent; however, it faced a serious backlog, and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) alleged that corruption influenced
some court decisions.
Although the 28 state governments 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.
The country continued its transition from a government-controlled
to a largely market-oriented economy. The private sector was
predominant in agriculture, most non-financial services, consumer goods
manufacturing, and some heavy industrial sectors. The economic growth
rate during the year was approximately 7 percent. A 1.7 percent annual
population growth rate, and a population that surpassed 1.03 billion,
according to the most recent census figures of 2001, compounded the
country's economic problems. Wages and benefits kept pace with
inflation. On December 26, a large-scale tsunami devastated parts of
the southeastern coastal areas of the country, killing, injuring and
displacing thousands of persons.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, numerous serious problems remained. Police and
security forces were sometimes responsible for extrajudicial killings,
including staged encounter killings, and custodial deaths. Government
officials often used special antiterrorism legislation to justify the
excessive use of force while combating active insurgencies in Jammu and
Kashmir and several northeastern states. Security force officials who
committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed de facto legal
impunity, although there were numerous reports of investigations into
individual abuse cases as well as punishment of some perpetrators.
Other violations included: torture and rape by police and other
government agents; poor prison conditions; lengthy pretrial detention
without charge; prolonged detention while undergoing trial; occasional
limits on press freedom and freedom of movement; harassment and arrest
of human rights monitors; extensive societal violence and legal and
societal discrimination against women; forced prostitution; child
prostitution and female infanticide; trafficking in women and children;
discrimination against persons with disabilities; serious
discrimination and violence against indigenous people and scheduled
castes and tribes; widespread intercaste and communal violence;
religiously motivated violence against Muslims and Christians; and
widespread exploitation of indentured, bonded, and child labor.
Separatist guerrillas in Kashmir and the Northeast committed
numerous serious abuses, including killing armed forces personnel,
police, government officials, and civilians. They also engaged in
torture, rape, and other forms of violence, including beheadings,
kidnapping, and extortion.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Arbitrary and
unlawful deprivation of life by government forces (including deaths in
custody and staged encounter killings) continued throughout the year.
The highest incidences were in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, as well as states with ongoing insurgencies such as Jammu
and Kashmir, Manipur, and Assam. Security forces offered bounties for
wanted militants. Police and prison officers also committed
extrajudicial killings of criminals and suspected criminals in a number
of states. Militant 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
Eastern India (particularly Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Bihar, and West Bengal).
The Home Ministry reported that militant attacks in Jammu and
Kashmir declined from the previous year, with 733 civilians (including
92 women, 32 children, and 62 political workers), 330 security force
members and 976 militants killed during the year. Human rights groups
alleged that security forces killed numerous captured non-Kashmiri
militants from Pakistan or other countries, often after torturing them,
and staged many encounters, summarily executing suspected militants and
civilians believed to be assisting them. There were no widely accepted
data on the magnitude of the problem of extrajudicial killings in Jammu
and Kashmir, with estimates or reports largely depending on the
political orientation of the source. The Jammu and Kashmir State Human
Rights Commission reportedly received 15 complaints relating to
custodial deaths in 2003 and 27 complaints relating to disappearances.
Human rights organizations sought to clarify these cases by submitting
numerous requests to Jammu and Kashmir authorities in recent years, but
received inadequate and unsatisfactory responses.
According to human rights activists, press reports, and anecdotal
accounts, the bodies of persons detained by security forces in Jammu
and Kashmir were often returned to relatives or otherwise discovered
with multiple bullet wounds and/or marks of torture. The South Asian
Human Rights Documentation Center (SAHRDC) reported that the total
number of such custodial deaths decreased slightly during the year, but
remained a serious problem.
There were no developments in the 2003 case of Mohammed Ashraf
Malik who was found dead in a forest in Jammu and Kashmir after having
been in Rashtriya Rifles (a paramilitary unit) custody.
In February in the Bandipora area of north Kashmir, five civilian
porters were killed after security forces allegedly used them as human
shields in a gunfight with militants. The incident led to widespread
demonstrations and rioting. Following the incident, Army Chief of Staff
General N.C. Vij announced that the Army would no longer use civilian
porters in combat operations. On March 31, State Finance Minister
Muzaffar Beig and Northern Commander Lt. General Hari Prasad reported
that those responsible for the incident had been punished, but gave no
details.
In June, Gujarat police killed three men and a woman, alleged to
have been on a mission to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked the Director General
of Police and Senior Superintendent of Police in Ahmedabad to
investigate. Human Rights activists challenged police allegations that
these persons were linked to this plot, but the case was never fully
resolved. A Gujarat court later dismissed charges against 13 other
persons implicated in this case due to lack of evidence. The family
members of those killed did not file petitions claiming the killings
were extrajudicial, and no action was taken against police involved in
the killing.
On July 11, Manorama Devi, an alleged member of the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) in the northeastern state of Manipur, died while
in the custody of the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary unit in the state.
Officials initially denied that Devi was killed, tortured, or raped,
but the postmortem found that she died of multiple gunshot wounds, was
bleeding from the vagina, and had a perforated liver and gall bladder,
among other injuries, and forensic tests detected semen stains on her
clothes. The case prompted demonstrations and riots, and led to a
serious deterioration of the security situation in Manipur. The
National Commission for Women (NCW) publicized the case, and the Army
ordered an investigation; however, by year's end, culpability for her
death had not been established.
Prosecutions in custodial death cases were often subject to lengthy
delays. In February, for instance, a Delhi police constable was
sentenced to life imprisonment for a custodial death at Lahori Gate
police station that occurred 12 years earlier.
The national and Jammu and Kashmir state governments took initial
steps to respond to charges that authorities have not been transparent
in their treatment of human rights violators, and that those who
committed abuses enjoyed impunity. In March, the press reported that
the Jammu and Kashmir Government had opened investigations into 37
cases of alleged deaths in custody and disappearances reported since
the Government took office in 2002. In April, Chief of Army Staff
General N.C. Vij reported that of 1,340 allegations of human rights
abuses reportedly committed from 1990-2000 in Jammu and Kashmir, 33
were substantiated by evidence, and 71 personnel had been punished. In
May, the NHRC reported that during the past 14 years of insurgency in
Jammu and Kashmir, the Army had punished 131 of its personnel for human
rights violations, giving 2 life sentences and 33 others jail terms of
11 to 12 years, dismissing 11 personnel from the military, and ordering
various other punishments to the remainder.
A Senior Superintendent of Police in Jammu and Kashmir who was
suspended in July 2003 for allegedly falsifying the DNA samples of five
civilians killed in 2000 in staged encounters in Chattisingpora,
Anantnag District, appealed the decision to the Central Administrative
Tribunal. By year's end, there were no developments in this case.
According to local press reports, the number of persons killed in
encounter deaths varied widely throughout the country; however, members
of the security forces were rarely held accountable for encounter
killings.
Human rights activists maintained that in cases of illegal conduct,
the Government increasingly substituted financial compensation to
victims' families for punishment of security officers. In some
instances, victims or their families distrusted the military judicial
system and petitioned to have their cases transferred from a military
to a civil court. The NHRC has no jurisdiction over any courts,
including military courts.
In May, the Ministry of Home Affairs ruled in favor of the NHRC,
which had challenged the military position that its forces were exempt
from paying compensatory damages for human rights violations, and
ordered $4,200 (Rs 200,000) compensation be paid to the next of kin of
two people killed by a Border Security Forces (BSF) guard in Rajasthan
in 2000.
Although the authorities generally did not report encounter deaths
that occurred in Jammu and Kashmir to the NHRC, the Association of
Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) reported that as of June, there
were 54 custodial deaths since the Jammu and Kashmir state government
assumed office in November 2002.
According to the NHRC, by August, 45 deaths in police custody and
438 deaths in judicial custody occurred throughout the country. Uttar
Pradesh ranked the highest, with 6 custodial deaths.
During the year, the killing of civilians continued during
counterinsurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Human rights
activists stated that accurate numbers were not available due to
limited access to the region. In 2003, the Home Ministry reported 28
civilians killed, between April and June, and Amnesty International
(AI) alleged that over 340 were killed during the year.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Disturbed Areas
Act remained in effect in Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam,
and parts of Tripura, where active 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.
Accountability by the Jammu and Kashmir Government remained a
serious problem. Indian human rights groups estimate that 30,000-35,000
persons have died during the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, but there
were no reliable estimates of the number of deaths resulting directly
from abuses. Security forces have committed thousands of serious human
rights violations over the course of the 15-year insurgency, including
extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and torture (see Sections 1.b.
and 1.c.).
In December 2003, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister reported
that there had been 8 custodial deaths in the state during the year,
compared to 11 in 2001. According to the authorities, many died from
natural causes aggravated by poor prison conditions (see Section 1.c.).
Human rights groups noted that police officials often refused to
turn over the bodies of dead suspects in cases of suspected staged
encounters. The bodies of dead suspects were often cremated before
their families could view them. In 2002, the Supreme Court ordered the
central government and local authorities to conduct regular checks on
police stations to ascertain the incidence of custodial violence;
however, the overwhelming majority of police stations failed to comply.
There were reports of deaths in custody resulting from alleged torture
or other abuse.
Deaths in custody were common both for suspected militants and
criminals. The Home Ministry reported that, nationwide, deaths in
custody had increased from 1,340 in 2002 to 1,462 by the end of 2003.
According to the NHRC, state governments had not investigated at least
3,575 previous deaths in custody cases.
On August 10, police officials initially admitted that Khwaja
Yunus, accused of a December 2, 2002, terrorist bombing in Ghatkopar, a
suburb of Mumbai, died while in police custody in January 2003. An
eyewitness saw police officers beating and kicking Yunus shortly before
his disappearance. Police later maintained that Yunus escaped from
police custody and is currently at large. In August 18 testimony to the
state assembly, the Maharashtra Home Minister stated that there had
been 439 custodial deaths in the state in the past 3 years, including
58 deaths in police custody and 381 in judicial custody.
Human rights activists reported during the year that compliance
varied from state to state regarding a directive issued by the NHRC in
1993 requiring district magistrates to report all deaths in police and
judicial custody to the commission. The NHRC regarded failure to do so
as an attempted cover-up. The NHRC has not released information on how
many or which states have complied with the directive; however, no
state fully complied with this order at year's end.
During the year, a few state governments took some measures
regarding custodial deaths. The Director General of Police for the
state of Punjab reported that his agency investigated the deaths of
five persons in police custody and determined that police were innocent
in three cases; he initiated criminal proceedings for the other two.
In June, a court in Calcutta sentenced five police officers to life
imprisonment for killing a traffic sergeant who had protested their
harassment of a young girl in December 2003.
In Jammu and Kashmir, members of paramilitary forces who succeeded
the former Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police continued
to commit human rights violations. In an attempt to reduce these
violations, and to fulfill campaign pledges, the state government in
2003 subordinated SOG members to regular police units, although
politicians and others continued to refer to them as ``SOG.'' Jammu and
Kashmir police officials reported that they also charged 53 former SOG
members with human rights violations and removed 25 of them from duty
since the state government took office in November 2003. Despite the
purported integration of former SOG personnel into regular police
units, during the year, former SOG personnel continued to operate in
cohesive anti-insurgency units, and regular reports of human rights
violations by its members persisted. For example, on August 19, a unit
consisting of former SOG personnel, in coordination with the BSF,
raided the house of Manzoor-ul Islam, a suspected militant, and
allegedly took him into custody. The unit later reported him killed in
an encounter the following day.
Killings and abductions of suspected militants and other persons by
progovernment countermilitants continued to be a significant problem in
Jammu and Kashmir. Countermilitants were former separatist guerillas
who surrendered, but who were permitted by the Jammu and Kashmir
Government to retain their weapons and paramilitary organization 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.
Countermilitants occasionally searched persons at roadblocks (see
Section 2.d.) and were present in some rural areas of the Kashmir
Valley; their number has declined substantially since the 1990s. The
Jammu and Kashmir Government, through its sponsoring and condoning of
extrajudicial countermilitant activities, was responsible for killings,
abductions, and other abuses committed by these groups. According to a
human rights activist in Jammu and Kashmir, there were between 300-400
countermilitants operating in the region during the year.
Violence, often resulting in deaths, was a pervasive element in
Jammu and Kashmir politics (see Section 3). Separatist guerrillas
attempted to kill numerous senior politicians, making several attempts
against Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, People's Democratic Party
leader Mehbooba Sayeed, National Conference President Omar Abdullah and
his father, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, as well as many
ministers and dozens of other rank-and-file activists in an array of
political parties. By the end of the year, the number of politicians
and political workers killed by militants and terrorists exceeded 30.
Countrywide, there were allegations that military and paramilitary
forces engaged in abduction, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, and
the extrajudicial killing of militants and noncombatant civilians,
particularly in areas of insurgency (see Sections 1.b., 1.c., 1.d., and
1.g.).
The number of persons killed and injured in militant violence in
the northeastern states was significant. Numerous encounters involving
security forces and militant organizations such as the United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), the National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB), and the United People's Democratic Solidarity (UPDS)
continued.
The press published frequent reports of gruesome killings of
civilians by militants in Jammu and Kashmir, including beheadings,
amputation of limbs, and other atrocities. In January, militants
beheaded photographer Farooq Ahmad Mirza after shooting his wife in the
presence of their minor sons in Pulwama district in south Kashmir (see
Section 2.a.).
In the northeastern states, insurgency and ethnic violence
continued to be a problem. 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, retained 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 close links to the
PWG, although police attributed such killings to internal feuds within
the PWG. Several hundred PWG militants surrendered during the year.
Militant groups in the Northeast continued to attack civilians. For
example, members of ULFA took responsibility for an August 15
Independence Day bomb attack in the town of Dhemaji, which killed 13
civilians, including 10 schoolchildren (see Section 1.g.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances due to action by government forces; however,
scores of persons disappeared in strife and militancy-torn areas during
the year.
In June 2003, the Jammu and Kashmir government reported that 3,931
persons had disappeared in the state since the militancy began in 1990.
This figure contrasted with that given by the Association of Parents of
Disappeared Persons (APDP), which put the number at more than 8,000. In
May, the Government reported that many of those listed as missing by
the APDP in March of 2003, had joined insurgent groups, had been
killed, were in custody, or were in Pakistan.
In May, an army patrol in Jammu and Kashmir arrested Mohammad
Hussain Ashraf, who reportedly had a mental disorder, after he ran away
from the soldiers. The soldiers reportedly beat Ashraf before taking
him to Khrew army camp. Later the same day, the man's parents learned
of his detention and went to the camp to secure his release. Army
personnel told them he was in their custody and would be released. On
June 7, the Army reportedly stated that they had released Ashraf after
a short detention, and at year's end his whereabouts were unknown.
The Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission instructed the
police to furnish all details about a youth, Wasim Ahmad Rather, who
disappeared on June 14 in the Anantnag region of the state. The child's
parents asserted that police had arrested him, and they had not seen
him since. The police denied that they arrested the boy. No further
action had been taken at year's end.
Human rights groups maintained that in Jammu and Kashmir and in the
northeastern states, several hundred persons were held by the military
and paramilitary forces in long-term unacknowledged detention in
interrogation centers and transit camps intended only for short-term
confinement. Human rights activists feared that many of these
unacknowledged prisoners were subjected to torture and some were killed
extrajudicially (see Sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
The Government maintained that screening committees administered by
the state governments provided information about these detainees to
their families. However, other sources indicated that families could
only confirm the detention of their relatives by bribing prison guards.
In 2002, the state government of Jammu and Kashmir implemented a
screening system to review detention cases and release numerous
detainees (see Section 1.d.). In March 2003, the Joint Screening
Committee in Jammu and Kashmir recommended the release of 24 persons,
of whom 17 were released. According to press reports, during February
and March, the government released 118 separatist detainees in
conjunction with its dialogue with the moderate faction of the All-
Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), an alliance of political, social,
and religious organizations created to further the cause of Kashmiri
separatism.
Many detainees were released under the state's 1978 Public Safety
Act, including 24 in January, 34 in February, 12 in March, 2 in April,
and 92 in June.
On February 27, the Government released 86 Muslims in Kashmir who
had been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
In Punjab, the pattern of disappearances prevalent in the early
1990s ended; however, during the year, the Government failed to hold
accountable hundreds of police and security officials for serious human
rights abuses committed during the counterinsurgency of 1984-94,
despite the presence of a special investigatory commission. No action
was taken and no new information was available on the 634-page report
filed in June 2003 by the Punjab-based human rights organization,
Committee for Coordination of Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP), which
documented 672 cases of disappearance stemming mostly from the period
of the counterinsurgency. The Government took no action in any of these
cases, and none was expected
During the year, no action was taken by the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), which claimed to be actively pursuing charges
against dozens of police officials implicated in the 1980s, for mass
cremations in which it is alleged that police in Amritsar, Majitha, and
Tarn Taran district secretly disposed of approximately 2,000 bodies of
suspected militants. The militants were allegedly abducted,
extrajudicially executed, and cremated without the knowledge or consent
of their families during the height of Sikh militancy in Punjab.
During the year, the NHRC continued to investigate the 2,097 cases
of illegal cremation that occurred between 1984 and the early 1990s.
The NHRC has asked families whose members have disappeared to come
forward and provide evidence. It has not yet released its findings, and
no significant progress was made in identifying the cremated bodies or
bringing to justice those responsible for the killings. During the
year, families of victims in other cities in Punjab petitioned the NHRC
for redress, and a small percentage received a response in July. The
NHRC announced an award of approximately $5,500 (Rs. 240,000) to 109
families who had relatives cremated, without admitting liability. The
police admitted that the victims had been in custody, but maintained
that a number of the detainees were killed in crossfire after militants
attacked a police convoy searching for hidden weapons.
There were credible reports that police throughout the country
often did not file legally required arrest reports, resulting in
hundreds of unsolved disappearances in which relatives claimed that an
individual was taken into police custody and never heard from again.
Police usually denied these claims, countering that there were no
records of arrest.
Militants in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states
continued to use kidnappings to terrorize the population, seek the
release of detained comrades, and extort funds. During the year,
numerous railroad and construction company contractors were kidnapped
for ransom in Jammu and Kashmir. The employers of the kidnapped accused
police of turning a blind eye to the problem. Some kidnapped persons in
Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast were murdered (see Sections 1.a.
and 1.g.).
On September 30, in Srinagar, unidentified gunmen abducted and
killed Mohammad Rafiq Shah, President of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples
Liberation League, and a leader of a moderate faction of the APHC.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture, and states that confessions
extracted by force generally are inadmissible in court; however,
authorities often used torture during interrogations and extorted money
as summary punishment.
Because many alleged torture victims died in custody, and others
were afraid to speak out, there were few firsthand accounts, although
marks of torture often were 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 cases of deaths in police
custody (see Section 1.a.). Police and jailers typically assaulted new
prisoners for money and personal articles. In addition, police commonly
tortured detainees during custodial interrogation. Although police
officers were subject to prosecution for such offenses under the Penal
Code, the Government often failed to hold them accountable. According
to AI, torture usually took place during criminal investigations and
following unlawful and arbitrary arrests.
In May, in Ambedkarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, police arrested a day
laborer and tortured him when he failed to pay a $1000 (Rs. 50,000)
bribe. According to media reports, police admitted the victim to the
hospital under a false name after injecting him in the rectum with
petrol. Police also threatened to harm his family if he reported the
incident. The Delhi High Court filed a case against police when it
learned of the matter and called the Deputy Chief of Police to testify.
The case was ongoing at year's end.
In July, the NHRC requested a report from Punjab's Inspector
General of Prisons (IGP) after a man incarcerated in Amritsar's Central
Jail claimed he was branded on his back by the Deputy Superintendent
and other prison officials when he demanded water and better treatment.
Doctors found fresh scars on his back that had been inflicted with hot
iron rods. No action was taken at year's end.
In July, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) required
police officials to submit a report concerning the case of a prisoner
in police custody who was allegedly made to sign four blank confession
forms after repeated torture by electric shock.
Also in July, the state unit of the People's Union for Civil
Liberties claimed that Bihar police tortured two Nepalese insurgents,
one of whom was female, by forcing them to stand naked before a mirror
for two days and threatening to inject them with the HIV/AIDs virus.
Authorities claimed that the accusations made against police were false
and no further action was taken.
There also 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).
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 force personnel the authority to shoot suspected lawbreakers
and those disturbing the peace, and to destroy structures suspected of
harboring militants or containing weapons. Human Rights organizations
alleged that this provision allowed the security forces to act with
virtual impunity (see Section 1.d.).
The rape of persons in custody was part of the 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 effectively
reduce the frequency of rape in custody. There were no recent NHRC data
on the extent of this problem.
In August, two soldiers accused of rape in Kokrajhar, Assam, in
June 2003 were dismissed from service and sentenced to 10 years
rigorous imprisonment.
There was a pattern of rape by paramilitary personnel in Jammu and
Kashmir and the Northeast as a means of instilling fear among non-
combatants in insurgency-affected areas (see Section 1.g.). However,
these incidents were not included in NHRC statistics, as the NHRC does
not have direct investigative authority over the military.
In October, the Army reported that it would conduct an inquiry into
the case of an alleged gang rape of a girl in Srinagar, Jammu and
Kashmir, for which six persons, including two security personnel, were
arrested. At year's end, no action was taken. In November police
registered cases for another two rapes, one against seven Army
personnel who allegedly gang-raped a woman in Anantnag in South
Kashmir, and the second against a Major Rehman who allegedly raped a
mother and a daughter during a search operation near Handwara in
Kashmir. In December, court martial proceedings were initiated against
Major Rehman. By year's end, the case had not been decided.
In July, the NCW directed all asylums to check the legitimacy of
insanity certificates after reports of husbands using these
certificates as grounds for divorce against their wives. The move was
directed after a resident psychiatrist at the Agra Mental Asylum was
accused of issuing false insanity certificates for this purpose, and
the failure of the Agra police to file a First Information Report (FIR)
within the required time period.
During the year, 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. According to the NHRC, there were 1,039
cases of human rights violations by the security forces from 1990-1999,
an average of 109 per year. The NHRC reported a marked decline since
that period, with 16 cases reported in 2003, and 4 in the current year.
The NHRC reported that it registered 756 cases against the military,
172 against paramilitary forces and 109,902 against the police since
2001.
Prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening. Prisons were
severely overcrowded, and food and medical care inadequate. For
example, the Mumbai-based Criminal Justice Initiative reports that
there were 3,000 inmates in Bombay Central Jail, which has an actual
capacity of 800. Sources claimed that between 60 and 75 percent of all
inmates were awaiting trial, contributing to overcrowding, and that as
many as 65 percent of all arrests were false, indicating that a large
percentage of those imprisoned could be innocent (see Section 1.d.).
In May, the Jammu and Kashmir Bar Association released a report
accusing state jail authorities of providing inadequate food to inmates
and torturing them. The report alleged that this contributed to
malnutrition, organ failure, and insanity among prison inmates. The
report also claimed that juvenile detainees were imprisoned with adult
detainees, and kept under detention after being acquitted by trial
courts. According to press reports, prison officials used prisoners as
domestic servants and sold female prisoners to brothels (see Sections
5, Trafficking, and 6.c.).
At the end of September, New Delhi's Tihar jail housed over 10,000
inmates, three times its sanctioned capacity of 3,637. In 2002, the
Government announced plans to address overcrowding by building four
additional prisons. In December, the Rohini District Jail, the first of
the new prisons opened in Delhi, had a capacity of 1,050 prisoners. The
Government reported it has acquired land for a second new jail in the
capital.
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, and HIV/AIDS remained a serious health threat in the prison
system. The NHRC's Special Rapporteur and Chief Coordinator of
Custodial Justice was charged to help implement a directive to state
prison authorities to perform medical check-ups on all inmates. At
year's end, medical checks were only available to a few inmates.
NGO sources alleged that deaths in police custody, which occurred
within hours or days of initial detention, often implied violent abuse
and torture (see Section 1.a.).
Women were housed separately from men. By law, juveniles must be
detained in rehabilitative facilities; however, at times they were
detained in prison, especially in rural areas. Pretrial detainees were
not separated from convicted prisoners.
During the year, custodial deaths at the hands of the police
continued. The Assam Human Rights Commission awarded interim
compensation of $1,000 (Rs. 50,000) to the next of kin of ULFA cadre
Ananta Roy, after confirming that he died in custody of Kokrajhar
police in 1999. The Commission recommended that the state government
prosecute the guilty police personnel. No official action was taken by
year's end.
In June, the Delhi High Court found several police officers guilty
in the custodial death of an auto-rickshaw driver, and fined them each
approximately $11,000 (Rs. 500,000). Criminal charges were pending.
In April, the Home Ministry reported that there were 28,765
complaints lodged against police for April 2003 and the 12-month period
following, compared with 29,964 during the same period in 2001-2002.
The NHRC reported there were 42 deaths in police custody during the
year.
Local authorities often attempted to hide custodial killings.
Despite this, the NHRC and the courts investigated those cases brought
to their attention and prosecuted the perpetrators. In some cases, the
courts awarded monetary compensation of between $400 (Rs. 17,500) and
$2,200 (Rs. 96,000) to the next of kin. In some cases, NGO sources
stated that relatives did not receive the compensation that was
awarded.
Some NGOs were allowed to work in prisons, within specific
governmental guidelines, but their findings remained largely
confidential, as a result of agreements they concluded 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's annual report, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited 55 detention centers and over
7,000 detainees during the year, including all acknowledged detention
centers in Jammu and Kashmir, and all facilities where Kashmiris were
held elsewhere in the country. However, 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). During the year, the ICRC stated that it continued to encounter
difficulties in maintaining regular access to persons detained in Jammu
and Kashmir. The NHRC received authorization from 15 states and union
territories to conduct surprise visits to jails.
In a report issued in January, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on
Torture commented that torture and detentions continued in the country,
especially in Jammu and Kashmir, and noted the Government's continued
refusal to extend him an invitation to conduct investigations.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, arbitrary arrest and detention
occurred during the year.
On September 21, President Kalam signed a bill repealing the POTA,
and in December, Parliament passed legislation for its repeal. With its
repeal, numerous features of POTA, including the legal definition of
terrorism and specific ordinances dealing with the financing of
terrorism, were folded into an existing law, the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act (UAPA).
POTA contains a sunset feature, which gives the Central POTA Review
Committee 1 year to review all existing POTA cases. This clause allows
the Government to make new arrests if they are tied to an existing POTA
case. The Government can issue a new indictment on a case opened 5
years ago under POTA, against a person never previously associated with
the case. It can also extend the 1-year limit for reviews. POTA was
used to hold people in jail for extended periods prior to the filing of
formal charges. Formal charges were necessary, but persons could be
held without pretrial proceedings for up to 3 months without a formal
charge, and an additional 3 months when approved by a judge. Approvals
were regularly given in POTA cases. The law also provided that persons
who did not disclose information to the authorities about terrorist
activities as defined by POTA could be arrested and charged with an
offense, and provided the Government extensive powers to ban terrorist
organizations and seize their assets. POTA provided for special courts
to try offenses, placed the burden of proof at the bail stage on the
accused, allowed confessions made to a police officer to be admissible
as evidence, extended the period of remand from 15 to 60 days, and set
mandatory sentences for terrorism-related offenses. Human rights groups
said POTA gave the Government boundless authority, without holding it
accountable for its actions. Human rights activists reported that the
revised UAPA contains important improvements over the POTA. For
example, it does not allow coerced confessions to be admitted as
evidence in court.
NGOs and human rights activists alleged that police often committed
human rights violations with impunity, and that police corruption was
pervasive. Many government officials acknowledged this as well. The
NHRC reported that the majority of complaints it received were against
police. Although the Malimath Committee on Judicial Reform issued a
report in 2003 that proposed some police-recommended reform, measures
had not been implemented at year's end. Some human rights activists
maintained that the Committee's main goal was to increase arrests and
prosecutions instead of protecting the rights of the accused. Punjab
Director General of the Police A.A. Siddiqui reported that police had
received 17,000 complaints during the year, including 6,261 from the
Punjab State Human Rights Commission, 376 from the NHRC, and 46 from
the NHRC for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The media reported
that 59 police officers were found guilty of violating human rights in
Punjab during the year.
The Constitution provides detainees the right to be informed of the
grounds for their arrest, representation by legal counsel, and, unless
held under a preventive detention law, to be 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, adding to already over-
crowded prisons.
The Constitution provides arrested persons the right to be released
on bail and the law provides for prompt access to a lawyer; however, in
cases of arrest under special security legislation, neither bail nor
prompt access to a lawyer were always granted in practice. 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. 500) and $4,500 (Rs. 200,000).
Although the Government allowed the Terrorism and Disruptive
Activities Act (TADA) to lapse in 1995, the South Asia Human Rights
Documentation Center reported that more than 1,000 persons remained in
detention awaiting prosecution under the law, and that cases opened
under TADA continued through the judicial system. This remained a
problem in Jammu and Kashmir.
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.).
In February, Government agents detained former MP Simranjit Singh
Mann under TADA for making ``an inflammatory speech'' in 1991 appealing
for a separate state of Khalistan. Mann was released but re-arrested on
March 23 after a rally in which he voiced opposition to the then-Deputy
Prime Minister L.K. Advani. Mann was released 2 days later.
In September, human rights activists demanded that the Bihar
Government withdraw all cases filed against landless laborers and
workers under TADA. The activists also asked for the release of 14
people sentenced to life imprisonment and 14 others sentenced to death
under TADA. The Bihar Government had not responded to the allegations
by year's end.
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).
In March 2003, NGOs charged that scores of Muslims were illegally
detained in Gayakwad Haveli Police Station in Ahmedabad by Crime Branch
police, reinforcing concerns about discrimination against Muslims in
the state of Gujarat. Many of those arrested were charged under the
POTA, although the specific infractions were not released. Most of
those arrested remained in jail at year's end.
Throughout the year, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir repeatedly
detained Kashmiri separatist leaders such as Shabir Shah, Chairman of
the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party, Yasin Malik, Chairman
of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), and Syed Ali Shah
Geelani, Chairman of the hardline faction of the APHC, for short
periods of time, ranging from several hours to 1 day, usually to
prevent their participation in demonstrations, funerals, or other
public events. Police released them soon thereafter.
On August 8, the Supreme Court rejected a plea by Maulvi Hussein
Umarji to be released from custody. Umarji, accused of participating in
the February 2002 attack on a passenger train in Godhra, argued that
under POTA he could only be held for 30 days, but the Court ruled that
he could be held for up to 180 days without formal charges.
Although there were many instances of arbitrary arrest and
detention, there were cases during the year in which a higher court
freed people who had been arrested arbitrarily. For example, on May 8,
a POTA court freed Ghulam Moinuddin Bhat, a Kashmiri separatist
associated with the Jamaat-I-Islami, who had been arrested in 2003 in
New Delhi for allegedly promoting militant activities. On August 10,
the Government of Tamil Nadu withdrew an allegedly politically
motivated POTA case against Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko and eight other related cases. Vaiko and
the others had been arrested by Tamil Nadu authorities for making
positive statements about the Sri Lankan Tamil terrorist group,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), at a public rally in 2002.
However, the POTA court refused to accept the Government's withdrawal
of charges, and those arrested remained in detention at year's end.
In July 2003, the Home Ministry disclosed that of 702 persons
arrested under POTA since its enactment, 217 were arrested in the last
2 years and 116 had gone to trial. Human rights groups alleged that the
state governments invoked POTA selectively and on dubious grounds
against political opponents and persons belonging to the minority
communities.
On August 18, the Home Minister informed Parliament that the POTA
Review Committee had received 262 complaints regarding the Act during
the year. Of these, the Committee ruled in favor of the accused in 18
cases, rejected 33 complaints, and disposed of 10 for unspecified
reasons. The remaining 201 were still pending at year's end.
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 1 year on loosely
defined security reasons. NSA does not define ``security risk.'' State
governments must confirm the detention order, which is reviewed by an
advisory board of three High Court judges within 7 weeks of the arrest.
NSA detainees are permitted visits by family members and lawyers, and
detainees must be informed of the grounds for their detention within 5
days (10 to 15 days in exceptional circumstances). According to press
accounts, 32 persons had been detained under the NSA during the year.
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 could overturn such a
decision.
The Public Safety Act (PSA), which applies only in Jammu and
Kashmir, permits state authorities to detain persons without charge and
judicial review for up to 2 years. In addition, detainees do not have
access to family members or legal counsel. The Government estimated
that approximately 514 persons remained in custody under PSA or related
charges at year's end. In June, 92 PSA prisoners were released.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1958 remained in
effect in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and parts of Tripura, and a version
of this 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 for the
``maintenance of 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 Manipur, human rights activists alleged that Manorama Devi, a
suspected member of the PLA who had been detained under the AFSPA, had
been raped, tortured and murdered while in custody (see Section 1.a.
and 1.c.). Devi's death touched off a series of protests by an umbrella
organization of 32 groups calling for the AFSPA's repeal and the arrest
and prosecution of Manorama's killers. A number of domestic and
international human rights groups supported these demands. The
Government withdrew the Act from the Imphal municipal area, but not
from the rest of Manipur and Nagaland.
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
(see Section 1.e.).
There were no reports of political detainees during the year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, serious problems remained. The
judiciary was backlogged and understaffed in most parts of the country,
and in Jammu and Kashmir members of the judiciary have long been
subject to threats and intimidation by guerillas and security forces.
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.
The court system remained severely overloaded, resulting in the
detention of thousands of persons awaiting trial for periods longer
than they would receive if they had been convicted. Prisoners were held
for months or even years before obtaining a trial date. In July, the
Ministry of Law and Justice reported that there were 29,622 cases
pending before the Supreme Court, and 3,269,224 before the state High
Courts. The NHRC reported that 75 percent of the country's total
inmates were prisoners waiting for trial.
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. 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 October 2003, the Delhi High
Court issued new witness protection guidelines to reduce the number of
witnesses who recanted their testimony under threat from defendants.
The Government does not interfere in the personal status laws of
minority communities, including those laws that discriminate against
women. There are separate laws for Muslims and Hindus on a number of
issues. Muslim personal status law governs family law, inheritance, and
divorce (see Section 5.a.).
In Jammu and Kashmir, the judicial system barely functioned due to
threats by militants against judges, witnesses, and their family
members; because of judicial tolerance of the Government's often heavy-
handed anti-militant actions; and because of the frequent refusal by
security forces to obey court orders.
On May 2, retired Supreme Court Justice R.P. Sethi said that there
was a backlog of 75,000 criminal cases in Jammu and Kashmir. He also
estimated that 45 percent of criminal cases were never reported.
Courts in Jammu and Kashmir often were reluctant to hear cases
involving militant crimes and failed to act expeditiously on habeas
corpus cases, if they acted at all. There were a few convictions of
alleged militants in the Jammu High Court during the year. In March,
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed announced there
were 533 persons of unidentified ethnicity, 361 Kashmiris and 172
foreigners, behind bars. During the year, the Government released 85
detainees.
There was increasing 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, when 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
property.
In many cases, attempts to hold perpetrators of the Gujarat
violence accountable were hampered by the allegedly defective manner in
which police recorded complaints. Victims complained that police failed
to register their complaints, or 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 if they
were supporters of the BJP. According to an affidavit submitted in
January by the Government of Gujarat to the Supreme Court, out of 4,252
complaints filed, 2,032 were closed even though the abuses were
substantiated. On August 17, 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 to see whether they could be reopened.
The media reported that officials who attempted to conduct a serious
investigation into the incidents were promptly removed from the case.
At year's end, the report on the number of cases that should be re-
opened had not been submitted to the Supreme Court. The Government of
Gujarat claimed that police had re-opened investigations against 5,384
people in the city of Ahmedabad and 24,683 people in the state as a
whole. Only 3 cases related to the Gujarat rioting completed trial in
the lower level courts by the end of the year.
In April, the Supreme Court ordered that one of the most notorious
of the cases connected with the rioting following the Godhra incident,
the Best Bakery Case, should be retried in a special court in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. The court issued arrest warrants for 10 of the 21 accused.
On November 4, the star prosecution witness refused to testify in the
Mumbai court in one of a series of recantations.
At year's end, a Committee chaired by former High Court Justice
U.C. Bannerjee and established by the Congress Government, was
investigating the cause of the train fire at Godhra, which triggered
the deadly riots.
During the year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented how Hindu
extremists threatened and intimidated victims, witnesses, and human
rights activists attempting to prosecute those who committed crimes
during the 2002 Gujarat riots. It reported 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. The Gujarat government denied the charge.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution 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 Assam
have special powers to search and arrest without a warrant.
In recent years, the Government Enforcement Directorate (ED), which
is mandated to investigate foreign exchange and currency violations,
searched, interrogated, and arrested thousands of business and
management professionals, often without search warrants.
The Information Technology Act grants the police powers under
certain circumstances to search premises and arrest individuals without
a warrant. The Act specifies a 1-year sentence for persons who fail to
provide information to the Government on request, and a 5-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.). At year's end, the
Government had not circulated rules for implementation of this law.
The Indian Telegraph Act of 1885 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; however, under POTA and the UAPA, such evidence was admissible
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.
In January, in the Netarhat region of Jharkhand, local tribal
organizations protested what they described as illegal activities by
the Army.
Tribal groups claimed that the army did not provide prior
notification that all villagers should vacate their homes in advance of
artillery practice as required under the Maneuvers Field Firing and
Artillery Practices Act. The Defense Ministry ordered the army to cease
its activities only after the local inhabitants involved the governor
(see Section 5).
In October, the press reported that eight states (Andhra Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Orissa, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Madya Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh, and Maharashtra) have enacted two-child laws, which provide
incentives in government jobs and subsidies to those who have no more
than two children. For example, during the year, village council
members in Chhattisgarh who violated this prohibition were reportedly
dismissed from their positions. National health officials in New Delhi
noted that the Government was unable to regulate state decisions on
population issues.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--Security force personnel enjoyed
extraordinary powers under the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act
and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, which
includes the authority to shoot suspected lawbreakers on sight and
destroy structures suspected of harboring militants or arms.
There were continuing reports of civilians killed in crossfire in
Jammu and Kashmir during the year. In May, according to press reports,
a man was killed in crossfire between militants and security forces in
the Pulwama district of south Kashmir. Troops withdrew from the area
immediately following the incident, after local villagers began
protesting the killing.
Members of the security forces continued to abduct and kill
suspected militants, and security forces were not adequately held
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
abducted and sometimes used civilians as human shields while searching
for landmines. Such abuses occurred mostly in the Kupwara and Doda
districts.
During the year, tension along the Line of Control (LOC) was much
lower following the November 2003 ceasefire agreement. The Home
Ministry reported no cases of artillery shelling or mortar and small
arms fire across the LOC or on the Siachen Glacier during the year.
Insurgents committed political killings, kidnappings, and rapes of
politicians and civilians (see Sections 1.a., 1.b., and 1.c.), engaged
in extortion, and carried out acts of random terror that killed
hundreds of Kashmiris.
In Manipur, an active insurgency involving up to 19 militant groups
resulted in the deaths of 23 civilians, 26 security forces, and 93
militants, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP.org). For
example, in April, militants from the outlawed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup
(KYKL) in Imphal killed two persons, including former state police
chief L. Jogeshwar, triggering local panic ahead of the national
parliamentary elections.
According to SATP.org, separatists in Nagaland killed 35 civilians
during the year. Human rights groups observed that despite the ongoing
talks between separatist groups and state government officials, and an
April 28 government ceasefire, violence continued, including numerous
clashes between rival Naga separatist groups. For example, on March 18,
men from Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-
IM) abducted two Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang
group (NSCN-K) guerrillas allegedly to extort money, and on June 30 a
suspected NSCN-K member killed a member of the rival NSCN-IM faction.
Killings of security force members by militants in Jammu and
Kashmir declined to 330 for the year, according to the Home Ministry.
Militants also targeted government officials. In January,
unidentified persons threw 2 grenades at a mosque in the Pir Mitha area
of Jammu, killing 2 government officials and injuring 19. In February,
an unidentified militant killed Deputy Inspector General of Police
Mohammed Amin Bhat at a mosque in Srinagar. On February 27, one person
was killed and eight others were injured in a failed attempt on the
life of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at a
public meeting in Beerwah in South Kashmir. On March 30, governing
People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Sayeed escaped after
militants opened fire on her motorcade on the Pahalgam-Anantnag road.
In September, the Army found a woman in Doda district of Jammu and
Kashmir who had been raped and tortured by militants for 25 days. The
militants reportedly targeted her because her brother, a former
militant, had surrendered to authorities. The militants cut off her
ears and nose and left her for dead in a forest. The army adopted the
woman as a humanitarian case and paid for reconstructive surgery (see
Section 1.c.).
During the year, militant activities in the East and Northeast also
claimed many lives through the use of ambushes and time bombs on roads,
on railway tracks, and in trains. For example, on April 8, a landmine
set by Naxalites in Jharkhand killed 5 policemen and seriously injured
over 10 other persons. In Tripura in August, the National Liberation
Front of Tripura killed six shopkeepers abducted for ransom on June 14.
Another 18 reportedly were released after their families paid the
ransom.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, there were some
limitations. Under the Official Secrets Act, the Government may
restrict publication of sensitive stories or suppress criticism of its
policies, but no cases were reported during the year.
The Press Council is a statutory body of journalists, publishers,
academics, and politicians, whose chairman is appointed by the
Government. Designed to be a self-regulating mechanism for the press,
it investigates complaints of irresponsible journalism and sets a code
of conduct for publishers. This code includes a commitment not to
publish articles or details that might incite caste or communal
violence. The Council publicly criticized newspapers or journalists it
believed had broken the code of conduct, but its findings carried no
legal weight.
A vigorous press reflected a wide variety of political, social, and
economic beliefs. Independent newspapers and magazines regularly
published and television channels broadcast investigative reports and
allegations of government wrongdoing, and the press generally promoted
human rights and criticized perceived government lapses. Most print
media were privately owned. In the electronic media, 80 percent of the
television channels were privately owned. Government-controlled radio
remained the main source of news for much of the population.
Foreign media was, for the most part, allowed to operate freely,
and private satellite television was distributed widely by cable or
satellite dish, providing serious competition for Doordarshan, the
government-owned television network. Doordarshan frequently was accused
of manipulating the news in the Government's favor; however, some
privately-owned satellite channels also 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 was objectionable content on satellite channels--notably,
tobacco and alcohol advertisements.
AM radio broadcasting remained a government monopoly. Private FM
radio station ownership was legalized in 2000, but licenses only
authorized entertainment and educational content. Authorities did not
permit privately owned radio stations to broadcast news.
In June, the Government claimed that the publication of a domestic
edition of the International Herald Tribune (IHT) by the Deccan
Chronicle Press violated a 1955 Cabinet Resolution that disallowed a
local edition of any foreign newspaper and banned the registration of
foreign newspaper titles. The IHT, however, continued to be published
daily in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
The authorities generally allowed foreign journalists to travel
freely in Jammu and Kashmir, where they regularly spoke with separatist
leaders and filed reports on a range of issues, including government
abuses. In October, the Government permitted the first delegation of
Pakistani journalists to visit Jammu and Kashmir in more than 50 years.
The correspondents, on a trip sponsored by the South Asia Free Media
Association, had access to the entire spectrum of government and
separatist opinion.
The Newspapers Incitements to Offenses Act remained in effect in
Jammu and Kashmir. Under the Act, a district magistrate may prohibit
the publication of material likely to incite murder or any act of
violence; however, newspapers in Srinagar reported in detail on alleged
human rights abuses by the Government and regularly published press
releases of separatist Kashmiri groups.
In September, the Government renewed its permission for the Arabic-
language satellite news channel, Al Jazeera, to transmit. The
Government had halted Al Jazeera broadcasts in 2002 to express
displeasure with its reporting on the February-March 2002 riots in
Gujarat and the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Also in September, authorities arrested a photojournalist with an
Urdu newspaper in Srinagar for allegedly passing sensitive defense-
related material to Pakistan. There was no action in this case at
year's end.
Ethnic or religious groups carried out most attacks on members of
the media. In June, radical elements of the BJP attacked the Mumbai
office of the newspaper Aapla Mahanagar, assaulted the editorial staff
and damaged office equipment in response to an article written against
a Hindu religious sect. In August, in Mumbai, alleged Muslim
fundamentalist activists attacked the editor of a Hindi language
newspaper, Sajid Rashid, with knives and seriously injured him. They
charged that he had insulted Islam by criticizing the custom of Triple
Talaq, which allows a man to divorce his wife by stating, ``I divorce
you'' three times. Mumbai police filed charges in the case, but the
assailants were at large, and the investigation remained open at year's
end.
In August, Hindu nationalist activists from the Shiv Sena injured
the editor of the Mumbai-based Marathi daily Mahanagar in retaliation
for remarks allegedly made against Shiv Sena leader Narayan Rane in a
private conversation.
Political tensions were also a cause of attacks on media outlets.
For example, in August, party activists from the Pattali Makkal Katchi
(PMK), a South Indian regional party, attacked and damaged the offices
of Dinamalar, a Tamil language daily.
Violence against the press and intimidation by militant groups in
Jammu and Kashmir caused significant self-censorship there by
journalists, who were reluctant to report on events, according to
journalists based in the state. In March, security forces killed two
militants who attacked a building housing the Press Information Bureau
and the State Information Department in Srinagar who had tried to
detonate explosives. In April, a Pakistan-based Islamist militant
group, Tehrik-ul-Mujahedeen, threatened journalists who wrote articles
criticizing anti-India militants.
During the year, the threat of losing government revenue
contributed to self-censorship by smaller media outlets that heavily
relied on state government advertising.
Authorities occasionally beat, detained, and harassed journalists.
In April, the Journalists Union of Assam and the Journalist Action
Committee alleged that police ordered a journalist and several other
people to kneel down in the road during a routine traffic stop. No
action was taken against police.
In 2003, the State Assembly of Tamil Nadu ordered the arrest of a
number of journalists associated with The Hindu, an English language
daily, for allegedly engaging in a ``breach of privilege'' of the
House. The journalists contested the arrest, and in July 2003, the
courts ordered a stay on their arrest, until a higher court was able to
decide the issue. The petition filed by The Hindu in the Supreme Court
regarding limits on freedom of expression by the press was pending at
year's end; however, the arrest warrants against the journalists were
dropped.
The Government maintained a list of banned books that may not be
imported or sold in the country. In some cases, such as Salman
Rushdie's ``Satanic Verses,'' censors claimed the book aggravated
communal tensions. In March, the Maharashtra state government filed
criminal charges against a foreign professor for making slanderous
remarks against the 17th century Indian warrior Shivaji and his mother
in a book. The Maharashtra state government banned the professor's book
in 2003.
A government censorship board reviewed films before licensing them
for distribution. The board censored material it deemed offensive to
public morals or communal sentiment.
In June, the country's Censor Board granted a censor certificate,
allowing public viewing to the film ``Aakrosh'' (Lament) after the
Mumbai High Court ruled in favor of the film's producer. In 2003, the
Board had denied a certificate to the film, which covered the 2002
Gujarat riots, effectively preventing public showings.
The Informational Technology Act provides for censoring information
on the Internet on public morality grounds, and it considers
``unauthorized access to certain types of electronic information'' a
crime. According to Reporters Without Borders, this law theoretically
allowed police officers to search the homes or offices of Internet
users at any time without a warrant, but that claim has not been tested
in court. The Government retained the right to limit access to the
Internet, specifically information deemed detrimental to national
security.
In January 2003, the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD)
passed strict academic guidelines to regulate academic partnerships
between local and western universities and academics, in line with
Hindutva philosophy. The guidelines, issued to all central
universities, required HRD permission to organize ``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.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The authorities sometimes
required permits and notification prior to holding parades or
demonstrations, but local governments ordinarily respected the right to
protest peacefully, except in Jammu and Kashmir, where the local
government routinely 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.
In February in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, one person was killed
and two wounded when police opened fire to disperse demonstrators
protesting against human rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by
security forces.
On August 1, police fired tear gas at a procession of citizens
protesting human rights abuses committed by security forces under the
AFSPA in Imphal, Manipur, wounding 15 protestors. The The Manipur
government had banned the demonstration.. On August 4, police fired
into another procession in Imphal, wounding 18. These protests
exacerbated longstanding tensions between the civilian population and
the security forces in Manipur.
On August 4, police in Bihar fired into a crowd that had gathered
outside a government office expecting flood relief, killing a 14-year-
old boy. Police officials claimed that the police fired in self-defense
after the mob went on a rampage and began throwing stones. No action
was taken against the police.
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 their freedom of assembly and association.
NGOs alleged that some members were denied visas to enter the country.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution 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 the legal constraints inherent in the country's federal structure,
and in part from shortcomings in the law enforcement and justice
systems. There is no state religion; however, the majority of citizens
are followers of Hinduism, and this at times adversely affected the
religious freedom of others. Some extremists interpreted ineffective
investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities as
evidence that such violence may be committed with impunity.
During the year, the status of religious freedom improved; however,
problems remained in some areas. While the Government took some steps
to decrease attacks and bring about justice, attacks against religious
minorities persisted. However, no new anti-conversion laws were enacted
during the year, and Tamil Nadu repealed its anti-conversion law.
Hindutva, the politicized inculcation of Hindu religious and cultural
norms to the exclusion of others, remained a subject of national debate
and influenced some governmental policies and societal attitudes.
The BJP, which led the central Government until May, is a Hindu
nationalist party with links to Hindu extremist groups implicated in
violent acts against Christians, Muslims, and tribal persons. Human
rights groups and others suggested that these links influenced the BJP
Government's inadequate 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, minority
institutions were able to reserve seats for minorities in educational
institutions. Minority run institutions also were entitled to funding,
although with restrictions; however, benefits accorded Dalits (formerly
known as ``untouchables'') were revoked if Dalits converted to
Christianity, but not to Buddhism.
The Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1988 makes
it a criminal offense to use any religious site for political purposes
or to use 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 may commence. The Act's
supporters claimed that its aim was to curb the use of Muslim
institutions by Islamic extremist groups, but the measure became a
controversial political issue among religious Muslims.
In May, the Government of Tamil Nadu repealed a 2003 Ordinance
banning religious conversions carried out by ``force, allurement or
fraudulent means.''
In February 2003, Gujarat passed a ``Freedom of Religion'' Bill
that provides penalties for conversion using allurement or force,
including up to 3 years in prison and a fine of $1,000 (Rs 50,000).
Under the Act, officials must assess conversions, and the District
Magistrate must give prior permission. Human rights advocates believed
that the law made it more difficult for poor persons, mistreated
minorities, and others ostracized under the caste system to convert
from Hinduism to another religion. Anti-conversion laws also have been
in effect in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa since the 1960s, and laws
against forcible conversions exist in Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal
Pradesh.
In July 2003, in the first conviction under the anti-conversion law
in Chhattisgarh (which was formerly part of Madhya Pradesh), Sister
Brishi Ekka was sentenced to 6 months in jail for not reporting the
1996 conversion of 95 families to Christianity. Sister Ekka appealed
the decision in the Chhattisgarh High Court, and later was released on
bail. At year's end, the court had not heard the case, and Sister Ekka
remained free on bail.
There is no national law barring a citizen or foreigner from
professing or propagating his or her religious beliefs; however,
India's Foreigners Act of 1946 strictly prohibits visitors in the
country on tourist visas from engaging in religious preaching without
first obtaining permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs. During
the year, state officials continued to refuse permits to foreign
Christian 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 if it violates the
FCRA, has provoked intercommunity friction, or has been involved in
terrorism or sedition.
The legal system accommodated minority religions' personal status
laws; there were different personal laws for different religious
communities. Religion-specific laws pertain in matters of marriage,
divorce, adoption, and inheritance. For example, Muslim personal status
law governed many non-criminal matters involving Muslims, including
family law, inheritance, and divorce. The personal status laws of the
religious communities sometimes discriminated against women (see
Section 5). Some laws, such as the repealed POTA, while not
specifically written for a minority group, affected particular ethnic
or religious groups. A study carried out by the NGO People's Tribunal
in 10 states in July found that 99.9 percent of those arrested under
POTA were Muslims.
Tensions between Muslims and Hindus, and between Hindus and
Christians, continued during the year. Attacks on religious minorities
decreased overall but occurred in several states, which brought into
question the Government's ability to prevent sectarian and religious
violence or prosecute those responsible for it. For example, in July,
in Veravel, Gujarat, an alleged sexual assault of a Hindu schoolgirl by
some Muslim youth led to violence between the 2 communities, causing 2
deaths, 20 injuries, and the destruction of 40 houses and 15 shops. In
August, a group of 300 alleged members of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) ransacked a church in Orissa, demolishing statues
and burning religious books and furniture. The Government reportedly
took no official action against those responsible.
Christian organizations also claimed that BJP officials in some
states and localities have not restrained the illegal activities of
radical Hindu groups. Although Christian leaders noted a decrease in
violent attacks against their community, the incidents have continued.
For example, in a September incident in Kerala, Christian groups
demanded an investigation, and the Government ordered a probe, after
Hindu militants attacked volunteers of the Missionaries of Charity.
Also in September, the Global Council of Indian Christians urged the
NHRC to take action against groups inciting violence against Christians
in Karnataka.
Hindu organizations frequently alleged that Christian missionaries
force Hindus, particularly those of lower castes, to convert to
Christianity. In Christian majority areas, there were occasional
reports that Christians persecuted members of regional minorities. In
Tripura, there were several reported cases of harassment of non-
Christians by members of the National Liberation Front of Tripura
(NLFT), a militant evangelical tribal group.
There was increasing concern about the failure of the Gujarat
government to arrest and convict those responsible for the widespread
communal violence that occurred in 2002 following the burning of the
Sabarmati Express train in Godhra (see Section 1.e.).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
movement, and the Government generally respected this in practice;
however, in certain border areas special permits were required.
Security forces often searched and questioned occupants at vehicle
checkpoints in the Kashmir Valley. Unlike in previous years when mass
searches were common, they increasingly took place only in troubled
areas or after major terrorist attacks. The Government also expanded
construction of a 330-mile long security fence along the LOC in Jammu
and Kashmir, causing occasional difficulties for local residents, as
the security fence cut through some villages and agricultural lands. By
the end of the year, construction of the fence was approaching its
final stages. The Government's stated purpose for the security fence
was to stop arms smuggling and infiltration by Pakistani-based
militants. The Government attributed a decline in successful 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.'' The
Government used this provision to prohibit the foreign travel of some
government critics, especially those advocating Sikh independence and
members of the separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir. In July, the
Government returned the impounded passport of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the
acting Chairman of the APHC; he traveled abroad in September and
October. Only a small number of Kashmiri separatists possessed
passports.
There was no law banning forced exile; however, there were no
reports of forced exile during the year.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, a total of at least
650,000 persons have been displaced due to conflicts in Jammu and
Kashmir, Gujarat, and the Northeast (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and
1.g.). For example, there was no progress on the plight of
approximately 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits (Hindu Brahmins) who had fled
from the Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s after the outbreak of
separatist violence and were lodged primarily in refugee camps in Jammu
and New Delhi. They were unable to return to their homes in Jammu and
Kashmir because of serious concerns about their safety.
During the year, there were reports that Bodo-Santhal ethnic
clashes continued in Assam. More than 87,000 persons lived under poor
conditions in relief camps in Assam as a result of ongoing violence in
the Northeast. During the year, the Government provided assistance to
internally displaced persons (IDPs) and allowed them access to NGO and
human rights organizations. There were no reports that the Government
attacked or forcibly resettled IDPs. There were no reports of
government programs specifically designed to facilitate resettlement.
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 or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has not established a
system for providing protection to refugees or asylum seekers. The
Government provided temporary protection to certain individuals who may
not qualify as refugees, under the 1951 convention and the 1967
Protocol.
In 2003, the Nepal Communist Party leader C.P. Gajurel was arrested
after presenting a false passport during transit through the country.
In March, through his lawyers, he asked for third country asylum. At
the end of the year, he remained in judicial custody in Hyderabad.
The central Government generally denied NGOs and the office of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) direct access to refugee
camps, particularly in Mizoram, but in Tamil Nadu UNHCR was given
access and maintained a local office. The UNHCR office had no formal
status, but the Government permitted its staff access to refugees
living in urban centers. The Government does not formally recognize
UNHCR grants of refugee status (although it has provided ``residential
permits'' to many Afghans and Burmese). The Government considers
Tibetans and Sri Lankans in refugee camps to be refugees, but regards
most other groups as economic migrants. However, in recent years, a
number of court rulings have advanced the protection of refugees whom
the Government had considered to be economic migrants. During the year,
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees did not visit the country.
The Government provided assistance to refugee camps and
resettlement areas, most notably to Tibetan and Sri Lankan Tamil
refugees; however, this was applied inconsistently as it was not
applied to Bangladeshi refugees because the Government considers them
to be economic migrants. Refugees were permitted to work, and the state
and central governments paid to educate refugee children and provided
limited welfare benefits.
NGOs reported refugee complaints about deteriorated housing, poor
sanitation, delayed assistance payments, and inadequate medical care in
the Tamil refugee camps. The UNHCR met with Tamil refugees outside
their camps in connection with UN voluntary repatriation activities,
and the Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation was allowed
access to some of the camps during the year. Human rights groups
alleged that the Government used some of these ``special camps'' to
hold suspected members of the LTTE terrorist organization. Human rights
groups also alleged that inmates of the special camps sometimes were
subjected to physical abuse and that their confinement to the camps
amounted to imprisonment without trial. They alleged that several of
those acquitted by the Supreme Court in 1999 of involvement in the
assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi remained confined
in these special camps. During the year, the Tamil Nadu Government
initiated a review of the inmates of the special camps to determine
whether any could be released. By year's end, the Government was still
reviewing the situation and 23 persons remained in one camp.
There were also persons living in the country who the Government
formally did not recognize as refugees. These included some 80,000
Chakma permanent residents from Bangladesh who remained in Arunachal
Pradesh and Mizoram, as well as Afghans, Iraqis, and Iranians who did
not possess valid national passports. The Government has chosen not to
deport them, but to issue them renewable residence permits, or ignore
their status. Due to financial and other reasons, many refugees were
unable or unwilling to obtain or renew their national passports and
therefore were unable to regularize their status in the country.
In January, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee Rehabilitation
assisted 155 Sri Lankan refugees staying at the Mandapam refugee camp
in Tamil Nadu to fly back to Sri Lanka. The U.N. and Sri Lankan
Government also made arrangements for the return of refugees by ship.
In close coordination with the Tamil Nadu and Sri Lankan Governments,
UNHCR assisted the return of 1,092 Sri Lankan refugees in 2003.
In February, police charged at a group of Tibetan Youth Congress
peace marchers, including nuns, monks, and elderly persons with sticks
in the town of Dharamsala, to prevent their travel to New Delhi to
participate in Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10.
In April, the All-Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU)
protested the granting of voting rights to Bangladeshi refugees in
parliamentary elections. More than 50,000 tribal Chakma and Hajong
refugees had remained in the state since fleeing Bangladesh as
stateless citizens beginning in 1964. In May, Chakmas voted for the
first time in the Lok Sabha elections.
Members of the Santhal tribal group were non-recognized refugees in
Assam, and human rights groups estimated that 200,000 lived in relief
camps. The Santhals were sheltered in 100 camps in Assam; conditions in
such camps were extremely poor, and the Assam Government claimed it did
not have the resources to address refugee needs.
Ethnic Chins were among the non-recognized refugees in the
northeastern states, particularly Mizoram. During the year, tensions
between security forces and Chin National Force (CNF) insurgents
operating in Burma allegedly resulted in the detention, interrogation,
and expulsion of some persons associated with the CNF to Burma, where
they credibly feared persecution. During the year NGOs estimated that
10,000 persons were expelled to Burma, where the deportees were
reportedly jailed pending hearings to be scheduled before military
tribunals. An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 Chins lived and worked
illegally in Mizoram.
Mizoram human rights groups estimated that some 31,000 Reangs, a
tribal group from Mizoram displaced by sectarian conflict, were being
sheltered in 6 camps in North Tripura. Conditions in these camps were
poor, and the Tripura Government asked the central Government to allot
funds for their care. Reang leaders in the camps pressed for reserved
jobs, education benefits, and a comprehensive rehabilitation package
for refugees in the relief camps. The Mizoram Government rejected these
demands and maintained that only 16,000 of the refugees had a valid
claim to reside in the state.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The Government changed hands following free and
fair national parliamentary elections in April and May. The country has
a democratic, parliamentary system of government with representatives
elected in multiparty elections. A Parliament sits for 5 years unless
dissolved earlier for new elections, except under constitutionally
defined emergency situations. State governments were elected at regular
intervals except in states under President's Rule.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary, there were 109
incidents of violence in the state during the campaigning and voting
for the parliamentary elections in April-May; 31 civilians and 6
members of the security forces were killed, and 261 persons were
injured. In April, the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
distributed hand-written notes warning residents in parts of the
Kashmir Valley not to participate in the elections. JeM also demanded
that Kashmiris not work on public works projects and support locally
organized strikes. On April 21, militants cut off the ears of a man in
Udhampur for voting in the polls. In a similar incident in Pulwama,
members of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba cut the finger off a
villager because he had voted (voters' fingers were stained with ink
after they cast their ballot).
There were numerous instances of police or security forces
interfering with election-related activity. In April in Srinagar, the
Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Mohammad
Yasin Malik, and the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic
Freedom Party, Shabir Ahmad Shah, were among six separatist leaders
detained by police for campaigning against the parliamentary elections
in Baramulla district in northern Kashmir. Police detained these and
other activists from other groups on a regular basis prior to the polls
and by-elections in October to prevent them from campaigning against
the polling on the grounds that their activities would disturb the
peace. As a rule, the period of detention was short, and detainees were
quickly released.
There was a widespread public perception that corruption was
endemic in the executive and legislative branches of government.
Transparency International stated that corruption was ``all-pervasive
in India,'' that election campaigns for Parliament and State
Legislature seats were often funded with unreported money, and that the
Government had failed to combat the problem.
The Freedom of Information law allows citizens to request and
receive documents from the Government that were considered to be in the
public domain; however, the rules governing access to the information
remained unclear.
There were 69 women in the 783-seat national legislature, and 7
women in the Cabinet of Ministers. Numerous women were represented in
all major parties in the national and state legislatures.
Constitutional amendments passed in 1992 reserved 30 percent of seats
for women in elected village councils (Panchayats).
The Constitution reserved seats in Parliament and state
legislatures for ``scheduled tribes'' and ``scheduled castes'' in
proportion to their population (see Section 5). Indigenous people
actively participated in national and local politics.
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 some
states and in a few circumstances, groups faced restrictions. Some
domestic NGOs and human rights organizations faced intimidation and
harassment by local authorities. In April, the Asian Center for Human
Rights released a statement regarding alleged harassment by local
authorities, including denial of government services and numerous
visits from the security forces. Other human rights activists and NGOs
also complained of surprise visits and other harassment by police and
other government officials.
In October, Tamil Nadu police arrested Henri Tiphagne, the
Executive Director of the NGO People's Watch and a member of the NHRC
Advisory Committee. Tiphagne alleged that he was arrested in order to
stop him from speaking at a meeting of the Campaign Against Torture.
Police cited Tiphagne and his group's attempt to cross a police line
illegally as the cause of his arrest.
Human rights monitors in Jammu and Kashmir were unable to move
around the state freely to document human rights violations due to fear
of retribution by security forces and countermilitants. Several
individuals involved in the documentation of violations in Jammu and
Kashmir, including lawyers and journalists, have been attacked in past
years and in some cases killed. No such cases were reported during the
year, although one monitor was killed during the April-May polls after
the car she was travelling in ran over an improvised explosive device
laid by militants to disrupt the electoral process (see Sections 1.a.
and 1.g.).
International human rights organizations were restricted. Foreign
human rights monitors historically have had difficulty obtaining visas
to visit the country for investigation purposes. For example, in
November 2003, the Government failed to respond to Secretary General of
AI Irene Khan Zubeida's visa application. This application followed
other unsuccessful visa applications in 2002 and 2003, after an AI
campaign demanded a retrial of the Best Bakery case, and after AI
released a report critical of state actions during the 2002 Gujarat
riots. No visas were issued to representatives of HRW. The U.N. Special
Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings did not apply to visit the
country, but the Government denied visa requests submitted in previous
years.
The main domestic human rights organization operating in the
country was the Government-appointed NHRC. The Commission acted
independently of the Government, often voicing strong criticism of
government institutions and actions. However, the NHRC faced numerous
institutional and legal weaknesses, which human rights groups said
hampered its effectiveness. The NHRC does not have the statutory power
to investigate allegations and can only request a state government to
submit a report. The NHRC was able to investigate cases against the
military; however, according to a May order of the Home Ministry, it
could only recommend compensation, and NHRC recommendations were not
binding. Each state has its own human rights commission, and the NHRC
only has jurisdiction if the state commission fails to investigate.
Human rights groups alleged that state human rights commissions were
more likely to be influenced by local politics than the NHRC and less
likely to give a fair judgment.
Although the NHRC can issue recommendations, subpoena evidence and
intervene in court proceedings, it had no enforcement powers. Some
human rights activists called for an amendment of the 1993 Protection
of Human Rights Act to address NHRC weaknesses.
The 1993 Protection of Human Rights Act recommends that each state
establish a state human rights commission. As of October, Commissions
existed in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. 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 addition to these state
human rights commissions, legislative action established special courts
in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh to hear human rights
cases. However, the courts in Uttar Pradesh did not function, despite a
1999 court order that they be reactivated.
The NHRC was active throughout the year, highlighting human rights
abuses throughout the country, and recommending compensation for
victims of human rights abuses. For example, in May, the NHRC ordered
the State of Kerala to pay $222 (Rs. 10,000) to two Adivasi (tribal)
youths who were allegedly detained illegally by police. Also in May,
the Home Ministry authorized the NHRC to recommend relief payments to
victims of human rights abuses by security forces. The decision was in
response to a petition filed by widows of two men killed by a drunken
BSF officer. The NHRC subsequently ordered the Government to pay the
surviving families approximately $4500 (Rs. 200,000) each.
During the year, the NHRC proposed and lobbied for schools to
include a human rights course in its standard curriculum, but at year's
end no schools had implemented this suggestion. The NHRC also wrote to
the University Grants Commission asking it to initiate courses in human
rights. Several had complied by the end of the year.
At year's end, the CCDP, a Punjab-based human rights organization,
had not heard testimony involving its report documenting 672
disappearance cases currently pending before the NHRC (see Section
1.b.). In 1998, the Supreme Court had directed the NHRC to investigate
2,097 cases of illegal cremation in Punjab's Amritsar district (see
Section 1.b.). However, of the 2,097 cases, the NHRC has identified and
named 693 of the missing youth. In November, the NHRC held the Punjab
state government liable for the deaths of 109 persons and asked the
Government to pay $5,555 (Rs. 242,725) in compensation to each of the
victims' next of kin. This is the first time that compensation has been
awarded for the alleged cremation in Amritsar of 2,097 unclaimed or
unidentified bodies. The Punjab police have admitted that 109 persons
were in its custody before they died and were cremated.
The Nanavati Commission, which was tasked with conducting a re-
inquiry into the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in Delhi, did not complete its
report and was issued another extension during the year. A two-member
judicial commission to investigate riot-related violence in Gujarat,
formed in 2002, also did not complete its report, and it too was issued
an extension. It is unknown whether the findings of either report will
be made public.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of a
person's 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 people, homosexuals, and
national, racial, and ethnic minorities was a problem. The traditional
caste system, as well as differences of ethnicity, religion, and
language, deeply divided the society. According to the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, caste clashes
were frequent in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu.
Women.--Domestic violence was common and a serious problem.
According to the National Family Health Survey released in 2002, 56
percent of the women said that domestic violence was justified. These
sentiments led to underreporting and, combined with ineffective
prosecution and societal attitudes, made progress against domestic
violence difficult. According to the National Crime Records Bureau
(NCRB), 49,170 cases of domestic violence were reported in the country
from 1998-2001. The NCRB reported in July that the number of rapes
reported in 2003 had declined from 2002, from 16,373 to 14,809, while
reported molestations had decreased from 33,943 to 31,716. At year's
end, the NCRB had not released new data.
The Home Ministry reported that in New Delhi during the past year,
there were 130 cases of reported dowry deaths, 490 instances of rape,
489 instances of molestation of women, 1,211 instances of cruelty by
the husband or in-laws, and 1,599 instances of sexual harassment. In
response to the high rate of rape, New Delhi police held two workshops
per week on gender sensitivity.
The major issue was the high rate of marriage of underage girls.
According to the Health Ministry's Country Report on Population and
Development, half of all women were married by the age of 15, although
the legal age is 18.
The press reported that violence against women was increasing,
although some local women's organizations attributed the increase to
increased reporting. Only 10 percent of rape cases were adjudicated
fully by the courts, and police typically failed to arrest rapists,
thus fostering a climate of impunity. Upper caste gangs often used mass
rape as an intimidation tactic against lower castes, and gang rapes
often were committed as punishment for alleged adultery or as a means
of coercion or revenge in rural property disputes. The number of
reported rape cases and the extent of prosecution varied from state to
state.
The Government prosecuted rape cases. For example, in April, the
Delhi High Court criminally charged 4 presidential bodyguards for their
involvement in the October 2003 gang rape of a 17-year-old girl. In
June, four men were sentenced to death for raping and subsequently
murdering a 6-year-old girl in June 2003.
Providing or taking dowry is illegal under the Dowry Prohibition
Act of 1961; however, dowries continued to be offered and accepted, and
dowry disputes were a serious problem. In a typical dowry dispute, the
groom's family harassed a new wife whom they believed had not provided
a sufficient dowry. This harassment sometimes ended in the woman's
death, which the family often tried to portray as a suicide or
accident. Data collected by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the NCRB
show that there has been an overall decline of reported dowry deaths in
the last 3 years, decreasing from 6,851 in 2001 to 6,822 in 2002 and
then declining further to 6,285 in 2003. The number of dowry related
complaints received by the National Commission for Women (NCW) as
reported by the Home Ministry also showed a decline. Dowry harassment
complaints in 2002 numbered 1,074; in 2003, complaints numbered 895,
and complaints numbered 453 in the current year. However, this decline
may be a result of under-reporting and not a result of an overall
decline. Many women allegedly committed suicide because of dowry
pressure.
Usually at a disadvantage in dowry disputes, women have begun to
speak out against dowry demands. For example, in August 2003, Nisha
Sharma filed a complaint with the Delhi police when her prospective
groom and his family asked her father for more dowry, minutes before
the wedding. The potential groom was detained for 14 days while formal
charges were filed for violation of the country's dowry laws. The case
received considerable publicity, and her story has become part of the
school curriculum in Delhi to teach young children about the problems
of the dowry system.
Under the Penal Code, courts must presume that the husband or the
wife's in-laws are responsible for every unnatural death of a woman in
the first 7 years of marriage--provided that harassment was proven;
however, in practice police did not follow these procedures
consistently. In such cases, police procedures required that an officer
of the rank of deputy superintendent or above conduct the investigation
and that a team of two or more doctors perform the postmortem
procedures.
In July, the Madhya Pradesh State Government reportedly created the
position of a Chief Dowry Prevention Officer (CDPO) and required that
all government servants seeking to get married produce a sworn
affidavit by the bride, the groom, and his father that no dowry
exchanged hands. Several other states also had CDPOs, including Kerala
and Bihar, although it was unclear how effective they were.
Cases of dowry murders were reported regularly in the media. One of
hundreds of such cases was that of Amarjita Kaur, who was married to
Raj Kumar in 1999, and who was burned alive in May by her husband and
in-laws in Punjab because of her parents' inability to keep up with her
in-laws' ever-increasing dowry-related demands. Punjab police filed
murder charges against the deceased's husband and in-laws, and at
year's end the cases were still pending.
In January, the media reported on the case of Jyoti Chandra, a
woman in Uttar Pradesh whose husband and in-laws tried to kill her and
their daughter by hitting the child's head against the floor. The woman
and her daughter were rescued and taken to a hospital. Her husband
Promod was in judicial custody while the rest of the family
disappeared.
Sati, the practice of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their
husbands, was banned in the 1800s but was still practiced in some
areas. For example, in April, women's organizations in Rajasthan
challenged a judgment of the special court, which acquitted 11
defendants in a Sati case from 1987. The women's groups filed a Public
Interest Litigation suit after the state government declined to appeal
the acquittal.
In May, in Uttar Pradesh, the in-laws of a 24-year-old woman
electrocuted her, causing the amputation of her limbs, after she
refused to succumb to the sexual advances of her father-in-law. No
action was taken, and none was expected against her in-laws.
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 so-called honor killings; however, the true number of
such killings may be much higher. In September, an honor killing was
reported in Rajasthan, in which a woman married a Dalit man, and was
later killed by family members.
Dalit women were often singled out for harassment. For example,
they were occasionally stripped naked by mobs and paraded in public for
offending higher castes. In February, a 50-year-old Haryana woman had
her nose cut off by a man because her son was in love with his niece, a
non-Dalit. Police made no arrests in the case, stating they had no
orders to do so, and none was expected.
Numerous laws exist to protect women's rights, including the Equal
Remuneration Act of 1976, the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act of
1956, the Sati (Widow Burning) 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, it took an
average of 6 to 7 years to conclude such cases.
The Government has taken a number of steps to assist the victims of
crimes against women. These include establishing telephonic help lines,
creating short-stay homes, providing counseling, occupational training,
medical aid, and other services, and creating grant-in-aid schemes to
provide rehabilitation rescue.
Prostitution was illegal, but commonplace. According to UNICEF, the
country contained half of the 1 million children worldwide who entered
the sex trade. Many indigenous tribal women were forced into sexual
exploitation (see Section 6.c.).
In Lucknow in February, six tribal women were reportedly raped
while working in a brick kiln. The police initially refused to lodge a
complaint and alleged that three of the six victims had not actually
been raped. After higher authorities intervened, police filed charges
and arrested two suspects.
In recent years, prostitutes began to demand legal rights,
licenses, and reemployment training. For example in June, numerous sex
workers in Goa were displaced after authorities demolished their homes.
The sex workers, who refused the Government's offer of rehabilitation,
did so, according to the chairperson of the NCW, because they were
misled. The NCW indicated that the state government was prepared to
renew its rehabilitation package for the women.
The country is a significant source, transit point, and destination
for many thousands of trafficked women (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was common, with a vast majority of cases
unreported to authorities. In June 2003, a senior Professor at the
Madras Institute of Development Studies published a study in which she
chronicled the hazards faced by some women in the workforce. Among
these were physical and verbal abuse from male supervisors, restricted
use of toilets, and the inability to take lunch breaks. In June, the
NCW and the Press Institute of India jointly released a report that
found that a majority of women experienced gender discrimination at
their workplaces.
Often, attempts by women to report harassment resulted in further
problems or dismissal. In January, a woman who was general manager of
Dena Bank in Mumbai was suspended after she filed sexual harassment
charges against senior bank officials. There were no developments in
the case at year's end. In April, a Sahara airlines executive employee
alleged in Mumbai that she suffered sexual harassment. The 29-year-old
woman was subsequently fired. At year's end, the case was ongoing.
On April 27, the Supreme Court determined that a victim of sexual
harassment could be awarded compensation based on the findings of an
internal departmental report or investigation of the case.
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 women owning a business. The promotion of women to
managerial positions within businesses often was slower than that of
males. In a positive development, state governments supported
microcredit programs for women that began to have an impact in many
rural districts.
In February, 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 resided during the marriage or
where the marriage took place; however, the amendment permits divorce
cases where the woman presently resides. At year's end, there were no
changes to the triple talaq provisions.
In September, after a request by the All-India Democratic Women's
Association, the army now allows female military recruits to be
examined by female doctors if they desire. The situation arose after a
female soldier was denied promotion to lieutenant when she refused to
undergo gynecological tests by a male doctor.
Under many tribal land systems, notably in Bihar, tribal women do
not have the right to own land. 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 could control the family property and
inheritance.
Children.--The Government has not demonstrated a commitment to
children's rights and welfare. The Government does not provide
compulsory, free, and universal primary education. According to the
Government's statistics from 2003, 165 million of the 200 million
children between the ages 6-14 attend school. The upper house of
Parliament failed to take any action on the constitutional amendment
passed by the lower house of Parliament in 2002 that provided all
children aged 6 to 14 the right to free and compulsory education
provided by the State. In contrast to the Government's figures, UNICEF
reported that of a primary school-age population of approximately 203
million, approximately 120 million children attended school. However,
UNICEF reported that 76.2 percent of all children aged 11 to 13 years
were attending school. A significant gender gap existed in school
attendance, particularly at the secondary level, where boys outnumbered
girls 59 to 39 percent, according to the latest government statistics
released in 2001.
The Constitution provides for free medical care to all citizens;
however, availability and quality were 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 regarding child abuse.
In July, the Delhi High Court ruled that victims of child abuse
should not be examined in an open courtroom and should be allowed to
give testimony in a cordial and friendly environment. The court also
stated that a victim's father could be present and that the lawyer of
the accused could not directly question the child.
Abuse of children in both public and private educational
institutions was a problem. Schoolteachers often beat children. In
February in Amritsar, an 18 year-old Dalit boy was shot and killed by
the Principal of the Government Senior Secondary School in
Chhajjalwadi. In May, a student was hospitalized after a female teacher
injured his ear for coming to class without a required book. Also in
May in Faridkot, 12 female students belonging to the Scheduled Castes
and Tribes quit school after their teacher harassed them. No action was
taken, and none was expected.
The Government was responsive to some claims of violence against
children. In May, a village Panchayat in the state of Uttar Pradesh
sentenced a primary school teacher to death for allegedly molesting a
minor student. In June, the Tamil Nadu Child Rights Protection Network
objected to the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission order
attesting corporal punishment in schools, and highlighted instances of
torture and sexual abuse of children in schools.
Children were subjected to abuse during religious ceremonies. In
August, a rare temple ritual involving burying children for a few
minutes in a pit to propitiate a goddess was reported from southern
Tamil Nadu despite a ban imposed on this practice in 2002. In March,
activists challenged in the Mumbai High Court the ordainment of 9-year-
old boy, Priyal Bagericha, as a Jain monk. Child rights activists
alleged that various religious sects ordained children as young as 8
years. These activists also claimed that such children were not
competent to make such a decision. According to reliable media reports,
600 such child monks existed in various Jain sects. The High Court
ruled that it was acceptable for small children to become monks, as the
children had the option to go back and live with their families.
The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act prohibits child
marriage, a traditional practice in the northern part of the country,
and raised the age requirement for marriage for girls to 18; however,
the Government failed to enforce the Act. Each year in April and May,
during the Hindu festival of Askhay Tritiya, thousands of child
marriages are performed in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.
Although state governments conducted awareness campaigns during the
year, enforcement was weak, and the practice was accepted in certain
communities.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children was a
problem during the year (see Section 5, Trafficking). In June, social
activists, journalists, and the parents of 11 girls who complained of
being tortured and forced into sex slavery intervened at a circus in
Uttar Pradesh after the district magistrate failed to act on their
complaints. While one circus owner was arrested on charges of sexual
exploitation, none of the girls, all of whom were from Nepal, were
allowed to go home. In October, five minor girls were returned to the
custody of the Nepali NGO Maiti Nepal after the girls were rescued from
a circus in north Bihar. Legal proceedings continued at year's end
against the owner of the circus under the Indian Child/Bonded Labor Act
and the Minimum Wages Act, and the circus was shut down.
Female infanticide was a problem, and the traditional preference
for male children continued. According to statistics, the natural
pattern of child sex distribution suggested there should be 952 girls
for every 1,000 boys, but in the last 2 years in Tamil Nadu, the ratio
has been as low as 727 in some rural areas of the state, according to
the 2001 Census. Sex selective feticide was the cause for the drop.
Although the law prohibits the use of amniocentesis and sonogram tests
for sex determination, NGOs in the area reported that family planning
centers in the state reveal the sex of the fetus, and the Government
did not effectively enforce the law prohibiting termination of a
pregnancy for sexual preference. In addition, parents often gave
priority in health care and nutrition to male infants. Women's rights
groups pointed out that 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
male/female ratios, with Punjab reporting the lowest statewide totals
in the country: 793 females to 1000 males.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Constitution and the Immoral
Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA), supplemented by the Indian Penal
Code, prohibit trafficking in human beings, and the law contains severe
penalties for violations; however, trafficking in persons is a
significant problem and some government officials participated in and
facilitated the practice.
The ITPA toughened penalties for trafficking in children,
particularly by focusing on traffickers, pimps, landlords, and brothel
operators, while protecting underage girls as victims. Conviction for
an offense committed against a child (under 16 years) results in
imprisonment for 7 years to life. In the case of minors (16 to 18
years), the punishment is from 7 to 14 years. Other penalties under the
Act range from minimum terms of imprisonment of 1 year for brothel
keeping, to minimum terms of 7 years to life imprisonment for detaining
a person, with or without consent, for prostitution. During the year
there were more than 170 prosecutions against traffickers. Although the
police were charged with enforcing the country's laws on prostitution
and trafficking in women and children, NGOs, observers, and women in
prostitution said that police actions were often a part of the problem.
NGOs alleged that corruption at the enforcement level helped perpetuate
trafficking.
The country was a significant source, transit point, and
destination for numerous trafficked persons, primarily for the purposes
of prostitution and forced labor. There were an estimated 500,000 child
prostitutes nationwide. More than 2.3 million girls and women were
believed to be working in the sex industry within the country, and
experts believed that more than 200,000 persons were trafficked into,
within, or through the country annually. Women's rights organizations
and NGOs estimated that more than 12,000 and perhaps as many as 50,000
women and children were trafficked into the country annually from
neighboring states for commercial sexual exploitation. According to an
International Labor Organization (ILO) estimate, 15 percent of the
country's estimated 2.3 million prostitutes were children, while the
U.N. reported that an estimated 40 percent were below 18 years of age.
Tribals made up a large proportion of the women forced into sexual
exploitation.
The country was a destination country for Nepali and Bangladeshi
women and girls trafficked for the purpose of labor and prostitution.
Internal trafficking of women and children was widespread. To a lesser
extent, the country was an origin for women and children trafficked to
other countries in Asia, the Middle East, and the West. The country
also served as a transit point for Bangladeshi girls and women
trafficked for sexual exploitation to Pakistan, and for boys trafficked
to the Gulf States to work as camel jockeys. NGOs reported that sexual
exploitation of children for sex tourism increased sharply in the
states of Goa and Kerala.
Trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation from
Nepal and from Bangladesh is estimated at 6,000 to 10,000 annually from
each country. Girls as young as 7 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,
Calcutta, and New Delhi. NGOs estimate that there were approximately
100,000 to 200,000 women and girls working in brothels in Mumbai and
40,000 to 100,000 in Calcutta. In West Bengal, the organized traffic in
illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was a principal source of bonded labor.
Calcutta was a convenient transit point for traffickers who sent
Bangladeshis to New Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and the Middle East.
Within the country, women from economically depressed areas often
moved into the cities seeking greater economic opportunities, and once
there were often forced by traffickers into prostitution. In some
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 children 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.
Many indigenous tribal women were forced into sexual exploitation.
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; many came from tribes driven off
their land by national park schemes. 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 for forced labor.
Some boys, often as young as age 4, were trafficked to the Middle
East or the Persian Gulf as jockeys in camel races. Some boys ended up
as beggars in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj (pilgrimage). The majority
of such children worked with the knowledge of their parents, who
received $200 (Rs 9,300) for their child's labor. Many children may
also have been kidnapped for forced labor, with kidnappers earning
approximately $150 (Rs 7,000) per month from the labor of each child.
The child's names were usually added to the passport of a Bangladeshi
or citizen woman who already had a visa for the Gulf. Girls and women
were trafficked to the Persian Gulf states to work as domestic workers
or for commercial sexual exploitation.
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.
Although corruption was endemic, there was no known anticorruption
initiative linked specifically to trafficking during the year. NGOs
alleged that issues such as ignorance, a lack of political resolve, and
corruption at the enforcement level perpetuated the problem.
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 Calcutta claimed that
harassment, extortion, and occasional arrests on soliciting charges
usually characterized police intervention. NGOs, victims, and the media
continued to identify corruption at the enforcement level as an
impediment to swifter and fairer justice for trafficked women and
children.
In many cases, police or the staff of government remand centers,
where rescued victims were housed temporarily, sexually abused
trafficking victims. In many cases, arrested prostitutes were quickly
returned to the brothels after the brothel operators paid bribes to the
authorities. In still other cases, arrested prostitutes were released
into the custody of traffickers and madams posing as relatives. In
these cases, the debt owed by the girls to the brothel operators and
traffickers further increased, as the costs of bribing or legally
obtaining release of the girls was added to their labor debt.
Some NGOs knowledgeable about the trafficking situation 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 the past conduct of police in brothel raids and the
likelihood that many trafficking victims would be arrested and re-
victimized rather than assisted by such raids. Several NGOs have 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. In addition, under the ITPA, prostitution is not a crime; the
ITPA criminalizes only solicitation or engaging in sex acts in or near
a public place. However, the vast majority of arrests made under ITPA
were for solicitation rather than trafficking or trafficking-related
crimes. During the year, this practice was changing and in Delhi and
Mumbai, police reportedly no longer arrested trafficked women and
children for soliciting, and in Tamil Nadu, such arrests diminished
significantly. Some NGOs noted that this ambiguity, which was intended
to protect trafficking victims, instead was exploited to protect the
commercial sex industry.
Due to selective implementation of the ITPA, the rescue of sex
workers from brothels often led to their re-victimization. Using ITPA
provisions against soliciting or engaging in sexual acts, police
regularly arrestd sex workers, extorted money from them, evicted them,
and took their children from them. Therefore, although the intention of
the ITPA was to increase enforcement efforts against the traffickers,
pimps, and border operators, the opposite occurred. Implementation of
the ITPA's provisions for protection and rehabilitation of women and
children rescued from the sex trade was improving steadily. The
Government has increased police training, inter-state coordination of
anti-trafficking efforts, studies and maps of trafficking patterns,
cooperation with NGOs, and improved the number of shelter facilities
available to rescued trafficking victims.
Over the last several years, arrests and prosecutions under the
ITPA increased slightly, while all indications suggested a growing
level of trafficking into and within the country. The NHRC released a
comprehensive 2-year study of trafficking issues in the country. It
included information on cross-border trafficking and extensive data on
trafficking victims currently in commercial sex work, rescued victims,
concerned NGOs, clients, and traffickers and brothel keepers, and
covered all aspects of prevention, protection and prosecution. The
Government, the judiciary, law enforcement and NGOs lauded the report
for its thoroughness, and the Government said it would use the study's
analysis to frame anti-trafficking policy changes.
The Government cooperated with groups in Nepal and Bangladesh to
deal with the problem and began to negotiate bilateral anti-trafficking
agreements. Training and informational meetings took place under the
Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children (AATSEC)
and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. The NHRC asked
the committee that oversees the Hajj to require individual passports
for children instead of allowing them to be included on that of their
escort, in order to reduce trafficking of children. NHRC also advised
the Government of West Bengal to make efforts to educate Muslims about
child trafficking. In addition, the Central Police Academy conducted,
in conjunction with local state police academies, improved training
designed in part to sensitize officers to the problem of trafficking
and strengthen police responsiveness to trafficking victims. Efforts to
improve NGO coordination were being made in Calcutta, where 10 NGOs met
monthly as part of the AATSEC forum. Every 3 months, the group
attempted to meet with its Bangladeshi and Nepalese counterparts.
Calcutta NGOs such as Sanlaap also were seeking to build stronger
working relationships with local police.
NGOs also have demanded that special ITPA courts for speedy
resolution of cases allow videotaped testimony so that underage victims
need not be summoned back for trial.
In February, the NHRC held a 2-day program for judges, law
enforcement, and government officials on trafficking, and in August,
the NHRC released a study on the trafficking of women, recommending the
creation of a national anti-trafficking agency. According to NGOs,
there were significant improvements in investigations and arrests of
traffickers in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Calcutta.
There were roughly 80 NGOs in 10 states working for the emancipation
and rehabilitation of women and children trafficked into the sex trade.
A group on child prostitution established by the NHRC included
representatives from the NCW, the Department of Women and Child
Development, NGOs, and UNICEF. It continued to meet throughout the year
to devise means of improving enforcement of legal prohibitions.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Persons with Disabilities Act
provides equal rights to all persons with disabilities; however,
advocacy organizations admitted that its practical effects have so far
been 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 in access to health
care. Neither law nor regulation required accessibility for persons
with disabilities. Government buildings, educational establishments,
and public spaces throughout the country have almost no provisions for
wheelchair access.
Mental health care was a problem. Hospitals were overcrowded and
served primarily as a dumping ground for the mentally handicapped.
Patients generally were ill-fed, denied adequate medical attention, and
kept in poorly ventilated halls with inadequate sanitary conditions. In
July, the NHRC announced that insufficient attention was paid to issues
of the mentally handicapped 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.
The Government provided special arrangements for disabled voters
during the April-May parliamentary elections, but was not able to meet
needs on a countrywide basis. Pursuant to a Supreme Court directive,
the Election Department attempted to make all polling places accessible
by providing wooden ramps. However, disabled rights activists
criticized the Election Commission's lack of compliance and delay, and
were physically prevented from protesting outside of the Commission's
office in April. The Government provided access to most polling
stations in larger cities like New Delhi, but access in rural areas was
uneven.
The Disabled Division of the Ministry of Welfare delivered
rehabilitation services to the rural population through 16 district
centers. A national rehabilitation plan committed the Government to put
a rehabilitation center in each of 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 Persons with Disability Act, 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, review the status and condition of institutions
delivering services and submit annual reports with recommendations. In
February, the Government constituted a new NCPD headed by a former
Governor, Sunder Singh Bhandari. In April, 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, a majority of teachers have not been trained on how to meet
the special needs of disabled children. Also, the National Center for
Promotion of Employment for Disabled People stated in September that
there was a shortage of educational institutions for the disabled and
that the admissions process was marked by harassment.
In July, disabled rights NGOs reported that the disabled were not
able to obtain duty free imports of artificial limbs, crutches,
wheelchairs, walking frames, and other medical needs. They also claimed
that no effort was being made to make railway compartments, platforms,
and railways accessible to the disabled, and noted that less than 1
percent of the disabled were employed.
The Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation Act of 1995 stipulates that 3 percent of all education
slots be reserved for the disabled; however, statistics showed that
only about 1 percent of students were disabled. The Times Insight Group
reported in September that most colleges and universities did not know
about this law.
The Government provided special railway fares, education
allowances, scholarships, customs exemptions, and budgetary funds from
the Ministry of Rural Development, and rehabilitation training to
assist the disabled; however, implementation of these entitlements was
not comprehensive. Parents of children with developmental disabilities
lobbied the Government for a special security fund; however, no action
was taken on this request at year's end.
In March, disabled rights activists reported that airlines and
airports were not providing adequate accommodations for the disabled.
These included failure to adjust toilets, eating and water facilities,
and accessible parking for the physically impaired.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Constitution and the 1955
Civil Rights Act outlaws the practice of untouchability, which
discriminates against Dalits and other people defined as Scheduled
Castes; however, such discrimination remained an important aspect of
life. Despite longstanding efforts by the Government to eliminate the
discriminatory aspects of caste, the practice has remained, and
widespread discrimination based on the caste system occurred throughout
the country.
The Constitution gives the President the authority to identify
historically disadvantaged castes, Dalits, and tribal people (members
of indigenous groups historically outside the caste system). 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 were 8 percent (84.3
million) of the country's population.
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 and from attending the
same temples as caste Hindus, and from marrying caste Hindus. In
addition, they faced social segregation in housing, land ownership, and
public transport. Dalits were malnourished, lacked access to health
care, worked in poor conditions (see Section 6.e.), and continued to
face social ostracism. NGOs reported that crimes committed by higher
caste Hindus against Dalits often went unpunished, either because the
authorities failed to prosecute vigorously such cases or because the
crimes were unreported by the victims, who feared retaliation.
On May 16, approximately 100 Dalit houses in the village of
Kalapatti in Tamil Nadu were set on fire during the night, just days
after the Government announced the general election results. Upper
caste residents who blamed Dalits for their candidates' loss reportedly
committed the attacks. In July, police in Tamil Nadu reportedly used
excessive force to target Dalits while responding to riots at a
religious festival. The injured included approximately 20 Dalits, 8 of
whom required hospitalization. The riot broke out when upper-caste
Hindus forcefully barred Dalits from participating in the festival.
Christians historically rejected the concept of caste; however,
because many Christians descended from low caste or Dalit families,
many continued to suffer the same social and economic limitations,
particularly in rural areas. Low caste Hindus who converted to
Christianity lost their eligibility for affirmative action programs.
Those who became Buddhists or Sikhs did not. In some states, government
jobs were reserved for Muslims of low caste descent.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act lists offenses against disadvantaged persons and
provides for stiff penalties for offenders; however, this act had only
a modest effect in curbing abuse. Human rights NGOs alleged that caste
violence was on the increase.
Intercaste violence claimed hundreds of lives; it was especially
pronounced in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
Social pressures to enforce rigid caste lines in all social
settings led to episodes of vigilante retribution. While much more rare
in urban settings, examples of intolerance occurred regularly in rural
parts of the country. Complicated social and ethnic divisions in
society created severe localized discrimination. For example, in July,
30 men from the Yadav community in Madhya Pradesh, with the backing of
the village council, allegedly gang raped three Dalit women. The gang
rape is thought to have been in response to the elopement of a girl
from the Yadav community with a Dalit boy. Police arrested 8 persons,
and cases have been filed against 20 unidentified persons. A day after
the incident, a village leader allegedly stripped a Dalit woman in
public view. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister indicated she was
considering ordering a community fine on the entire village where
residents were mute spectators to these acts; however, no action
reportedly was taken.
Discrimination against Dalits covered the entire spectrum of
social, economic, and political activities, from withholding of rights
to killings. In January, Dalits participating in a national Dalit
Swadhikar rally in Rajasthan were denied entry to the Shrinathji temple
in Nathdwara. In May, a Dalit woman who had filed a complaint at the
Aurangabad police station, died from severe burns, after allegedly
being removed from the police station and set on fire by the officer in
charge. The officer was suspended and charged with murder.
The BJP government in Rajasthan has selectively withdrawn a large
number of cases related to communal conflicts filed during the tenure
of the previous Congress-led government. Most cases were filed against
the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other Hindu
nationalist groups. However, cases filed against minority groups
involved in the same incidents have not been withdrawn.
There were some positive developments for Dalits during the year.
In April, the Orissa state government reportedly began paying
compensation to victims under the Scheduled Caste and Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and Rules 1995 following
intervention by the NHRC. In January, the first Dalit woman was elected
as mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. In July, the Finance
Minister added an additional $10 million (RS 5 billion) to the National
Minorities Development and Finance Corporation.
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 are followed. These regulations prohibit any person,
including citizens from other states, from going beyond 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 the tribal
areas without approval from tribal authorities who, depending on the
region, were elected or nominated by their constituency.
Data from the 2001 census published in September indicated that 8.2
percent of the population belonged to scheduled tribes. According to
the ICITP, 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, the Supreme Court decided
that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act of 1989 still applied to crime victims who were members
of a scheduled tribe and caste, even if they had converted. 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 could not receive the Act's protection.
Despite constitutional safeguards, the rights of indigenous groups
in the eastern parts of the country often were ignored. NGOs reported
that in 2001, 4,121 cases of crimes against scheduled tribes were
reported to the NHRC throughout the country. In recent years, crime
against scheduled tribes has risen. In 1998, 725 cases were reported,
as opposed to 6,774 in 2002, the last year for which data were
available. Indigenous peoples suffered discrimination and harassment,
were deprived of their land, and subjected to torture and to arbitrary
arrest.
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, 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.). For example, in May, a tribal woman was
forced to parade naked in Orissa because she was suspected of being a
witch. A crowd dragged the woman into the street, undressed her, forced
her to eat human excreta, and tried to hang her from a tree. No action
was taken against those responsible.
Numerous tribal movements demanded the protection of 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, largely tribal-populated states
were created in 2000 from the Jharkhand area of Bihar and the
Chhattisgarh region of Madhya Pradesh. Authorities provided local
autonomy to some tribal people in the northeast.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Section 377 of the Penal
Code punishes acts of sodomy, buggery and bestiality; however, the law
is commonly used to target, harass, and punish lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender persons. Human rights groups stated that gay and
lesbian rights were not viewed as human rights in the country.
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 have committed these crimes and used the threat of
Section 377 to ensure the victim did not report the incidents. The
overarching nature of Section 377 allowed police to arrest gays and
lesbians virtually at will, and officers used the threat of arrest to
ensure no charges would be filed against them.
On September 2, the Delhi High Court dismissed a legal challenge to
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Plaintiffs filed the case in June
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, for conspiring to commit ``unnatural sexual
acts'' and possessing ``obscene material'' which was reportedly safer-
sex educational materials construed as pornography. The AIDS workers
were kept in captivity for more than 45 days and were refused bail
twice before it was granted by the High Court. The Court ruled 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.
Homosexuals have been detained in clinics for months and subjected
to treatment against their will. 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.
Authorities estimated that HIV/AIDS had infected approximately 4
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 Ahmedabad in April, an HIV positive woman committed suicide at
her home after allegedly being harassed by her co-workers.
HRW said that many doctors refused to treat HIV-positive children,
and that some schools expelled or segregated children because they or
their parents were HIV-positive. Many orphanages and other residential
institutions rejected HIV-positive children or denied them housing.
In January, a Mumbai High Court ruling determined that HIV-positive
persons could not be fired. There was no information available on the
implications of this ruling at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. Right of Association.--The Constitution 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 overwhelmingly 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 unionized workers, some 80 percent were
members of unions affiliated with 1 of the 5 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 all instances, 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.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively. Collective
bargaining is the normal means of setting wages and settling disputes
in unionized plants in the organized industrial sector. Trade unions
vigorously defended worker interests in this process. Although a system
of specialized labor courts adjudicates labor disputes, there were long
delays and a backlog of unresolved cases. When the parties are unable
to agree on equitable wages, the Government may establish boards of
union, management, and government representatives to determine wages.
The legislation makes a clear distinction 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 have 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 never have been defined in law. Legal mechanisms exist for
challenging the assertion that a given dispute falls within the scope
of this act. The act thus is subject to varying interpretations from
state to state. State and local authorities occasionally use 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 Kerala High Court declared in 2002 that all general strikes
were illegal and that all organizers of protests would be liable for
losses caused by shutdowns. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict,
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 in relation to 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,
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 is 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. Women
constituted the majority of the work force in the EPZs. 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 being fired.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
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 3 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 to 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 a
Government report, more than 85 percent of bonded laborers belonged to
the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Some press reports in 2002 indicated that Tamil Nadu alone had
25,800 bonded laborers, in response to which the state government began
planning and implementing rehabilitation programs. Government officials
worked to release other bonded laborers in many states. In West Bengal,
organized traffic in illegal Bangladeshi immigrants was a source of
bonded labor (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Female bondage, forced prostitution, and trafficking in women and
children for the purpose of prostitution were widespread problems (see
Section 5, Trafficking). According to press reports, prison officials
used prisoners as domestic servants and sold female prisoners to
brothels (see Section 1.c.). Devadasis, defined as prepubescent girls
given to a Hindu deity or temple as ``servants of God,'' were taken
from their families and required to provide sexual services to priests
and high caste Hindus. Reportedly many of the girls eventually were
sold to urban brothels (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor 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 have admitted that implementation of
existing child labor laws was inadequate, that administrators were not
vigilant, that children were particularly vulnerable to exploitation,
and that the Commission was focusing on the adequacy of existing
legislation.
There is no overall minimum age for child labor. However, work by
children under 14 years of age was barred completely in ``hazardous
industries,'' which included passenger goods and mail transport by
railway. In occupations and processes in which child labor is
permitted, work by children was permissible only for 6 hours between 8
a.m. and 7 p.m., with 1 day's rest weekly. In addition to industries
that utilize 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; and sporting
goods.
The Government assisted working children through the National Child
Labor Project, which was established in more than 3,700 schools.
Government efforts to eliminate child labor affected only a small
fraction of children in the workplace. A Supreme Court decision
increased penalties for employers of children in hazardous industries
to $430 (Rs 20,000) per child employed, and established 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
5,000) to the family. According to the South Asian Coalition on Child
Servitude, the authorities were pursuing some 6,000 cases against
employers.
Estimates of the number of child laborers varied widely. The
Government census of 1991 put the number of child workers at 11
million. The ILO estimated the number at 44 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, worked as domestic servants, or employed.
The working conditions of domestic servants and children in the
workplace often amounted to bonded labor. Children sent from their
homes to work because their parents could not afford to feed them, or
in order to pay off a debt incurred by a parent or relative, had no
choice. There were no universally accepted figures for the number of
bonded child laborers. However, in the carpet industry alone, human
rights organizations estimated that there were as many as 300,000
children working, many of them under conditions that amount 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. In 2000, the Government issued
a notification prohibiting government employees from hiring children as
domestic help.
Those employers who failed to abide by the law were subject to
penalties provided by the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act (such as
fines and imprisonment) and also to disciplinary action at the
workplace. For example, in June, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad
High Court directed nine children working with the Great Roman Circus
to be released and handed over to their parents. The petitioner had
alleged that the circus owner was making the children work in violation
of the law. At year's end, the case was still in pending.
In 2003, the Labor Commissioner estimated that there were 3,000
bonded child laborers in the Magadi silk twining factories. In January,
HRW interviewed children in three states, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and
Tamil Nadu, and found that production of silk thread still depended on
bonded children.
The enforcement of child labor laws was the responsibility of the
state governments; however, enforcement was inadequate, especially in
the informal sector in which most children were employed. The
continuing prevalence of child labor was attributed to social
acceptance of the practice, to the failure of the state and federal
governments to make primary school education compulsory, 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 knownly produced with
child labor. The CEPC conducted inspections to insure compliance and
allowed members to use voluntarily 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 the inspections, which covered
only 10 percent of registered looms. The inspectors had difficulty
locating unregistered looms. The Government also cooperated with
UNICEF, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Development Programme (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 received education and stipends through IPEC
programs since they began in the country 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 had rescued 33
children who had been sold into slave labor during the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--State government laws set
minimum wages, hours of work, and safety and health standards. The
Factories Act mandates an 8-hour workday, a 49-hour workweek, and
minimum working conditions. These standards were generally enforced and
accepted in the modern industrial sector; however, they were not
observed in less economically stable industries.
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. The state governments set a separate
minimum wage for agricultural workers but did not enforce it
effectively. Some industries, such as the apparel and footwear
industries, did not have a prescribed minimum wage in any of the states
in which such industries operated.
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 were the most prone
to accidents. According to the Director General of Mines' safety rules,
mining companies must seal the entrances to abandoned underground
mines, and opencast mines were to be bulldozed and reforested. However,
these rules seldom were obeyed. In June, flooding of a mine killed 17
miners in Andhra Pradesh.
Safety conditions generally tended to be better in the EPZs than in
the manufacturing sector.
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.
__________
MALDIVES
The Republic of Maldives has a parliamentary style of government
with a strong executive. Political parties are not allowed to function.
The President appoints the Cabinet, members of the judiciary, and 8
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, selects a single presidential nominee who is approved
or rejected in a national referendum. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
was approved for a sixth 5-year term in October 2003. The People's
Majlis must approve all legislation and is empowered to enact
legislation without presidential approval. In May, elections were held
for the members of the People's Special Majlis, a constitutional body
convoked by the President specifically to address constitutional
reforms. During the year, the Special Majlis, consisting of the 50
members of the regular People's Majlis and 50 members elected or
appointed specifically for this reform process, met several times.
Civil law is subordinate to Shari'a (Islamic law), but civil law
generally is applied in criminal and civil cases. The judiciary is
subject to executive influence.
In September, police separated from the National Security Service
(NSS), which formerly included the armed forces and police. The
Maldives Police Service, now a civilian force reporting to the Ministry
of Home Affairs, investigates crimes, collects intelligence, makes
arrests, and enforces house arrest. Although the NSS is responsible for
external security, it retained a role in internal security. The
Director of the NSS reports to the Minister of Defense. The civilian
authorities maintained effective control of the security forces. Some
members of the security forces committed human rights abuses.
The country had a population of approximately 285,000, according to
a mid-year estimate, and had a market-based economy. Tourism and
fishing provided employment for more than one-half of the work force.
Manufacturing, primarily apparel production, decreased. The economic
growth rate was approximately 8.5 percent. Public sector wages did not
keep pace with inflation. On December 26, a large-scale tsunami
devastated significant parts of the country, killing 82 persons and
injuring and displacing thousands of others.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained. The
President's power to appoint some members of the Parliament and the
absence of political parties constrained citizens' ability to change
their government. Although the President issued orders designed to
protect the rights of detainees, such as ensuring the right to counsel
and videotaping all interrogations, there were reports of the abuse of
prisoners. The Government continued to impose constraints on freedom of
the press and on the formation of political parties; however, on June
9, the President proposed numerous constitutional reforms including the
right to form political parties. The Government limited freedom of
assembly and association. The law prohibits the practice of any
religion other than Islam. Although the Government has undertaken a
number of programs addressing women's issues, women faced a variety of
legal and social disadvantages. The Government also restricted
internationally recognized worker 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 of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents. In September 2003, security forces killed
two inmates, Hassan Eemaan Naseem and Abdulla Amin, during the Maafushi
prison uprising. Of the 12 other inmates injured and flown to Sri Lanka
for treatment, 1 prisoner, Ali Aslaam, later died (see Section 1.c.).
During the year, the Government continued the prosecution of 12 NSS
officials involved in the killing of Hassan Eemaan Naseem and 6 others
involved in the prison uprising that followed.
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 and opposition groups, there were reports of
beatings or other mistreatment of persons in police custody during the
year. Following demonstrations in Male on August 12 to 13 to demand the
release of political prisoners and the implementation of democratic
reforms, the Government declared on August 13 a state of emergency,
which suspended constitutional rights for detainees. According to
Amnesty International (AI), Mohamed Munavvar, the former Attorney
General and member of the People's Majlis, was beaten while in custody
in August. AI also noted that at least one prisoner, Ahmed Ibrahim
Didi, needed urgent medical attention for a heart condition. The
Government denied allegations of police brutality. There were no
developments in the case of Ibrahim Moosa Luthfee, who was sentenced in
2002 to life imprisonment (see Section 2.a.) and who escaped in May
2003 from police custody after being taken to Sri Lanka for medical
treatment as a result of alleged mistreatment and harsh conditions
while he was in Maafushi Prison.
Following the September 2003 Maafushi Prison uprising and
subsequent rioting, President Gayoom launched two separate inquiries
into the incidents. The public reports made recommendations for
improved supervision of prison operations and increased rehabilitation
opportunities for inmates. The Government held an NSS captain at the
prison responsible for the uprising, dismissed him from police service,
and fired 12 NSS personnel for their roles in the prison disturbance.
In June, the Criminal Court sentenced Mohamed Aswan, second in command
of the Maafushi Prison security unit, to 6 months' banishment to a
remote island for disobeying government orders in the confrontation at
the prison (see Sections 1.d. and 2.d.). Government prosecution of
other NSS officials continued during the year.
There were reports of public floggings (which are allowed under
Shari'a as interpreted in the country). Several cases were related to
charges of adultery. In general, punishments were limited to fines,
compensatory payment, house arrest, imprisonment, or banishment to a
remote atoll (see Section 1.d.). The Government generally permitted
those who were banished to receive visits by family members.
There was one prison and one detention center in the country.
During the year, some detainees were also kept at an NSS training
facility. The country's main facility had a fluctuating population of
approximately 300 inmates.
After the 2003 Maafushi Prison riot, the Government surveyed prison
facilities in other countries to incorporate international standards
and improvements in the reconstruction of the prison, and prison
conditions improved during the year. Prisoners were allowed to work and
were given the opportunity for regular exercise and recreation. Spouses
were allowed privacy during visits with incarcerated partners. After
the August 12 to 13 civil unrest, some detainees were held
incommunicado in 8-foot by 8-foot cells at the Dhoonidoo Detention
Facility, without access to reading material or exercise. Most other
detainees held after the August unrest and state of emergency were held
in solitary confinement in 6 by 9 foot cells at an NSS training
facility. In October, some detainees were given access to legal
counsel. Food and medical care at all facilities appeared to be
adequate. Some detainees complained of mistreatment while being
transferred to and held at detention facilities, and human rights
organizations noted that some prisoners were kept in unsanitary
conditions. Women were held separately from men. Juveniles were held
separately from adults. Pretrial detainees were not held separately
from convicted prisoners. Persons arrested for drug use were sent to a
drug rehabilitation center on a space available basis.
Some international human rights organizations were not permitted to
visit prisons; however, the Government permitted prison visits by
foreign diplomats. During the year, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) signed a formal agreement with the Government to
monitor prisons but did not make any visits (see Section 4). AI visited
the country in October, but did not issue a report during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, persons were held arbitrarily
after the August 12-13 unrest in Male. Of the approximately 180 persons
initially detained (see Section 2.b.), 78 persons were detained for
several weeks without charge and without access to counsel or family
members. While the Government allowed diplomats, family members, and
members of the Maldives Human Rights Commission (MHRC) to visit some
prisoners, the Government did not grant access to all prisoners. After
3 weeks, the Government permitted family visits for some of the
prisoners.
Police initiated investigations based on response to written
complaints from citizens, police officers, or government officials, or
on suspicion of criminal activity. They were not required to obtain
arrest warrants. The Attorney General 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.
The 287-officer Maldives Police Service, which until September
functioned as a subset of the NSS, investigated crimes, collected
intelligence, made arrests, and enforced house arrest. Neither police
corruption nor impunity posed problems during the year. The Government
inquiries into the September 2003 Maafushi Prison uprising concluded
that improved supervision of prison operations and increased
rehabilitation opportunities for inmates were necessary, and these
reforms were implemented.
A suspect may be detained in prison, remain free, or be placed
under house arrest for 15 days during investigations, depending upon
the charges. In most cases, the suspect is released if not brought to
trial within 15 days, but the President may extend pretrial detention
for an additional 30 days. Those who are released pending trial may not
leave a specific atoll. Within 24 hours of an arrest, an individual
must be told of the grounds for the arrest. An individual then can be
held for 7 days. If no legal proceedings have been initiated within 7
days, the case is referred to an anonymous 3-member civilian
commission, appointed by the President, that can authorize an
additional 15 days of detention. After that time, if legal proceedings
still have not been initiated, a judge must sanction the continued
detention on a monthly basis. There is no provision for bail. Many of
these provisions were suspended for the detainees held during the state
of emergency enacted following the August 12 to 13 uprising.
The law provides for limited legal assistance to people accused of
a criminal offense. In previous years, AI alleged that conversations
between counsel and accused were conducted in the presence of police.
Lawyers can be appointed in civil cases when the complainant and
defendant are private individuals. Courts did not provide legal
representation for the indigent. Although there is no right to legal
counsel during police interrogation, detainees are granted access to
family members. The Government may prohibit access to a telephone and
nonfamily visits to those under house arrest. Following the state of
emergency declared after the August 12 to 13 unrest, most of the
detainees were held incommunicado for several weeks, but the Government
later granted some of them family visits. The law does not provide
safeguards against incommunicado detention (see Sections 1.c. and
1.e.).
On February 13, the Government arrested approximately eight persons
for planning a demonstration by an unregistered political party.
According to AI, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which the
Government does not recognize, planned to sponsor a demonstration to
protest the Government's failure to curb crime. According to
international media reports, the Government arrested the planners of
the demonstration for traffic and burglary offences; however, AI
claimed the Government made the arrests because members of MDP held
elections for the Governing Council of their organization (see Section
2.b.). Opposition leaders claimed that the MDP planned to give the
President a letter asserting that the Constitution allows political
parties. Legal action against the eight persons still detained or under
house arrest was ongoing at year's end.
The law limits a citizen's right to freedom of expression in order
to protect the ``basic tenets of Islam.'' In 2002, according to AI and
other sources, four individuals were arrested for distributing Islamist
and antigovernment literature. By the end of 2003, three of the men
were convicted to lengthy prison sentences for extremism and
subversion, and the fourth man was released.
There were reports of internal exile of citizens during the year
(see Section 2.d.). In 2002, according to the Government, more than 600
persons were temporarily banished to another island. In June, an NSS
officer was banished to a remote island for 6 months for disobeying
government orders in the September 2003 Maafushi Prison disturbances
(see Section 1.c.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution does not provide
for an independent judiciary, and the judiciary is subject to executive
influence. In addition to his authority to review High Court decisions,
the President influences the judiciary through his power to appoint and
dismiss judges, all of whom serve at his pleasure and are not subject
to confirmation by the People's Majlis. The President also may grant
pardons and amnesties.
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, which is independent of the Justice Ministry and which
handles a wide range of cases, including politically sensitive ones.
The High Court also acts as court of appeals. The President can appoint
a five-member advisory council to review High Court rulings. The
President also has authority to affirm judgments of the High Court, to
order a second hearing, or to overturn the Court's decision.
Most trials are public and are conducted by judges and magistrates
trained in Islamic, civil, and criminal law. There are no jury trials.
The Constitution 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.'' The judiciary
generally enforced these rights. During a trial, the accused also may
call witnesses, and be assisted by a lawyer (see Section 1.d.). Judges
question the concerned parties and attempt to establish the facts of a
case.
Civil law is subordinate to Shari'a, which is applied in situations
not covered by civil law, as well as in certain 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
allowed legal counsel in all cases, including those in which the right
to counsel was denied in lower court. Those convicted had 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).
There were no confirmed reports of political prisoners; however, AI
claimed the Government held at least six political prisoners. According
to AI, in 2002, Ibrahim Moosa Luthfee, Mohamed Zaki, Ahmed Ibrahim
Didi, and Fathimath Nisreen were arrested for circulating an Internet
e-mail magazine, Sandhaanu, critical of the Government. The four were
held in solitary confinement until their trial in 2002. Luthfee, Zaki,
and Didi were sentenced to life imprisonment for spreading false news
and calling for the overthrow of the Government, among other charges.
AI also considered Nisreen, the one woman arrested, a political
prisoner. She was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for charges
including calling for the overthrow of the Government and assisting
Sandhaanu originators. In May 2003, Luthfee escaped from NSS custody
while receiving medical care in Sri Lanka, and was still at large. The
Government maintained that these prisoners were convicted of crimes not
related to politics.
Opposition groups claimed that the majority of persons detained
(and not charged) after the August 12-13 unrest were being held because
of their political views (see Section 1.c.). According to the Attorney
General, at year's end, one person remained in detention.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits security officials from
opening or reading wireless messages, letters, telegrams, or monitoring
telephone conversations, ``except as expressly provided by law'';
however, the Government restricted privacy rights on occasion. After
the August 12 to 13 unrest, the Government's telecommunications
authority blocked mobile telephone text messages and Internet access
for regular Internet users for 3 days (see section 2.a.). The NSS may
open the mail of private citizens and monitor telephone conversations
if authorized in the course of a criminal investigation.
Although the Constitution provides that residential premises and
dwellings should be inviolable, there is no legal requirement for
search or arrest warrants. The Attorney General 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 does not provide for
freedom of speech or of the press, and the Government generally did not
respect such rights in practice. The Penal Code prohibits inciting
citizens against the Government. The law prohibits public statements
that are contrary to government policy and Islam, threaten the public
order, or are libelous. However, an amendment to the Penal Code
decriminalizes ``true account(s)'' by journalists of governmental
actions. Journalists and publishers practiced self-censorship.
Regulations that make publications responsible for the content of
the material they publish remain in effect, but no legal actions
against publications were initiated during the year.
The Press Council is composed of lawyers, private and government
media representatives, and other government officials. The mandate of
the council is to review charges of journalistic misconduct (advising
the Ministry of Information, Arts, and Culture on measures to be taken
against reporters, when appropriate) and promotes professional
standards within the media by recommending reforms and making
suggestions for improvement. The Council did not take notable action
during the year.
Almost 200 newspapers and periodicals were registered with the
Government, but only 3 dailies, each owned by a current or former
government minister, were published on a regular basis: Aafathis,
Haveeru and Miadhu. In March 2003, the Government announced the
withdrawal of 22 publication licenses for irregular publication. No
regularly published newspaper or periodical was affected by this
action.
The Government or its sympathizers owned and operated the only
television and radio stations. It did not interfere with foreign
broadcasts or with the sale of satellite receivers. Reports drawn from
foreign newscasts were aired on the government television station.
In general, after an easing of restrictions in the late 1990s, the
Government has taken a more stringent attitude toward freedom of the
media. For example, in 2002, three men and a woman were arrested for
circulating an Internet e-mail magazine critical of the Government (see
Section 1.e.).
There were no legal prohibitions on the import of foreign
publications except for those containing pornography or material
otherwise deemed objectionable to Islamic values.
The Government generally did not interfere with the use of the
Internet; however, it blocked sites deemed pornographic and blocked all
Internet access for 3 days following the August 12 to 13 agitation (see
Section 1.f.).
The law prohibits public statements contrary to government policy
and 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.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly; however, the Government imposed
limits on this right in practice. Informal restrictions on public
assembly were relaxed following the President's June 9 speech. Numerous
impromptu ``town hall"-type meetings occurred following the speech, in
which different proposed reforms were debated.
On February 13, the Government arrested approximately eight persons
for planning a demonstration of an unregistered political party (see
Section 1.d.).
On August 12 to 13, approximately 5,000 persons demonstrated
outside the NSS headquarters in Male to demand the release of political
prisoners and call for democratic reform. After the crowd allegedly
became unruly, the NSS used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators. The
Government arrested approximately 180 persons, including 12 members of
the Special Majlis, 2 of whom are also members of the People's Majlis.
On August 13, the Government declared a state of emergency, which
suspended constitutional rights for detainees and imposed a curfew (see
Section 1.c.). On October 10, the Government lifted the state of
emergency but continued to detain a number of suspects, including the
12 Special Majlis M.P.s. By November, all but 25 of the detainees had
either been released or transferred to house arrest. On December 5, the
Government charged four Special Majlis Members with sedition in
connection with the events of August 12 to 13. By December 14, all but
one of the Special Majlis M.P.s had been released from house arrest. On
December 31, the Government dropped the charges against the four M.P.s
and released the last M.P. from house arrest.
In September 2003, the NSS reportedly used tear gas to quell
demonstrations that damaged several government buildings in Male,
including the election office (see Section 1.c.). There were reports
that several civilians sustained minor injuries as a result of the
police action.
The Constitution provides for freedom of association; however, the
Government imposed limits on freedom of association in practice. The
Government registers clubs and other private associations if they do
not contravene Islamic or civil law. While not prohibited by law, the
President officially discouraged political parties on the grounds that
they were inappropriate to the homogenous nature of society; however,
in a speech on June 9, the President announced proposals for
constitutional reform allowing for the existence of political parties.
By year's end, no reforms were enacted.
Although not prohibited, there were no independent local human
rights groups. In December 2003, the Government formed the nine-member
MHRC, and the Commission subsequently met more than 50 times. During
the year, the MHRC issued public reports on the 2003 Maafushi prison
uprising (see Section 1.c.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution does not provide for
freedom of religion, and freedom of religion was restricted
significantly. The Constitution designates the Sunni branch of Islam as
the official state religion, and the Government interpreted this
provision to impose a requirement that citizens be Muslims. The law
prohibits the practice of any religion other than Islam. The Government
observes Shari'a. Civil law is subordinate to Shari'a, which is applied
in situations not covered by civil law as well as in certain acts such
as divorce and adultery. Foreign residents were allowed to practice
their religion 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 Muslims.
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 individual 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
have been detained and counseled regarding their conversion from Islam.
Unlike previous years, there were no reports of foreigners detained for
proselytizing.
Islamic instruction is a mandatory part of the school curriculum,
and the Government funded the salaries of religious instructors. The
Government has established a Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs to
provide guidance on religious matters. The Government also set
standards for individuals who conduct Friday services at mosques.
Under the country's Islamic practice, certain legal provisions
discriminate against women (see Sections 1.e., 3, and 5).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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. Foreign
workers often were housed at their worksites. Unlike in previous years,
their ability to travel freely was not restricted.
The law allows for forced exile, and the Government used forced
exile in practice. In June, the Criminal Court sentenced Mohamed Aswan,
second in command of the Maafushi Prison security unit, to 6 months'
banishment to a remote island for disobeying government orders in the
September 2003 confrontation at the prison (see Sections 1.d. and
2.d.).
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, 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 U.N.
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
Under the Constitution, the citizens' ability to change their
government is limited and the strong executive exerted significant
influence over both the legislature and the judiciary. Under the
Constitution, the People's Majlis 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 nominee is then confirmed
or rejected by secret ballot in a nationwide referendum. From a field
of four candidates, President Gayoom was nominated unanimously by the
People's Majlis and was confirmed by referendum in October 2003 for a
sixth 5-year term. Observers from the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) said the referendum was conducted in a
free and fair manner.
By both law and custom, the Office of the President is the most
powerful political institution in the country. The Constitution gives
Shari'a preeminence over civil law and designates the President as the
``supreme authority to propagate the tenets'' of Islam.
Unlike in previous years, the President was not the Commander in
Chief of the armed forces, the Minister of Defense and National
Security, and the Minister of Finance and Treasury. The President
remained the Governor of the Maldivian Monetary Authority. The
President's authority to appoint 8 of the 50 members of the People's
Majlis provided the President strong political leverage. The elected
members of the People's Majlis, who must be Muslims, serve 5-year
terms. All citizens over 21 years of age may vote. Individuals or
groups were free to approach members of the People's Majlis with
grievances or opinions on proposed legislation, and any member may
introduce legislation. There were no political parties, which were
officially discouraged (see Section 2.b.).
Elections to the People's Majlis were held in 1999. According to
SAARC observers, the 1999 elections were ``free and fair in accordance
with the relevant laws and regulations of the Republic of the
Maldives.'' A by-election with 38 percent participation was held in
April 2002 following the expulsion of M.P. Mohammed Nasheed from the
People's Majlis upon his conviction for petty theft. According to
observers, the election was generally free and fair. Elections for the
People's Majlis, originally scheduled for December 31, were postponed
following the December 26 tsunami. 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 15 deadline;
however, at least one candidate who was in detention at the filing
deadline was able to file an application and conduct a campaign.
For the past several years, the People's Majlis has held a question
period during which members may query government ministers about public
policy. Debate on the floor since the question period was instituted
has become increasingly open. In March and April, there was significant
debate about legislation regarding the MHRC (see Section 4).
On May 28, elections were held for the members of the People's
Special Majlis, a constitutional body convened by the President to
address constitutional reforms. The Special Majlis, consisting of the
50 members of the regular People's Majlis and 50 members elected or
appointed specifically for this reform process, met several times
during the year, albeit without the presence of members held in
detention. The Special Majlis was temporarily suspended in July after
some M.P.s walked out in protest at procedures adopted to elect the
Speaker. The sessions resumed on October 12, and a Speaker was elected
by open ballot on October 14.
Although research about corruption in the executive and legislative
branches was limited, some sources cited anecdotal reports that the
power of the President and his family directed most decisions,
including economic activities and political reform. There is an anti-
corruption board that investigates allegations of corruption in the
Government.
There are no laws that provided for access to government
information.
There were 5 women in the 50-member People's Majlis and 6 in the
50-member Special Majlis. There were two women in the Cabinet. Women
are not eligible to become president but may hold other government
posts. In 2002, a woman was named High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, the
first woman to hold the office.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Although not prohibited, no independent local human rights groups
existed in the country.
Some international human rights groups were not allowed in the
country; however, on September 4, the President told international
media that AI could enter the country to assess prison conditions. AI
visited the country in October but did not issue a report at year's
end. In October, representatives from the National Democratic Institute
for International Affairs (NDI) visited the country at the invitation
of the Government. In December, the NDI mission made a number of
recommendations to the Government; however, at year's end no action was
taken on the recommendations.
In December 2003, the President created the MHRC (see Sections 2.d
and 3). During the year, the People's Majlis did not pass legislation
to define the Commission's mandate, composition, or independence;
however, after visiting some of the detainees held at two detention
centers, the MHRC recommended to the Government that it improve prison
and detention center conditions, including the provision of access to
medical care at all times and the assignment of female guards to guard
female detainees. During the year, the ICRC signed an agreement with
the Government to monitor prisons, but did not conduct prison visits
during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for the equality of all citizens before
the law, but there is no specific provision to prohibit discrimination
based on race, sex, religion, disability, or social status. Women
traditionally have been disadvantaged, particularly in terms of the
application of Shari'a, in matters such as divorce, education,
inheritance, and testimony in legal proceedings. There were no reports
of official or societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Women.--Both non-governmental and government sources agreed that
domestic violence and other forms of violence against women were not
widespread; however, there were no firm data on the extent of violence
against women. Police officials reported that they received few
complaints of assaults against women. Rape and other violent crimes
against women were extremely rare. Under Shari'a, the penalty for rape
is flogging, imprisonment for up to 5 years, or banishment.
Although women traditionally have played a subordinate role in
society, they participated in public life in growing numbers. Women
constituted 39 percent of government employees. The literacy rate for
women was 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 earlier marriage is common.
Under Islamic practice, husbands may divorce their wives more
easily than vice versa, absent any mutual agreement to divorce. Shari'a
also governs intestate inheritance, granting male heirs twice the share
of female heirs. A woman's testimony is equal to one-half of 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. The percentage of school-age children
in school in 2002 was: (grades 1 to 5) 99 percent; (grades 6 to 7) 95
percent; and (grades 8 to 10) 51 percent. Of the students enrolled, 49
percent were female, and 51 percent were male. In many instances,
education for girls was curtailed after the seventh grade, largely
because parents did not allow girls to leave their home island for an
island having a secondary school.
Children's rights are incorporated into law, which specifically
protects them from both physical and psychological abuse, including at
the hands of teachers or parents. The Ministry of Gender, Family
Development and Social Security has the authority to enforce this law
and received strong popular support for its efforts. Although unable to
provide an exact number, the Ministry noted that there continued to be
reports of child abuse during the year, including sexual abuse.
Penalties for the sexual abuse of children range from up to 3 years'
imprisonment to banishment. It was not known if there were any
prosecutions for child abuse or child sexual abuse during the year.
Government policy provided for equal access to educational and
health programs for both male and female children.
Child labor remained a problem, primarily in agriculture, fishing,
and 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. A 2003
government census cited 4,728 persons with disabilities; however, local
NGOS claimed there were thousands more with disabilities, due to high
levels of malnutrition during pregnancy. The Government has established
programs and provided services for persons with disabilities, including
special educational programs for hearing and visually disabled persons.
Students with physical disabilities were integrated 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, Family Development and
Social Security-run 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.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the law does not expressly
prohibit unions, it recognizes neither a worker's right to form or join
them nor the right to strike. Associations (such as industry
associations and clubs) are allowed. In May 2003, the Government
enacted a new law to strengthen the legal regime governing voluntary,
not-for-profit associations. 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 the 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, and 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. Government introduced guidelines prohibit employment of children
under 18 by the Government and in hazardous jobs such as construction,
carpentry, welding, and driving.
According to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions,
child labor remained a problem, primarily in agriculture, fishing, and
small commercial activities, including in family enterprises. There
were no reports of children being employed in the industrial sector.
The working hours of children 14 years or older were 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 is not
charged with their enforcement. The Ministry of Employment and Labor's
Employment Relations and Compliance Unit deals with child labor
problems.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage for the private sector, although the Government has 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 7-hour day and a 5-day workweek.
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. It was
unclear whether workers could remove themselves from unsafe working
conditions without risking the loss of their jobs. The Ministry of
Employment and Labor's Employment Relations and Compliance Unit
resolves wage and labor disputes, visits worksites, and enforces labor
regulations.
__________
NEPAL
Nepal is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of
government. A Maoist insurgency, punctuated by ceasefires in 2001 and
2003, has been ongoing since 1996. King Gyanendra assumed the throne in
2001. The democratically elected parliament consists of the House of
Representatives (lower house) and the National Assembly (upper house).
International observers considered the 1999 parliamentary elections to
be generally free and fair. The then-Prime Minister dissolved the
parliament in 2002, and the term of parliament subsequently expired.
The ongoing insurgency subsequently prevented new elections. On June 2,
the King reinstated Sher Bahadur Deuba as Prime Minister. The
Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the courts
often were inefficient and susceptible to political pressure and
corruption.
The Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) continued to exercise responsibility
for security in the country under an operational structure referred to
as the ``unified command,'' which included elements of the Nepal Police
and the Armed Police Force (APF). Local Chief District Officers (CDOs),
civil servants in the Home Ministry, have wide discretion in
maintaining law and order. While the King, as Army Supreme Commander,
maintained ultimate control of the Royal Nepalese Army, there is no
evidence that he exercised direct operational control of the Army.
Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the National
Police and Armed Police Force. Members of the security forces committed
numerous, serious human rights abuses.
The country is extremely poor, with an annual per capita GDP of
approximately $276 (20,474 Nrs) and a 3.7 percent growth rate during
the year. Subsistence agriculture supported more than 80 percent of the
country's 24.1 million population. Wages and benefits did not keep pace
with inflation. The mixed economy suffered due to slow growth in the
world economy and the insurgency, which resulted in a decline in
revenues from tourism and from exports of textiles and carpets.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it
continued to commit numerous serious abuses. The citizens' right to
change the Government was provided for by the Constitution; however,
the ongoing insurgency has prevented the holding of elections. Since
the dismissal of the elected government in 2002, the King has appointed
three interim governments, but parliament has not been reestablished.
The security forces used arbitrary and unlawful lethal force and
continued to abuse detainees, sometimes using torture as punishment or
to extract confessions. The disappearance of persons in custody was a
serious problem. Prison conditions remained poor. Impunity remained a
problem, although the military investigated some claims of abuses and
found several soldiers guilty under court martial. The National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) investigated allegations of human rights
violations and, while the Government has begun to pay compensation to
some victims, recommended disciplinary action against police seldom
occurred. Arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detention were
problems. Judicial susceptibility to political pressure, fear of
retribution, corruption, and long delays in trial procedures remained
problems. Media criticism of the Government was allowed, so long as it
did not aid terrorism or directly criticize the King. The Government
restricted public celebrations by the Tibetan community. The
Constitution imposes restrictions on religious proselytizing. Women,
persons with disabilities, and lower castes suffered from widespread
discrimination. Violence against women, trafficking in women and girls
for prostitution, and child labor also remained serious problems.
Worker rights continued to be restricted.
During the year, Maoists continued their campaign of torturing,
killing, bombing, forcibly conscripting children, extorting, forcing
closures of schools and businesses, and committing other serious and
gross human rights abuses. Maoist impunity remained a significant
problem. During the year, an estimated 2,380 persons were killed in
insurgency-related violence, including 156 members of the national
police; 240 members of the Royal Nepalese Army; 53 members of the Armed
Police Force; 1,457 Maoists; and 474 civilians, including 12 government
officials. Maoist actions limited press freedom and the right of
assembly, negatively impacted religious communities, prevented free
movement, limited citizens' ability to change their government, and
prevented hundreds of thousands of children from receiving education.
Since the beginning of the insurgency, the Maoists have not credibly
investigated any human rights abuses committed by their forces, despite
their claims to respect and uphold international conventions on human
rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, the security forces continued to commit arbitrary and unlawful
killings. Some observers found the number of prisoners taken under
battlefield conditions to be low and concluded that many Maoist
fighters apparently were killed rather than taken prisoner. According
to statistics from the press and human rights groups, security forces
killed 1,354 suspected Maoists during the year. Observers argued that
security forces frequently broke their own rules of engagement by
shooting at unarmed fleeing suspects. For example, on May 16, Rajendra
Paneru was shot and killed while trying to escape security forces in
Gorkha. On March 17, security personnel shot and killed mentally
handicapped Ganesh Syangtang of Hetauda when he attempted to flee. The
District CDO agreed to investigate the latter case, but there were no
developments at year's end.
RNA soldiers were responsible for a number of killings, including
deaths in custody in which torture was credibly alleged (see on 1.c.).
During the year, the RNA's human rights investigative cell conducted 9
new investigations. In most cases of arbitrary or unlawful killings,
the security forces claimed that the victims were Maoists.
On January 11, members of a joint RNA/APF patrol in Manpur Tapara,
Bardia District, killed father and son Bhoj Bahadur Karki and Top
Bahadur Karki. A subsequent investigation by the RNA determined that a
soldier of the Joint Security Patrolling Group had acted unlawfully.
The soldier was sentenced to 7 years' imprisonment under general court
martial. An Armed Police Force officer also was demoted in rank as a
result of the incident.
During a raid in Ward 4 Handikhola VDC in Makwanpur District on
February 5, 14 Maoists and 2 civilians (a 31-year-old man and an 80-
year-old woman) were killed. Locals accused the RNA soldiers of
capturing and then executing two of the Maoists, and of using excessive
force against the local population. An investigation was ongoing at
year's end.
On February 12 and 13, in Pokharichauri, Kavre District, RNA
soldiers killed 17-year-old Subhadra Chaulagain and 18-year-old Reena
Rasaili while they reportedly were attempting to flee custody. It was
alleged that the girls, accused by the RNA of being Maoists, were
captured, beaten, and raped. On February 17, RNA soldiers took Maina
Sunuwar from her home in Kavrethok, Kavre District, and presumably
killed her. An RNA investigation into these cases was ongoing at year's
end.
According to Human Rights Watch, in mid-February in Raghunathpur of
Rautahat District, Kishori Patel Kurmi and Suresh Raut Patel were
summarily executed after being wounded by a group of soldiers who,
according to locals, were dressed as Maoists. Villagers protested the
killings in the district headquarters and compensation was promised. No
action was taken by year's end.
The RNA reopened the investigation into the 2003 killing of at
least 19 Maoists in the Ramechhap District. In March, an RNA commander
was charged with two counts of ``failing to protect detainees leading
to violation of their human rights, and misreporting to army
headquarters.'' While the preliminary RNA report had denied any
extrajudicial killings, the latest RNA report revealed that ``some of
the unarmed rebels were killed after their capture even as a few of
them were killed in separate encounters at different areas in Ramechhap
district.'' On March 11, the RNA announced that the RNA major in
command of the company in question would face a court-martial.
The RNA was investigating the October 2003 death of Govinda Poudel,
a Maoist suspect who died in the hospital after allegedly being
tortured in custody.
During the year, an RNA court martial prosecuted soldiers accused
of involvement in the death of Maya Devi Tamang in December 2003. One
soldier was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and discharged from
service; one soldier was given an official warning; one soldier was
demoted; and the officer in charge was suspended from the opportunity
for promotion for 13 months. The RNA has recommended to the Government
that the family of the victim be compensated.
A corporal and a warrant officer were discharged from the army and
sentenced to two years in jail for the 2003 killings of Hari Prasad
Bhattarai, Durga Koirala, and Dakmani Koirala. The RNA also discharged
the officer in charge of the unit from service.
There were no developments in the 2003 killings of Raj Dev Yadav
and Brahma Dev Yadav.
In 2003, the Government agreed to provide compensation to a number
of victims' families for wrongful killings. For example, the Government
paid Devi Lal Poudel's parents approximately $6,700 (500,000 Nrs) as
compensation for the police killing in April 2003 of Poudel, a student
participating in a violent protest in Rupandehi District against
petroleum price hikes.
In September 2003, a judge in Kathmandu District Court ordered the
Government to pay approximately $1,340 (100,000 Nrs) to the family of
Ganesh Kukmar Rai. Despite the court order, the Government had not paid
the compensation at year's end.
In October 2003, soldiers opened fire at a secondary school in
Mudhbara, Doti District, where armed Maoists were forcing students and
teachers to attend a cultural program. Soldiers killed one Maoist and
four students. An RNA investigation exonerated the soldiers involved of
wrongdoing, but recommended that the victims' families be paid $2,680
(200,000 Nrs) each. No action had been taken at year's end.
In November 2003, a taxi accidentally hit an RNA school bus in
Kathmandu. A soldier on the bus, thinking the bus was under attack,
shot and killed Rajiv Shrestha, the taxi driver. Following an
investigation and court martial, the soldier was convicted of using
excessive force and charged with 4 months' imprisonment and discharged
from service. The RNA court of inquiry recommended to the Home Ministry
that compensation be provided to Shrestha's family. The Government paid
$2,680 (200,000 Nrs) in compensation.
In December 2003, police shot and killed Suresh Baral in Pokhara,
Kaski District, as he approached a checkpoint on motorcycle at night.
The Government paid Baral's family $1,340 (100,000 Nrs) as compensation
for his death.
There were no developments in the 2002 killings of Ajabwal Yadav,
Sakur Manihar, Krishna Sen, or Ram Hari Khadga.
There were numerous killings by unknown actors. For example,
Communist Party of Nepal--United Marxist Leninist Party parliamentarian
Hem Narayan Yadav from Siraha was killed on February 2 in Danusha
District. Yadav's body was found covered by a Maoist flag with Maoist
materials nearby. Several investigations into Yadav's death pointed to
the RNA, although the RNA denied involvement.
Maoist rebels clashed with security forces repeatedly during the
year and engaged in targeted killing of individual members of the
security forces, government officials, and civilians. For example, on
July 30, the rebels abducted, tortured, and killed an unarmed RNA
soldier in Kaski District. On August 4, rebels shot and killed a police
officer in Jhapa District after abducting him several days earlier. On
August 6, the rebels abducted and then killed an RNA soldier in
Dhankuta District. On August 9, the Maoists also killed two security
personnel after abducting them in Kapilbastu District.
The Maoists continued to kill and torture politicians, civilians,
and journalists. The insurgents killed 409 civilians during the year.
For example, on January 15, Maoists killed the Mayor of Birgunj (and
journalist) Gopal Giri; on July 2, Maoists killed the Mayor of Pokhara,
Harka Bahadur Gurung; and on July 12, they killed the Mayor of
Dhangadhi Municipality, Dhan Bahadur Bam. Similarly, on August 3, the
Maoists abducted the former mayor of Bardiya District from his
relative's funeral procession, cut off his limbs and head, and threw
his body on the burning pyre.
On July 19, the Maoists killed a wheelchair-bound man in Morang
district. On July 31, the Maoists beat to death a teacher in the mid-
western district of Dailekh. The Maoists abducted Til Bahadur Limbu on
August 12 and killed him on August 18. Limbu was a Nepal Red Cross
volunteer and had previously served as the Mahamai Village Development
Committee Chairman.
On February 15, Maoists killed Ganesh Chiluwal, Head of the Maoist
Victims Association, a local NGO representing survivors of Maoist
terror, at the offices of his association in Kathmandu.
On August 11, the Maoists killed Dekendra Raj Thapa, a reporter for
the state-owned Radio Nepal and also an advisor to the Human Rights and
Peace Society (HURPES), a local human rights nongovernmental
organization (NGO), in the mid-western district of Dailekh. Maoists
killed him after detaining him for more than a month for allegedly
spying for the security forces.
On September 1, a mob enraged by the death of 12 citizen workers in
Iraq at the hands of Iraqi militants attacked manpower agencies,
mosques, Middle Eastern airline companies, and press houses in several
cities in the country (see Section 2.c.). Significant property damage
occurred and seven persons lost their lives in the violence. In
response to the mob actions, the Government imposed a curfew for
several days. Most observers were critical of the slow speed with which
the Government responded to the violence. Police arrested more than 50
persons for participating in the riots.
b. Disappearance.--The disappearance of persons while in the
custody of security forces was a significant problem. The 2002
Terrorist and Destructive Activities Act (TADA), which codified some
aspects of the Royal Ordinance declared during the state of emergency
in 2001, authorized extended preventative detention. In some cases,
individuals disappeared, and their whereabouts remained unknown until
much later when the Government acknowledged the individuals were
detained under the TADA. According to the Informal Sector Service
Center (INSEC), a local human rights NGO, since the beginning of the
insurgency in 1996, there have been 17,963 cases of disappearances,
1,354 by the state and 16,609 by the insurgents. There have been no
prosecutions of government officials or Maoists for their involvement
in disappearances. Since the 1997 establishment of the NHRC, the
Commission has registered 1,340 cases of disappearance. On July 1, the
Government formed a five-member committee (including a Joint Secretary
at the Home Ministry, a Deputy Inspector General of Police, a Deputy
Inspector General of the Armed Police Force, and a Deputy Chief Officer
of the National Investigation Department) to investigate disappearance
claims. On August 11, the committee announced it had looked into 36
disappearance cases and had identified the location of 24 of the 36
missing. In response to public complaints that the panel's efforts were
insufficient, the Government extended the tenure of the committee. By
the end of the year, the committee had identified the location of 320
missing individuals. The Government subsequently extended the tenure of
the committee into 2005.
On September 17, the Government opened a detention facility at
Sundarijal in the Kathmandu Valley to house detained suspected Maoists
while they were being interrogated. Family members, lawyers, and human
rights groups were given access to the facility, but access was limited
and in some instances, denied.
According to the NHRC, more than 1,200 persons remained disappeared
since the beginning of the insurgency. INSEC reports that the
whereabouts of 177 persons in government custody since the beginning of
the insurgency remained unknown at year's end. On May 9, security
forces in Balaju, Kathmandu, arrested Hari Krishna Adhikari, the
headmaster of Puspa Lal Memorial Primary School in Nuwakot; his
whereabouts remained unknown.
Som Bahadur Ghale Tamang, General Secretary of the Tamang
Indigenous People's Organization, and Bishnu Prasad Gyawali, who had
been arrested in 2002, were subsequently released later that year.
The disappearance of persons at the hands of the Maoists was a
significant problem. INSEC reported that Maoists abducted 665 persons
during the year and that 384 civilians remained missing since the
beginning of the insurgency. At year's end, 12 members of the national
police, 13 members of the APF, and 6 soldiers remained missing after
being abducted by Maoists. Police statistics indicated that Maoists
have abducted 420 policemen since 1996; 382 were later released, 29
were killed and 12 remained missing.
During the year, Maoists significantly expanded a campaign of
abducting civilians, primarily students and teachers, for
indoctrination programs and forced paramilitary training. In January
and February, approximately 700 children were abducted. Additionally,
Maoist-enforced education closures in the western part of the country
affected more than 700,000 students and 51,000 employees from 5,000
private and public schools, according to the Western Regional
Coordination Committee of the Private and Boarding Schools Organization
Nepal.
In December, Maoists kidnapped Jhapa district court judge Tanka
Bahadur Moktan, who was subsequently released after 3 days.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture, and the Civil Code
prohibits acts such as beating and mutilation; however, security forces
at times used torture and beatings to punish suspects or to extract
confessions. The Center for the Victims of Torture (CVICT) reported
that blindfolding and beating soles of feet were the most common
methods. Detainees were often held incommunicado and unable to contact
family members, doctors, or lawyers (see Section 1.d.). The Government
sometimes failed to conduct thorough and independent investigations of
reports of security force brutality and generally did not take
significant disciplinary action against those involved.
Members of the security forces often were unwilling to investigate
and to discipline fellow officers, and persons were afraid to bring
cases against police or army for fear of reprisals. The Government
provided human rights education for police, and soldiers received human
rights education as part of their regular training.
The Constitution and the Torture Compensation Act provide for
compensation for victims of torture, and during the year, three victims
were awarded compensation. According to CVICT, 5 persons filed for
compensation under the act during the year, compared with 57 claims in
2003 and 7 claims during 2002. CVICT attributed the rise in claims in
2003 to victims' greater willingness to report such incidents during
the ceasefire.
A human rights group reported that on June 18 security forces
tortured Subid Guragain, Editor of Rajdhani Daily and Vice President of
Nepal Journalist Union Sunsari Branch, in front of the Inurwa District
Police Office. Thereafter, he was brought to the unified command
barracks in Inurwa and was abused and beaten by soldiers. After a rally
organized by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, the RNA publicly
apologized for the mistreatment.
In April, six police officers physically abused two Tibetan refugee
girls in Lukla (the girls were traveling with 53 other refugees). The
girls were beaten with a stick, told to open their clothes, and groped.
The refugees were also robbed of $1,300 (96,200 Nrs) and other
valuables. According to an APF investigation, civilian police carried
out the abuse, and APF informed civilian police authorities. No further
information on this case was available by year's end.
On November 10, six RNA soldiers allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl
in Sunsari District, and reportedly threatened her life if she reported
the crime. The RNA turned the six soldiers over to the civilian
district court in Inarwa on December 31 after the soldiers reportedly
admitted their involvement to the police investigating the case.
At year's end, the court case against two former APF police
officers charged in December 2003 rape of a 16-year-old girl in
Baijapur, Banke District was still underway.
According to CVICT, in October 2003, the Sunsari District Court
awarded Ram Bahadur B.K. approximately $135 (10,000 Nrs) in his 2002
torture case. The Sunsari District Court, and subsequently the
Biratnagar Appellate Court, in December 2003 ruled that Krishna Lohani
B.K. was not entitled to compensation in her 2002 torture case. There
was no new information available concerning Chetkana Adhikary's 2002
torture complaint filed with the Alliance for Human Rights and Social
Justice.
There were no updates by year's end in the 2003 torture cases of
Manoj Lama, Abdesh Singh, and Kumar Lama, who had been held
incommunicado and tortured at the Hanumandhoka District Police Office
in Kathmandu. There were also no updates in the cases of suspected
criminals Deepak Laya Magar, Ram Kumar Karki, and Jairam Bhandari, who
were subjected to torture at the same facility.
On April 18, Maoists abducted a 65-year-old woman in Nuwakot
District, accusing her of being a spy for security forces. The rebels
bombed her house before leaving, completely destroying it, but released
her 5 days later.
On June 22, Maoists hammered the legs of eight Dalits (formerly
known as untouchables in the caste system) in the far-western district
of Achham. Locals were warned by the Maoists not to provide any medical
assistance to the Dalits.
Maoists used torture as a means to prevent peaceful political
protests against their party. For example, on November 29, Maoists
attacked a number of People's Front Nepal (PFN) party workers in
Baglung District, in one case drilling holes into the legs and hands of
the PFN Vice Chairman's wife Rupa Thapa with a hand-drill. On December
3, the Maoists drilled holes in the feet and broke both legs of PFN
party worker Bhabilal Chantyal of Damek, Baglung.
Maoist insurgents used landmines that killed and injured security
forces and civilians (see Section 1.g.).
Prison conditions were poor and did not meet international
standards. Overcrowding was common. According to the Department of
Prisons, of the 6,393 persons in jail, 3,024 had been convicted of a
crime and 3,369 were awaiting trial. Women normally were incarcerated
separately from men, and in similar conditions.
Due to a lack of adequate juvenile detention facilities, children
sometimes were incarcerated with adults as criminal offenders or
allowed to remain in jails with their incarcerated parents for lack of
other available options (see Section 4). In November 2001, the
Government began transferring children detained in jail to two
residential facilities that provide education in accord with a
provision in the 1992 Children's Act, but this has not completely ended
the practice of incarcerating children with adults.
The Government permitted local human rights groups and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisons. In
some cases, the Government asked NGOs to visit prisons to provide
health and counseling services. The ICRC had inconsistent access to
detainees in army custody.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution stipulates that
the authorities must arraign or release a suspect within 24 hours of
arrest; however, the police at times violated this provision. Under the
law, the police must obtain warrants for an arrest unless a person is
caught in the act of committing a crime. For many offenses, the case
must be filed in court within 7 days of arrest. If the court upholds
the detention, the law authorizes the police to hold the suspect for 25
days to complete their investigation, with a possible extension of 7
days. However, the 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 not held under special antiterrorist legislation 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, Maoist suspects often were denied visits from
family members and lawyers. There is a system of bail, but bonds were
too expensive for most citizens. Due to court backlogs, a slow appeals
process, and poor access to legal representation, 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.
Under the Public Security Act, the authorities may detain persons
who allegedly threaten domestic security and tranquility, amicable
relations with other countries, or relations between citizens of
different classes or religions. Persons whom the Government detained
under the Act were considered to be in preventive detention and could
be held for up to 6 months without being charged with a crime. The
authorities may extend periods of detention after submitting written
notices to the Home Ministry. The security forces must notify the
district court of the detention within 24 hours, and it may order an
additional 6 months of detention before authorities file official
charges. This act was commonly applied in cases involving suspected
Maoists because of the limited number of appellate courts available
that process TADA charges and the difficulty in transporting detainees
to these courts. Human rights groups alleged that the security forces
have used arbitrary arrest and detention during the ``People's War'' to
intimidate communities considered sympathetic to the Maoists.
Between April and June, observers estimated that over 1,000
political protestors, including political leaders, were arrested under
the Public Security Act after the Kathmandu District Administration
prohibited public gatherings. Most were released within 24 hours of
their arrest.
Under the TADA, suspects must appear before a court within 60 days
of their arrest. On October 13, the TADA was renewed and amended to
extend the maximum period of preventive detention from 90 days to 360
days. According to police statistics, 21,470 suspected Maoists have
been arrested since the beginning of the insurgency (some may have been
repeat arrests). Of that number, 13,867 were released after
investigation, 7,176 were charged or prosecuted, and 424 remained under
investigation. Government sources estimated that approximately 1,800
Maoist suspects, including 5 Central Committee members, were released
without judicial process during the 2003 ceasefire. There were no
recorded cases of prosecutors bringing Maoist suspects to trial during
the year. During 2003, at least 24 cases involving Maoist suspects were
sent to trial in Appellate Courts, which share jurisdiction in
terrorist cases with Special Tribunals. All of the trials were still
ongoing at year's end. Figures for the number of persons being detained
by the Army on suspicion of being Maoists were unavailable by year's
end.
Other laws, including the Public Offenses Act, permit arbitrary
detention. This act and its many amendments cover 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, the highest-ranking civil servant in each of the
country's 75 districts. The Act authorized the CDO to order detentions,
to issue search warrants, and to specify fines and other punishments
for misdemeanors without judicial review. Many citizens involved in
public disturbances, rioting, and vandalism were summarily arrested,
detained for short periods (sometimes a few hours), and released.
Authorities detained journalists on occasion, on suspicion of
having ties to or sympathy for the Maoists (see Section 2.a.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, courts remained vulnerable to political
pressure, and bribery of judges and court staff was endemic. The
Supreme Court has the right to review the constitutionality of
legislation passed by parliament.
Appellate and district courts have become increasingly independent,
although sometimes they remained susceptible to political pressures.
For example, in Rolpa, one of the districts most affected by the
``People's War,'' human rights groups have accused the district courts
of acting in complicity with CDOs in violating detainees' rights.
The judicial system consists of three levels: District Courts,
Appellate Courts, and the Supreme Court. The King appoints judges on
the recommendation of the Judicial Council, a constitutional body
chaired by the Chief Justice. The Council also is responsible for the
assignment of judges, disciplinary action, and other administrative
matters. Judges decide cases; there is no jury system. 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 hear cases against suspects
charged with violations under the TADA.
Delays in the administration of justice were a severe problem.
According to the latest statistics, the Supreme Court had a backlog of
17,781 cases; the Appellate Courts had 10,031; and district courts had
27,578. By year's end, at least 24 suspected Maoists arrested under
special antiterrorism laws awaited trial in the Appellate Courts.
The Constitution 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, except in
some security and customs cases. These rights were not equally applied.
All lower court decisions, including acquittals, are subject to appeal.
The Supreme Court is the court of last resort, but the King may grant
pardons. The King also can suspend, commute, or remit any sentence.
Although prisoners have a constitutional right to legal
representation and a court appointed lawyer, a government lawyer or
access to private attorneys is provided only on request. Consequently,
those persons unaware of their rights may be deprived of legal
representation. Suspects detained under the TADA often were denied
access to both attorneys and family members.
There were instances of penalization of attorneys involved in the
defense of human rights. On February 18, security forces arrested
lawyer and journalist Dhananjay Khanal of Gorkhaland Monthly and
Tanahun publications at his home in Lalitpur for unknown reasons.
However, it is believed that he was arrested for providing legal
services to those detained under the TADA Act. Khanal was released 3
days later. According to the Nepal Bar Association, two lawyers,
Sujindra Maharjan and Rajendra Dhakal, remained in government custody
at year's end. The reason for their detention was not clear.
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. 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. No such trials have occurred during the past 7 years.
The TADA law allows for terrorism cases to be prosecuted in a
Special Court, although thus far terrorism cases have only been heard
in the Appellate Courts. In either case, suspects may appeal verdicts
to the Supreme Court.
In districts where Maoists have gained some measure of
administrative control, the insurgents have set up ``people's courts.''
These courts generally decide civil cases; however, in August, Dekendra
Raj Thapa, a journalist and human rights activist, was sentenced by a
``people's court'' before being summarily executed (see section 1.a.).
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions and the
Government generally observed these prohibitions. Search warrants are
required before searches and seizures may be carried out, except in
cases involving suspected security and narcotics violations. The law
empowers the police to issue warrants for searches and seizures in
criminal cases upon receipt of information about criminal activities.
Within 24 hours of their issuance, warrants in misdemeanor cases must
be approved by the CDO. Judges must approve them in felony cases. Under
the TADA, the security forces may conduct searches as long as they
inform the subject of the search in advance. Vehicle and body searches
by security personnel have been common at roadblocks in many areas of
the country.
There were no reports of the Government forcing civilians to
resettle. However, the Maoists regularly forced family members of those
serving in the police or army to flee their homes. For example, on July
15, Maoists forced 13 families to leave their homes within 24 hours in
the district of Bardiya. Similarly, in Nuwakot district, Maoists forced
six families to vacate their houses on July 22, demanding that the
villagers bring back any family members serving in the security forces.
Maoist recruitment threats also forced many citizens to flee. For
example, on September 8, nearly 200 persons from Birat Village in Jumla
District fled to Mugu District to avoid forced conscription. In 2003,
according to an INSEC report, 38,000 persons fled their villages out of
fear. Maoists repeatedly targeted the relatives of security personnel.
On March 12, Maoists in Kaski District demanded the resignations of
all personnel involved in organizing the civic reception for the King's
visit to Pokhara. The Maoists warned those who failed to comply that
they would be expelled from the country and have their property
confiscated, and as a result, many of the personnel resigned their
positions.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--During the year, there was a
significant internal conflict between the Government and Maoist
insurgents. Both sides to the conflict killed numerous civilians.
For example, on January 5, RNA soldiers returning fire at Maoists
shot and killed 82-year-old Chandra Bahadur Praja in Kaule village in
Chitwan District.
In April, 4 persons were killed and 15 injured when the army
carried out an air raid on Vidya Mandir Higher Secondary School at
Binayak VDC in Achham. The army claimed to have been fired upon by
Maoists on school grounds.
On July 13, RNA soldiers staged a sting operation in Kathmandu to
catch a suspected Maoist attempting to extort money from Ullash Vaidya,
an official from the Nepal Electric Authority. With security personnel
watching, Vaidya gave money to the suspect, at which time security
forces began firing. Both men were killed.
On August 29, Maoists firing at security forces hit and injured a
2-year-old Indian child across the border bridge in Jhulaghat of
Baitadi District.
Local and international human rights groups have documented Maoist
violence in areas affected by the ``People's War.'' The Maoists most
often have targeted political leaders, local elites, teachers, local-
level civil servants, and suspected informers (see Section 1.a).
Maoists engaged in regular abduction of thousands of school
children throughout the country. In June, for example, Maoists abducted
more than 7,000 children for indoctrination and for service to the
Maoist cadres.
According to the Government, human rights groups, and the media,
Maoists conscripted civilians, including children, into service and
have used abducted civilians as human shields during attacks on army
and police posts (see Section 5).
On July 18, Maoists abducted 50 students and 12 teachers from a
school within the Kathmandu Valley for a 3-day military training
course. All of the students and teachers were released unharmed on July
20. In early September, the Maoists abducted over 1,000 persons in
Syangja and Taplejung Districts for indoctrination, and another 2,000
in Dadeldhura for military training.
The ICRC was able on some occasions to convince the Maoists to
release captured and detained individuals into ICRC custody. For
example, on April 6, Maoists handed over 37 hostages to the ICRC.
The RNA used landmines to protect installations and infrastructure.
There were no reports during the year of injuries or deaths from these
landmines.
The Maoists used landmines in and alongside roads to attack police,
military, and government vehicles. On June 14, a landmine set by
Maoists in Khairekhola killed 21 police. On June 20, a landmine was
used to attack a police vehicle in Dhankhola, after which Maoists
opened fire with rifles. The police vehicle and a civilian bus were
repeatedly hit; 14 police and 4 civilians were killed (including a 2-
year-old child), and 13 police and 14 civilians (including a 3-year-old
child) were wounded. According to INSEC, during May and June,
improvised explosive devices used by the Maoists killed seven children
and injured seven others.
The Government allowed the free movement of relief organizations.
The Maoists regularly blocked relief organizations from reaching
civilian populations to force NGOs to sign agreements with their
regional committees. For example, as a result of Maoist actions, the
U.N. stopped all operations in Dhadeldhura District in September.
There were reports during the year of military commanders and
Maoists blockading shipments of food and medicine. For example, the RNA
blocked food and medical supplies from reaching more than 20 villages
in Accham District for a week in April. Maoists announced the blockades
of several areas, including a blockade of the Kathmandu Valley and
numerous blockades in western districts. One NGO reported that Maoists
in Udayapur had seized 35 baskets of medicine and medical equipment,
including measles vaccines, in September. On September 21, Maoists
bombed a health post and destroyed a district's vaccine supply for a
measles campaign.
Maoists regularly extorted money from businesses and workers, as
well as NGOs. When individuals or companies refused to or were unable
to pay, Maoist recrimination was almost always violent. For example, on
June 28, Maoists detonated an improvised explosive device in the
offices of an NGO working to support the rights of freed bonded
laborers. The NGO had refused to meet Maoist extortion demands.
Maoists regularly abducted large numbers of students and other
children for indoctrination programs. 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). Frequent Maoist-declared closures involving the stoppage of
work in all economic sectors, including transportation, were enforced
through violence and caused particular hardship to some. For example,
during a multiple-week closure in early March in the Gandaki zone,
Maoists took possession of the only ambulance in Salyan to enforce
observation of the strike.
There were no reports of the Government forcing civilians to
resettle. However, the Maoists regularly forced family members of those
serving in the police or army as well as thousands of civilians to flee
their homes (see Section 1.f.).
Section 2. Respect For Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution specifies that
all citizens shall have freedom of thought and expression and that the
Government may not censor any news item or other reading material;
however, the Government imposed restrictions on these rights. The
Constitution prohibits 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. The Maoists imposed restrictions on free
press through intimidation and the killing of journalists.
The Press and Publications Act provides for the licensing of
publications and the granting of credentials to journalists. The Act
also includes penalties for violating these requirements. In addition,
the Act prohibits publication of material that, among other things,
promotes disrespect toward the King or the royal family; undermines
security, peace, order, the dignity of the King, or the integrity or
sovereignty of the Kingdom; creates animosity among persons of
different castes and religions; or adversely affects the good conduct
or morality of the public. There were no reports of prosecutions under
the Act during the year. The Act also provides a basis for banning
foreign publications; however, foreign publications were widely
available. None were banned or censored during the year. Foreign media
operating in and reporting on the country were allowed to operate
freely.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were hundreds of independent
vernacular and English-language newspapers available, representing
various political points of view. The Government owned Gorkhapatra, a
Nepali-language daily, and The Rising Nepal, the third-largest English-
language daily. Government newspapers reflected government policy.
Journalists reported without significant self-censorship, despite a
pervasive culture of fear due to the insurgency. Ruling political
parties have influenced the editorial policy of government newspapers
to their advantage.
The Broadcast Act allows private television and FM radio broadcast.
The Government owned two television stations (Nepal TV and Nepal TV
Metro), and controlled one radio station that broadcasts both AM and FM
signals. Radio reached more that 90 percent of the population.
Privately owned FM stations can broadcast their own independently
collected news but also must broadcast Radio Nepal news at least once
daily. The Government did not restrict access to foreign radio
broadcasts, private cable networks, or the purchase of television
satellite dishes. Indian, Chinese, and Pakistani broadcast television
also was readily available in many parts of the country.
There were five licensed private television stations in the
country, but two had yet to begin transmission. In addition to
entertainment programming, commentary critical of government policies
occurred during publicly broadcast discussion programs. Moreover,
debates, commentaries, and roundtable discussion on contemporary
issues, including government policy, have become common. Throughout the
country, local entrepreneurs also received international stations via
satellite for viewing in local bars and resold the signal to local
residents. Consequently, international broadcasts were more widely
available. Television time on the government-owned television station
also was leased to private producers.
A number of journalists encountered problems during the year.
According to the Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies
(CEHURDES) and the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), at least
25 journalists had been displaced by the conflict in the 6 months
following October 2003. On February 1, Drishti Weekly journalist Suroj
Adhikari claimed that he was severely beaten by police during a
demonstration in Kathmandu. On April 30, security personnel detained
more than 40 Radio Nepal staff for several hours in their offices
without giving cause. They had been broadcasting a radio program on
trade unions at the time of their detention.
On January 4, security forces arrested Visha Jagaran Daily's
Rabindra Shah, and held him for 24 hours while they demanded
information on an article he had written. On January 12, police
arrested Kamal Tamang of Jana Aastha weekly for unknown reasons in
Lalitpur, although he was subsequently released.
According to the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, 13 journalists
have been killed since 1996, and 10 journalists were arrested during
the year. Five journalists, including two arrested in 2003, remained
missing at year's end. Three of the missing journalists are believed to
be in state custody, two in Maoist custody.
The Government licensed 22 companies for Internet and e-mail
services and did not censor or block access to Internet sites, except
for the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Web site and a Web site run
by Iraqi militants who killed 12 Nepalis in September.
There were no government efforts to curtail academic freedom during
the year.
The Maoists did not tolerate freedom of expression and tightly
restricted the print and broadcast media under their control. On April
12, in Jumla District, Maoists beat to death a 75-year-old man for
speaking out against Maoist torture and extortion. On August 4, Maoists
in Dailekh District ordered two journalists to leave or face the death
penalty. The Maoists had previously warned the reporters to stop
writing articles on local businesses that had paid Maoist extortion
demands. The journalists left the district after being told they would
have their hands and legs cut off. On August 11, the Maoists executed
Dekendra Raj Thapa, a reporter for the state-owned Radio Nepal in the
mid-western district of Dailekh (see Sections 1.a. and 1.g.). Following
Thapa's killing, the Maoists issued death threats against nine other
journalists. The Maoists also banned journalists who had not registered
with them from entering rural areas, threatening to cut off their hands
if they disobeyed. On September 11, the Maoists subsequently issued a
statement stating that they were committed to a free press; however,
the statement was released the same day the Federation of Nepalese
Journalists released a condemnation of the Maoists for Thapa's death.
The Maoist restriction against unregistered journalists appeared to
remain in force. On September 2, Maoists threatened to kill Bijaya
Mishra, a journalist with Kantipur, for failing to report the arrest of
a local Maoist in Siraha.
Maoist groups regularly extorted money from private schools and
teachers and sometimes inflicted punishment on school officials.
Threats and intimidation from Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National
Independent Student Union (Revolutionary) (ANNISU-R) succeeded in
closing down more than 200 private schools, primarily in areas most
heavily affected by Maoist activities. Maoists used threats to force
school closures throughout the country. For example, a school closure
that ended in September affected more than 700,000 students. Maoists
also used schools to recruit child soldiers under the slogan of, ``One
educational institution, one excellent militia.'' The ANNISU-R
demanded, often violently, the halving of tuition, curriculum changes,
and the banning of the singing of the national anthem. In some areas,
the Maoists demanded schools follow a calendar devoid of religious
holidays (see Section 2.c.).
The Maoists have killed 71 teachers since the beginning of the
insurgency, including 9 during the ceasefire, and have destroyed 26
school buildings. Teachers in Maoist-affected areas reported regular
threats and extortion demands.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, the
Government restricted these rights on vague grounds, such as
undermining the sovereignty and integrity of the State or disturbing
law and order. The Government continued to require that organizers
apply for permits for public rallies and demonstrations. Large public
demonstrations were common. The Government suspended the right to
assemble in Kathmandu Valley from April 8 through May 3. During the
year, some protests turned violent, and police sometimes used baton
charges to break up demonstrations. Throughout the year, local
authorities in Kathmandu prevented Tibetan community public
celebrations, including those to venerate the Dalai Lama (see Section
2.c.).
During the year, Maoists deprived citizens of the right to
assembly. For example, Maoists regularly attacked peaceful protests
organized by the PFN (Jana Morchha) Party against Maoist atrocities,
and used torture and intimidation to prevent future protests (see
Section 1.c.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion and permits the practice of all religions; however,
proselytizing was prohibited and punishable with fines or imprisonment,
and 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. The
Constitution describes the country as a Hindu Kingdom, although it does
not establish Hinduism as the state religion.
The Press and Publications Act prohibits the publication of
materials that create animosity among persons of different castes or
religions.
In 2002, the Government ordered Muslim religious schools to
register with the local District Administration Officers. The schools
had to supply information about their funding sources in order to
continue operation. Some Muslim leaders criticized the move as
discriminatory. The registration requirement was not enforced during
the year.
A conviction for conversion or proselytizing can result in fines or
imprisonment or, in the case of foreigners, expulsion from the country.
There were no incidents of punishment for conversion or proselytizing
during the year. Nongovernmental groups or individuals were free to
file charges of proselytizing against individuals or organizations.
In March, police in Kathmandu prohibited Tibetans celebrating the
New Year from carrying pictures of the Dalai Lama around the
Bhouddhanath stupa as part of religious ceremonies, a restriction that
has been imposed since 2002. The Government restricted to private
places (school grounds or inside monasteries) all of the local Tibetan
celebrations (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).
On September 1, after an Iraqi militant group in Iraq killed 12
citizen workers, mob violence in Kathmandu and other parts of the
country targeted mosques and Muslim businesses, as well as manpower
agencies and press houses. Seven persons were killed, four by mob
violence because they were or were believed to be Muslim.
Government policy did not support religious extremism, although
some political figures made public statements critical of Christian
missionary activities.
The caste system strongly influenced society, although it was
prohibited by the Constitution. Caste discrimination was widely
practiced at Hindu temples.
On June 19, unconfirmed local media reported that Maoist insurgents
banned worship in the Khadgadevi temple in Maidikot, Dhading District,
employing threats and intimidation to enforce the ban.
There were regular reports of Maoists enforcing a ``people's
calendar'' in schools that did not allow for religious holidays.
According to one Christian organization, Maoists began demanding the
use of church grounds for their indoctrination programs in eastern
Nepal. When the demands were refused, churches were forced to close.
On September 12, Maoists exploded a bomb and forced the closure of
St. Joseph's school in Pokhara. The school's 551 students mostly were
from underprivileged ethnic communities.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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. Unlike
in previous years, the Government did not restrict access to the
Chinese border. In January 2003, the Government lifted restrictions on
women's travel to the Gulf States to work as domestic servants. The
Government established restrictions on travel to work in Iraq, although
these restrictions were not evenly enforced. The Constitution prohibits
exile, and it was not used. The Government allowed citizens to emigrate
and those abroad to return, and was not known to revoke citizenship for
political reasons.
Internal displacement because of the Maoist insurgency continued to
be a problem, with estimates of the number displaced ranging widely.
International organizations estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000
citizens may have been internally displaced. The variation existed
because there were no internally displaced persons (IDP) camps; those
displaced usually stayed with relatives and did not register with the
Government or seek assistance. On August 8, the Government constituted
a task force to look into the issue of IDPs, and the Government has
since engaged with donors in a dialogue to develop policies to help
those displaced.
The law does not provide for the granting of refugee or asylum
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution, and the Government
generally cooperated with the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylees. The 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 still
reside in the country. Since 1991, the Government has provided asylum
to approximately 107,000 persons who claim Bhutanese citizenship. The
great majority of these refugees lived in UNHCR-administered camps in
the southeastern part of the country. Approximately 15,000 additional
Bhutanese refugees resided outside the camps in either the country or
India. The Government allowed UNHCR to provide services for other
asylum seekers, such as individuals from Iraq and Sudan. The UNHCR also
was permitted to visit the Nepal-China border eight times during the
year.
The People's Republic of China and the Government tightened control
of movement across the border in 1986, but neither side has
consistently enforced those restrictions. Police and customs officials
occasionally harassed Tibetan asylum seekers who fled China. According
to the UNHCR, police conduct in this regard has improved since 1999,
although border police sometimes extorted money from Tibetans in
exchange for passage. There were regular but unconfirmed reports this
year that Tibetan asylum seekers were sometimes handed back to Chinese
authorities after crossing the border. Maoists regularly robbed Tibetan
refugees traveling from border areas to Kathmandu on foot or by car.
The Government continued to characterize the May 2003 deportations
of 18 Tibetan asylum seekers as an aberration that did not reflect
official policy. In November 2003, the Government released all
remaining Tibetan asylum seekers held in detention after a private
benefactor paid their immigration fines. There were no Tibetan asylum
seekers in jail at year's end.
The UNHCR monitored the condition of Bhutanese refugees and
provided for their basic needs. The Government accepted the temporary
refugee presence on humanitarian grounds. The camps were administered
by UNHCR; the World Food Program (WFP) provided sustenance; and the
Government made a contribution to the WFP earmarked for the refugees.
In 2002, there were reports by refugee women and children that some of
the Bhutanese refugee workers at the camps had committed sexual
assaults. The Government responded by providing more police protection
to the camp, and UNHCR conducted an investigation that resulted in the
removal of certain local personnel and increased protection measures
for refugee women and children (see Section 5). In September 2003,
Maoists attacked a police post in one of the camps, killing one
policeman. In response, the Government withdrew its permanent police
presence from all seven camps.
The Government officially restricted refugee freedom of movement
and work, but did not strictly enforce its policies. Bhutanese refugees
were not allowed to leave the camps without permission, but it 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.
After a December 2003 briefing for Khudunabari Camp refugees by the
Bhutanese Joint Verification Team resulted in disorder and throwing of
stones, the planned repatriation to Bhutan of certain refugees from
Khudunabari Camp and the verification of other camps were indefinitely
delayed. The Government linked the repatriation of an initial pilot
group of refugees to Bhutan to the resumption of the Nepal-Bhutan Joint
Verification Team process. These processes had not resumed by the end
of the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully; however, the ongoing insurgency prevented the
holding of elections. Since the dismissal of the elected government in
2002, the King has appointed three interim governments, but parliament
has not been reestablished. In the past, citizens exercised this right
in practice through free and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. Citizens, through their elected representatives,
also have the right to amend the Constitution with the exception of
certain basic principles that they may not change--sovereignty vested
in the people, the multiparty system, fundamental rights, and the
constitutional monarchy. Executive power is vested in the King and the
Council of Ministers.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled at least every 5 years.
Midterm elections may be called if the ruling party loses its majority,
loses a vote of no confidence, or calls for elections. The Prime
Minister dissolved the Parliament in 2002, and the term of the
Parliament subsequently expired. The ongoing insurgency prevented new
elections. Since 2002, the King has appointed three interim
governments, the most recent being the reinstatement of Sher Bahadur
Deuba as Prime Minister on June 2. By year's end, no date had been set
for national or local elections.
Under the Constitution, all citizens 18 and over may vote. The
House of Representatives, or lower house, may send legislation directly
to the King by majority vote. The National Assembly, or upper house,
may amend or reject lower house legislation, but the lower house can
overrule its objections. The upper house also may introduce legislation
and send it to the lower house for consideration.
The King exercised certain powers with the advice and consent of
the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister. The King has exclusive
authority to enact, amend, and repeal laws relating to succession to
the throne. The King's income and property are tax-exempt and
inviolable, and no question may be raised in any court about any act
performed by the King. The Constitution permits the King, acting on
advice of the Council of Ministers, to exercise emergency powers in the
event of war, external aggression, armed revolt, or extreme economic
depression. In such an emergency, the King, as advised by the civilian
government, may suspend without judicial review many basic freedoms,
including the freedoms of expression, assembly, movement and residence,
freedom from censorship, and freedom from preventive detention.
However, he may not suspend habeas corpus or the right to form
associations. The King's declaration of a state of emergency must be
approved after 3 months by a two-thirds majority of the lower house of
the parliament. If the lower house is not in session, the upper house
exercises this power. A state of emergency may be maintained for up to
3 months without legislative approval and for up to 6 months, renewable
only once for an additional 6 months, if the legislature grants
approval.
The Constitution bars the registration and participation in
elections of any political party that is based on religion, community,
caste, tribe, or region, or that does not operate openly and
democratically. In the 1999 election, there were sporadic incidents of
violence that occurred mainly between supporters of rival political
parties. Maoist efforts to disrupt the 1999 elections by intimidating
voters and candidates had some effect. The elections generally were
held throughout the country according to schedule. International
observers considered the elections to be generally free and fair.
There were 125 registered political parties. 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.
There is no dominant party. Most larger political parties have
associated youth wings, trade unions, and social organizations.
The Constitution provides for an anticorruption authority, the
Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA), and
it is used to investigate official acts of corruption. On July 22, the
CIAA acted against former Deputy Prime Minister Chiranjivi Wagle, who
was found guilty on corruption charges and sentenced to 2 years in jail
and a fine of approximately $500,000 (37,000,000 Nrs). The CIAA also
won a case before the Supreme Court on September 15 that forced several
senior politicians, including a former Prime Minister, to testify
before the anticorruption body.
The Constitution provides citizens with a right to information ``on
any matter of public importance,'' except in cases where secrecy is
required by law. There were no known examples of this section of the
Constitution being tested.
There are no specific laws that restrict women, indigenous people,
or minorities from participating in the Government or in political
parties. Tradition limits the roles of women and some castes in the
political process. However, the Constitution 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. The 1999 elections resulted in an increase from 7 to 12 in
the number of women in the 205-seat lower house and from 5 to 9 in the
60-seat upper house. There were three women in the Cabinet appointed by
the King on July 3.
No specific laws prevent minorities from voting or restrict them
from participating in the Government and political parties on the same
basis as other citizens. There are 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
have held more power than others. Seven members of the 31-member
Cabinet were from an ethnic minority community.
The Maoists have attempted to restrict the right of citizens to
change their government. For example, on August 25, the Maoists
threatened the Election Commissioners, demanding that they resign or
face serious consequence because of an implied intention to hold
national elections within 12 months.
On September 7, Maoists attacked a peaceful political rally of the
People's Front Nepal (PFN) in Dullu, Dailekh District. Seven PFN
activists were injured, including the party general secretary (see
Sections 1.c. and 2.b.).
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
sometimes were cooperative and responsive to their views. There were no
reports that the Government detained human rights activists suspected
of Maoist affiliation during the year. However, there were complaints
of intimidation being used against human rights NGOs and workers by
both the Government and the Maoists. There were approximately 10 wholly
independent domestic human rights NGOs, including the Human Rights
Organization of Nepal (HURON), INSEC, the International Institute for
Human Rights, Environment, and Development (INHURED), and the Human
Rights and Peace Society (HURPES). The Nepal Law Society also monitored
human rights abuses, and a number of NGOs focused on specific areas
such as torture, child labor, women's rights, or ethnic minorities.
The insurgency has caused a number of 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 have killed and
abducted NGO workers. In mid-September, for example, Maoists abducted
Kamal Gurung, a worker associated with a UNICEF child assistance
program in Dadeldhura. There were credible reports during the year that
insurgents stole emergency food supplies from NGO programs targeting
vulnerable populations (see Section 1.g.).
The Government regularly granted visas to international NGO human
rights monitors. Amnesty International conducted a research mission to
the country from January 23 to February 4. Human Rights Watch made
several assessment and monitoring visits during the year. In December,
a mission from the International Commission of Jurists visited the
country. The Government cooperated with international nongovernmental
organizations. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights has a technical advisor posted in the country, and sent a Joint
Technical Mission to the country from February 12 to 17. In December,
the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances visited
the country.
In 1997, the Government formed the NHRC, a government-appointed
commission with a mandate to investigate human rights violations. The
commission included members from all major political parties and
operated independently; however, resource constraints and insufficient
manpower restricted the number of cases the commission brought to
court. During the year, the Government doubled the commission's budget.
Once the NHRC completes an investigation and makes a recommendation,
the Government has 3 months to respond. Since its establishment, the
Commission has received 2,328 complaints of human rights violations,
investigated 500 cases, and recommended compensation in 27 cases. Of
the cases the NHRC identified, 1,340 involved the disappearance of
detainees. Of these, the State subsequently released 124 persons, and
the Maoists released 27. Illegal detention and arrest of acquitted
persons were also investigated.
On March 26, the Government released a statement on ``His Majesty's
Commitment on the Implementation of Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Law'' and on July 15 released a National Human Rights
Action Plan. Although these are relatively new public commitments,
observers generally have been critical of the Government's
implementation efforts.
In 2003, the Government established the Human Rights Promotion
Center in the Office of the Prime Minister. The main purpose of the
Center is to provide coordination between government ministries, the
National Human Rights Commission, and NGOs on human rights issues. For
example, the Center played a constructive role in coordinating a
memorandum of understanding between the Government and the U.N. Office
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for assistance to the
National Human Rights Commission.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution specifies that the Government shall not
discriminate against citizens on grounds of race, sex, caste, or
ideology; however, a caste system operated in many areas of daily life
and throughout the country. 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 citizens, and particularly among government authorities, to
recognize violence against women as a problem. In a 1998 survey
conducted by local NGO SAATHI, 42 percent of the respondents said that
in their experience medical practitioners were uncooperative or
negligent in cases of violence against women and girls. SAATHI also
reported that 82 percent of female respondents were victims of beatings
and 66 percent were victims of assault. This unwillingness to recognize
violence against women and girls as unacceptable in daily life was seen
among police and politicians as well.
The police department has 18 women's cells with female officers who
received special training in handling victims of domestic violence. The
police also have sent out directives instructing all officers to treat
domestic violence as a criminal offense that should be prosecuted.
However, according to a police official, this type of directive was
difficult to enforce because of entrenched discriminatory attitudes.
Even though police may make an arrest, often neither the victim nor the
Government pursued further prosecution.
At least 10 NGOs in Kathmandu worked on the problem of violence
against women and on women's issues in general. SAATHI's assistance
program includes a women's shelter and a suicide intervention center.
The shelter provided housing, medical attention, counseling, and legal
advocacy for the victims of violence.
Rape and incest also were problems, particularly in rural areas.
Laws against rape provide for prison sentences of 6 to 10 years for the
rape of a woman less than 14 years of age, and 3 to 5 years for the
rape of a woman above the age of 14. The law prescribes imprisonment
for 1 year or a fine for the rape of a prostitute. The law prohibits
spousal rape. A survey conducted by SAATHI 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 perpetrator was convicted and jailed.
The dowry tradition was strong. The killing of brides because of
defaults on or inadequacy of dowry payments was rare. More common was
physical abuse of wives by the husband and the husband's family to
obtain additional dowry, or to force the woman to leave to enable the
man to remarry.
Folk beliefs about witchcraft generally involved rural elderly
women, sometimes widows. Shamans or other local authority figures
sometimes publicly beat and physically abused suspected witches as part
of an exorcism ceremony.
On September 18 in Karthali Village in Sindhupalchowk, Sobhit Singh
Raut killed 76-year-old Sumitra Khadka, accusing her of using
witchcraft to kill his uncle. Raut was arrested on charges of murder.
In May 2003, Raheli Pariyar died in Rampur, Ramechhap District, as
a result of an ``exorcism'' performed by local shamans.
According to INSEC, there were 67 victims of witchcraft-related
violence in 2003. In May 2003, the NHRC asked the Government to develop
a mechanism to prevent such abuses and to provide compensation to the
abused.
Trafficking in women remained a serious problem throughout the
country, and large numbers of women were forced to work against their
will as prostitutes in other countries (see Section 5, Trafficking).
In September 2003, Human Rights Watch released a report titled
``Trapped by Inequality: Bhutanese Refugee Women in Nepal,'' which
examined the response of the UNHCR and the Government to rape, domestic
violence, sexual and physical assault, and trafficking of girls and
women from refugee camps. The report said that the country's system of
refugee registration discriminated against women by distributing
rations through male heads of households. Further, the report noted
that 35 refugee women and girls were missing from the camps and might
have been victims of trafficking.
Although the Constitution provides protections for women, including
equal pay for equal work, the Government has not taken 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. Inheritance laws were revised in 2002 so that unmarried,
widowed, or divorced women can inherit parental property. On July 29,
the Supreme Court struck down Section 12 (a) of the Provision of
Inheritance by Default of the Civil Code, which states that upon
marriage women must return any property inherited from their parents.
Additionally, the Court ordered the creation of a government panel to
study and form recommendations on discriminatory laws against women.
The Citizenship Law discriminates against foreign spouses of female
citizens, and denies citizenship to the children of female citizens
married to foreign spouses, even if those children are born in the
country. Many other discriminatory laws still remain. According to
legal experts, there were more than 50 laws that discriminate against
women. For example, the law grants women the right to divorce, but on
narrower grounds than those applicable to men. The law on property
rights also favors men in its provisions for land tenancy and the
division of family property.
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. There also were a growing number of women's advocacy
groups. Most political parties have women's groups that advocate for
women's rights and bring women's issues before the party leadership.
Children.--The Government is committed to the welfare and education
of children, but implementation of laws and programs has been uneven,
in part due to violence resulting from the ongoing insurgency.
Education is not compulsory. However, government policy was to provide
free primary education for all children between the ages of 6 and 12
years. The quality of education provided was sorely inadequate, as many
families could not afford school supplies and clothing, and schools do
not exist in all areas. Schools charge fees for higher education.
Approximately 60 percent of the children who worked also attended
school. However, approximately 70 to 75 percent of boys who work go to
school, compared with only 50 to 60 percent of the girls who work.
Human rights groups reported that girls attend secondary schools at a
rate half that of boys. In April 2003, the Department of Education
issued a report finding that one-quarter of elementary school-aged
girls remained deprived of basic education.
Basic health care was provided free to children and adults, but
government clinics were poorly equipped and few in number, and serious
deficiencies remained.
Violence against children was rarely prosecuted, and abuse
primarily manifested itself in trafficking of children. Forced
prostitution and trafficking in young girls remained serious problems
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
Societal attitudes view a female child as a commodity to be
bartered off in marriage, or as a burden. Some persons considered
marrying a girl before menarche an honorable, sacred act that increases
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. According to the Ministry of Health, girls' average age of
marriage was 16 years of age. The age difference in marriage often was
cited as one cause of domestic violence.
There were numerous credible reports that Maoists recruited
teenagers to serve as porters, runners, cooks, and armed cadre. During
the 2003 ceasefire, the Maoists reportedly abducted hundreds of rural
teens and children, requiring them to attend training and
indoctrination programs and join their ranks. In June, Maoists abducted
more than 7,000 children for indoctrination or for service to the
Maoist cadres.
There were reports of children held in jail or in custody as
suspected Maoists. For example, in July, security forces arrested 14-
year-old Lila Pariyar of Sutwal-7 Village in Nawalparasi District on
suspicion of being a Maoist. In September, Pariyar was discovered in a
district jail, where she had been held for 2 months.
For more details on the problem of child labor, see Section 6.d.
Internal displacement due to the insurgency, including of children,
continued to be a problem, with estimates of the number displaced
ranging widely. The Government has identified 30 districts to focus
programs on the education and health of conflict-affected children.
A number of effective NGOs work in the field of childrens' issues,
including the International Labor Organization (ILO) (to eliminate the
worst forms of child labor and promote child education), the Sahara
Group, CWIN (Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre), CVICT (Centre
for Victims of Torture), Ray of Hope, Terre des hommes (Tdh), Maiti
Nepal, ABC Nepal, the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), and
several others.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
and prescribes imprisonment of up to 20 years for infractions; however,
trafficking in women and girls remained a serious problem. There is
legislation to protect women from coercive trafficking, but enforcement
of antitrafficking statutes remained sporadic. The Human Trafficking
Control Act prohibits selling persons in the country or abroad and
provides for penalties of up to 20 years' imprisonment for traffickers.
However, this legislation does not criminalize the separation of minors
from their legal guardians with the intent of trafficking. As a result,
no crime is considered to have occurred until the victim and
perpetrators are outside the jurisdiction. There were many social and
legal obstacles to successful prosecution, and convictions were rare.
In June 2003, the Special Court sentenced to 75 years of imprisonment
the leader of a gang involved in selling nearly 100 girls to brothels
in India. Six of his accomplices received lesser sentences ranging from
36 months' to 12 years' imprisonment. Border guards commonly accepted
bribes to allow contraband and trafficked girls in or out of the
country.
The country was a source country for trafficking. Young women were
by far the most common targets; trafficking of boys rarely was
reported, but girls as young as 9 years of age were trafficked. While
the vast majority of trafficking was of women and girls for sexual
exploitation, women and girls sometimes were trafficked for domestic
service, manual or semi-skilled bonded labor, or other purposes. Most
women and girls trafficked from the country went to India. According to
the 2003-04 annual report of the Attorney General's Office, 133
trafficking cases were filed in district attorneys' offices across the
country. At year's end, of the 133 cases, 32 resulted in full or
partial convictions, 18 in acquittal, and 83 remained pending.
Local NGOs combating trafficking estimated that from 5,000 to
12,000 women and girls were lured or abducted annually into India and
subsequently forced into prostitution; however, these numbers were not
consistent, and NGOs were seeking better estimates. Citizens reportedly
also were trafficked to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in
the Middle East. A ban on female domestic labor leaving the country to
work in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf was lifted in
January 2003 for the organized sector. Women who have proof of external
employment with an organization of 10 or more employees may travel to
the Gulf.
Hundreds of girls and women returned voluntarily or were rescued
and repatriated to the country annually after having worked as
commercial sex workers in India. Most were destitute and, according to
some estimates, 50 percent were HIV-positive when they returned.
A 2001 study by the ILO International Program on the Elimination of
Child Labor found that 30 percent of sex workers in Kathmandu were
below 18 years of age. Another study by a foreign labor department
states that 5,000 to 7,000 sex workers were between the ages of 10 and
18 years.
Government officials suspected that organized crime groups and
marriage brokers were the primary perpetrators of trafficking in the
country. The traffickers usually were from the country, but had links
to brothels in India. In some cases, parents or relatives sold women
and young girls into sexual slavery. NGOs' unverified estimates were
that approximately 50 percent of the victims were lured to India with
the promise of good jobs and marriage, 40 percent of the victims were
sold by a family member, and 10 percent were kidnapped. NGOs have found
that once prevention programs were initiated in a district, the
traffickers moved to other areas. 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 has established a National Task Force at the Ministry of
Women, Children and Social Welfare (MOWCSW) with personnel assigned to
coordinate the response. There were programs in place to train police,
and the MOWCSW worked closely with local NGOs to rehabilitate and
otherwise assist victims. While the Government promulgated a National
Plan of Action to combat trafficking in August 2003, its implementation
was haphazard.
The Government provided limited funding to NGOs to provide
assistance to victims with rehabilitation, medical care, and legal
services. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare sponsored job and
skill training programs in several poor districts known for sending
commercial sex workers 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,
has implemented local, regional, and national public awareness
campaigns about trafficking in persons. However, the Government failed
to budget for adequate police training and resources, and the courts
were overburdened. Government welfare agencies generally were incapable
of delivering effective public outreach programs or assistance to
trafficking victims without the help of NGOs.
Cultural attitudes toward returned victims of trafficking were
often negative, and the Government response sometimes reflected that
bias. There were more than 50 NGOs combating trafficking, several of
which had rehabilitation and skills training programs for trafficking
victims. Two representative NGOs were members of the MOWCSW's National
Task Force Against Trafficking. With the Government's endorsement, many
NGOs have public information and outreach campaigns in rural areas.
These groups commonly used leaflets, comic books, films, speaker
programs, and skits to convey anti-trafficking messages and education.
Some organizations involved in the rehabilitation of trafficking
victims stated that their members had been threatened and that their
offices had been vandalized because of their activities.
The International Agency Coordinating Group, comprised of NGOs,
bilateral donor agencies, and government agencies, met regularly to
share information, plan common approaches, and avoid duplication of
work.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, and in the provision of other state services. The Disabled
Persons Protection and Welfare Act and additional 1994 rules mandate
accessibility 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 or enforce laws regarding
persons with disabilities. The MOWCSW is responsible for the protection
of those with disabilities. A number of NGOs working with persons with
disabilities received significant funding from the Government, but
persons with physical or mental disabilities relied almost exclusively
on family members to assist them.
Persons with disabilities faced widespread societal discrimination.
Families often were stigmatized by and ashamed of family members with
disabilities. Economic integration was further hampered by the general
view that persons with disabilities were unproductive. Due to the
inadequacy of facilities, the authorities sometimes placed prisoners
with mental disabilities in jails under inhumane conditions. A 2001
report authored jointly by UNICEF and the National Planning Commission
estimated that there were approximately 400,000 persons with
disabilities in the country.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Constitution 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 are more than 75 ethnic groups that speak 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 the
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. For example, on
September 6 in Bhagawatpur-9 Village in Rajbiraj, villagers imposed a
ban on 35 Chamar Dalit families from using community services and
facilities after the Dalits demanded the right not to be forced to
handle dead carcasses. Many Dalits also lost their jobs. The police and
district authorities had not addressed the incident at year's end.
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 barred from entering temples on occasion.
For example, in December, Dalits were denied entry into a Hindu temple
in Bharatpur. Progress in reducing discrimination was more successful
in urban areas.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Constitution does
not recognize sexual minorities, but the country does not have any laws
that specifically criminalize or proscribe sanctions against sexual
minorities. Government authorities, especially police, sometimes
harassed and abused homosexuals. On August 9, 39 homosexual rights
advocates were arrested and detained for 11 days under the Public
Offenses Act. They were subsequently released on bail. According to the
Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an NGO that works to support the well-being
of the country's sexual minorities, after a 2003 meeting between BDS
and police, the police Inspector General issued a letter to all police
stations expressing concern at the level of police violence against
homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides for the
freedom to establish and join unions and associations, and these rights
were protected in practice. It 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 to 12 percent of the formal work force. The Labor Act
of 1992 and the Trade Union Act of 1992 formulated enabling
regulations; however, the Government has not yet 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.
In August and early September, the Maoist-affiliated trade union
forced the closure of 12 companies for a month, and almost 50
additional companies for about a week, threatening to damage facilities
and to physically harm workers and their families if they returned to
work.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Labor Act
provides for collective bargaining, although the organizational
structures to implement the Act's provisions have not been 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.
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 disturbs 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 Constitution
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 was difficult. According
to the ILO, 12,019 Kamaiyas have received land, 7,149 families each
have received approximately $230 (17,020 Nrs) for building homes, and
about 6,000 have received timber to build houses. The Government has
set up temporary camps for approximately 14,000 Kamaiyas still awaiting
settlement. The food-for-work program was terminated in November. A
2001 ILO Rapid Assessment estimated that 17,000 child laborers were
working as bonded laborers in the remnants of the Kamaiya system.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor is a significant problem, particularly in the large
informal sector, which includes such businesses as portering, rag
picking, and rock breaking. The Constitution stipulates that children
shall not be employed in factories, mines, or similar hazardous work
and limits children between the ages of 14 and 16 years to a 36-hour
workweek (6 hours a day and 6 days a week). The Child Labor Act applies
only to formal sectors of the economy, such as tourism, cigarette or
carpet factories, and mines, but not to informal sectors or subsistence
agriculture. The law establishes a minimum age for employment of minors
at 16 years in industry and 14 years in agriculture and mandated
acceptable working conditions for children. Children under the age of
14 years are prohibited from working. Employers must maintain records
of all 14-to 16-year-old laborers. The Child Labor Act also established
specific penalties for those who unlawfully employ children. However,
the necessary implementing regulations have not been passed.
Resources devoted to enforcement were limited, and children worked
in many sectors of the economy. NGOs estimated that 2.6 million
children--most of them girls--were economically active. Of that number,
1.7 million children worked full time. The agricultural sector
accounted for most child laborers--an estimated 95 percent. Roughly 60
percent of children who work also attend school. Others are
economically active in a few small-scale and cottage industries.
There were credible reports that the Maoists forcibly recruit
children, including girls, as soldiers, human shields, runners, and
messengers (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Labor's enforcement record was mixed. In 2003,
according to the Ministry, its 14 inspectors conducted approximately
500 inspections (out of 20,000 registered companies) to ensure that no
child labor was present. The Ministry reported that no children under
the age of 14 were found working in the factories inspected. The
Government also conducted public awareness programs to raise public
sensitivity to the problem of child labor.
The private sector has made its own efforts to eradicate child
labor, especially in the carpet industry. In 1999, the Carpet
Manufacturers Association pledged publicly to end child labor in the
industry by 2005. The Rugmark Foundation certified that carpets were
made without child labor. There are 517 member-companies (an estimated
67 percent of the industry) in Rugmark. Rugmark's four inspectors
conducted inspections, issued warnings, and if repeated violations
occurred, disassociated companies from the program. As a result of this
initiative, and of consumer pressure, Rugmark estimated that children
constituted only 2 percent of the work force in the export-oriented
carpet industry. However, children's rights activists stated that
children remained a part of the work force in the smaller factories and
family weaving units. Rugmark conducted 29,562 inspections at
factories, identifying and removing 613 children from factories.
Rugmark reunited 465 children with their families, and another 187 were
in Rugmark rehabilitation centers. Rugmark revoked two licenses from
carpet factories where children were found employed.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In April 2003, the Government
raised the minimum monthly wage for unskilled labor to $25 (1894 Nrs).
The law also defined monthly minimum wages for semi-skilled labor at
approximately $26 (1944 Nrs), skilled labor at $28 (2,054 Nrs), and
highly skilled labor at $30 (2,244 Nrs). The minimum wage for children
ages 14 to 16 was set at $21 (1,558 Nrs). Additional allowances for
food and other benefits total $7 (500 Nrs) per month for adult labor,
and $5 (360 Nrs) per month for children aged 14-16. Wages in the
unorganized service sector and in agriculture often were as much as 50
percent lower. The Labor Act calls for a 48-hour workweek, with 1 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 also set health and safety standards, and other
benefits such as a provident fund and maternity benefits were
established in the Labor Act. Implementation of the Labor Act has been
slow, as the Government has 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. Chief of Army Staff Pervez
Musharraf overthrew the elected civilian government in 1999. The
Supreme Court later legitimized the overthrow, but ordered Musharraf to
restore elected government within 3 years. Musharraf assumed the
Presidency by decree in 2001. In 2002, a controversial national
referendum affirmed Musharraf as President for 5 years. Elections for
the National Assembly were held in 2002. Domestic and international
observers termed the elections deeply flawed. Musharraf's Pakistan
Muslim League (PML) won a plurality of seats and formed a governing
coalition with several smaller parties. Indirect Senate elections in
February 2003 gave the governing coalition 55 of 100 seats. In December
2003, the National and Provincial Assemblies passed the 17th Amendment
to the Constitution. The Amendment transfers a number of powers from
the Office of Prime Minister to the President, affirms Musharraf's
presidency through 2007, sets the terms under which the President could
dissolve the National Assembly, and exempts Musharraf from a
prohibition on holding two offices of state until the end of the year,
allowing him to remain as Chief of Army Staff. In October, over
opposition protests, Parliament passed another bill that exploits a
loophole in the Constitution to extend the exemption until 2007. The
judiciary was nominally independent but remained subject to corruption
and political pressure.
Police have primary internal security responsibilities, although
paramilitary forces, such as the Rangers and the Frontier Constabulary,
provide support in areas where law and order problems are acute.
Provincial governments control police and the paramilitary forces when
they assist in law and order operations. During some religious
holidays, the regular army was deployed in sensitive areas to help
maintain public order. The civilian authorities maintained control of
the security forces; however, there were instances when local police
acted independently of government authority. Some members of the
security forces committed numerous serious human rights abuses.
The economy was primarily market-based. The agricultural sector
continued to employ much of the population, although a growing
manufacturing sector, primarily in textiles, accounted for much of the
country's economic growth and export earnings. For the year, the
population was estimated at approximately 154 million, and gross
domestic product growth was estimated at 6.4 percent. No reliable data
exists comparing wages and benefits with inflation; however, there was
evidence to suggest growing income inequality.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were some improvements in several areas, serious problems remained. In
2002, citizens participated in national government elections, although
many observers found serious flaws in their legal framework. Local
police used excessive force and committed or failed to prevent
extrajudicial killings. Sectarian killings continued to be a problem.
Police abused and raped citizens. Prison conditions remained extremely
poor, and police arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens. Some
political leaders remained imprisoned or in exile abroad. Case backlogs
led to long delays in trials, and lengthy pretrial detention was
common. The judiciary was subject to executive and other outside
influence. Corruption and inefficiency remained severe problems. The
Government violated due process and infringed on citizens' privacy
rights. The press was partly free and in some instances, the Government
took retaliatory actions against media outlets and journalists;
however, media criticism of security forces and the Government
continued to increase during the year. The Government imposed some
limits on freedom of association, religion, and movement. Governmental
and societal discrimination against religious minorities remained a
problem. Domestic violence against women, rape, and abuse of children
remained serious problems. Honor killings continued; however, new
legislation stiffens penalties for honor killings; and criminal
procedures for the blasphemy laws and Hudood Ordinances were changed to
prevent abuses. Discrimination against women was widespread, and
traditional social and legal constraints generally kept women in a
subordinate position in society. Trafficking in women and children for
the purposes of forced prostitution and bonded labor, and the use of
child labor remained widespread. Workers' rights were restricted, and
debt slavery remained a problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Police and security
forces allegedly were responsible for the deaths of individuals
associated with political, extremist, or terrorist groups during the
year, and security forces committed extrajudicial killings.
On August 17, unknown gunmen killed three Pakistan People's Party
(PPP) activists in Attock while they were campaigning in the district's
by-election. Opposition leaders publicly charged that the Attock
District mayor and security forces were complicit, but have not
presented compelling evidence. Government officials denied the charges,
and an investigation was ongoing at year's end.
On August 18, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam--Fazl ur Rahman Group (JUI-F)
member Qari Noor Mohammad, who was arrested on charges of being linked
to al-Qa'ida, died in police custody in Faisalabad. JUI-F leaders
claimed Mohammad was tortured to death. Police officials denied the
allegation, stating that their inquiry concluded Mohammad died from
cardiac arrest triggered by natural causes.
The extrajudicial killing of criminal suspects in staged encounters
and during torture in custody occurred. Human rights monitors reported
that 251 persons were killed in police encounters during the year.
Police said that many of these deaths occurred when suspects attempted
to escape, resisted arrest, or committed suicide; however, family
members and the press said that many of these deaths were staged.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of police killing
suspected criminals to prevent them from implicating police in crimes
during court proceedings.
On February 26, police shot and killed Dikhad Butt in Lalamusa.
Police said the car in which Butt was riding failed to stop as ordered
in connection with a drug investigation; however, family members
claimed that police opened fire on the car. Protesters unsuccessfully
asked that murder charges be lodged against the officials involved. On
March 20, Nazakat Khan died in Khanpur while in police custody.
Residents maintained he was tortured to death, while police claimed he
committed suicide. Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) Inspector General
of Police (IGP) suspended four police officials in connection with the
death. A judicial inquiry was ongoing at year's end. On August 10,
police shot and killed Saleem Butt in Lahore following his attempt to
flee when police raided his mother's house. On August 13, Syed
Qutbuddin Shah died in police custody in Mirpurkhas. Police claimed he
committed suicide, but the autopsy showed evidence of torture. Murder
charges were pending against five police officials in the death. Two
police officers were arrested and charged in the August 2003 killing of
Zafar Iqbal. On August 18, one of the two suspects in police custody in
Karachi burned to death; the other died 9 days later. Two police
officials were suspended for 3 months in the September 2003 death of
Samuel Sunil. There were no new developments in other cases reported in
2003.
In August, Tabassum Javed Kalyar was shot and killed by police
while attending a demonstration. An assistant Sub Inspector, Mehdi
Bhatti, was arrested for Kalyar's killing; however, Bhatti was released
without bail 3 days later. Six persons have been charged in the case
and an investigation was ongoing at year's end (see Section 2.b.). No
progress was made in investigating the Ranger killings of Okara
protesters in 2002 or 2003 (see Section 2.d.).
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.
According to press reports, the Pakistan Armed Forces were
responsible during the year for approximately 65 civilian casualties
that occurred during its offensives against suspected terrorists hiding
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
There were reports of violence between political factions in the
country. For example, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), an
urban Sindh-based political party that in the past used violence to
further its aims, claimed that its rival the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-
Altaf (MQM), now a member of the national and provincial governing
coalition, used security forces to carry out extrajudicial killings of
its members; however, no direct connections between security forces and
the killings were made. By year's end, the MQM political leadership had
denounced violence and broken ties with its former militant wing, a
group that resembled an armed gang carrying out retaliation against
rival gangs, including the MQM-H's armed wing. A total of three
policemen were suspended for 3 months and were demoted in rank as a
result of their involvement with the 2003 killing of Noshad Ansar, the
nephew of a regional MQM official. A total of three policemen were
suspended for 3 months and were demoted in rank as a result of their
involvement with the 2003 killing of Noshad Ansar, the nephew of a
regional MQM official.
During the year, killings linked to sectarian, religious extremist,
and terrorist groups continued. Also during the year, attacks on houses
of worship and religious gatherings resulted in the deaths of nearly
200 persons (see Section 2.c.). For example, on January 15, assailants
threw grenades at the Pakistan Bible Society office in the Holy Trinity
Church in Karachi. A car bomb that exploded 15 minutes later in front
of the building injured 16 persons, mainly police. Authorities arrested
Shamin Ahmed, a member of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, in
connection with the attack. On March 3, gunmen attacked a Shi'a Muslim
procession in Quetta, killing at least 50 and injuring over 100.
Security forces killed the assailants. On May 7, a suicide bomber
attacked a Shi'a mosque in Karachi, killing 28 and injuring 200. Police
charged Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member Gul Hasan, who remained in detention
at year's end, as an accomplice in the cases. On October 1, a suicide
bomber attacked a Shi'a mosque in Sialkot, killing 31 and injuring more
than 40. On October 7, during a gathering in Multan to mark the death
of Sunni extremist Maulana Azam Tariq, 2 bomb blasts killed at least 39
and wounded approximately 100. On October 19, police arrested Amjad
Shah, from the Shi'a extremist group Sipah-i-Mohammed for the bombing.
On October 10, a suicide bomber killed 4 and injured 10 when he
detonated a device at the entrance to a Shi'a mosque in Lahore.
Religious extremist and foreign terrorist organizations attempted
killings of religious, political, and military figures. On May 30,
unknown gunmen in Karachi shot and killed extremist Sunni religious
leader Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai and injured his son and nephew in their
vehicle. On June 10, gunmen attacked a convoy carrying the Corps
Commander Karachi Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, killing seven soldiers,
three policemen, and a pedestrian. On July 30, a suicide bomber
attacked the convoy of then-Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz following his
address to an election rally in Attock. The bombing killed 9 persons,
including the bomber, and injured 30 others. On October 9, unknown
gunmen in Karachi killed Deobandi Sunni leader Mufti Jameel Ahmed Khan
and an associate in their vehicle.
Terrorists allegedly linked to al-Qa'ida carried out attacks on
foreign targets during the year. On March 15, police successfully
disarmed a vehicle bomb parked in front of a diplomatic consulate in
Karachi. On May 3, a car bomb in Gwadar killed 3 Chinese engineers and
injured 11 others. On May 26, 2 successive bomb blasts at a bilateral
cultural center in Karachi killed a police guard and injured 32 police
and journalists.
The Government condemned these attacks, blaming them on banned
extremist organizations aided by foreign terrorist groups. Authorities
charged 10 members of the al-Qa'ida-linked Jandullah extremist group in
the Pakistan Bible Society bombing, the bombings at the bilateral
cultural center, and the attack on the Corps Commander Karachi.
Cases were pending against three prominent Islamist politicians,
Allama Sajid Naqvi, Nawab Amanullah Khan Sial, and Allama Syed Sibtain
Ali Kazmi, in the 2003 death of Maulana Azam Tariq. Naqvi and Sial were
granted bail, while Kazmi remained at large.
There were no arrests in the 2003 attack on a Shi'a mosque in
Quetta, attributed to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, or the 2003 suicide bombing at
the Kawish Crown Plaza Shopping Center in Karachi, attributed to gang
warfare. A number of junior army officers and militants, arrested in
connection with the assassination attempts against President Musharraf
in 2002, remained in detention. Security forces killed the alleged
planner of the attack, Amjad Hussain Farooqi, in a gun battle
surrounding his arrest.
Honor killings continued to be a problem, and women were the
principal victims. Local human rights organizations documented 1,458
cases during the year, and many more likely went unreported. Sindh
province had over half of reported cases, although human rights
organizations believed the practice also was prevalent in Punjab, NWFP,
and Baluchistan. For example, on April 14, Gudshan Ali and his brother-
in-law Dilawar killed Ali's wife after accusing her of adultery in
Drakhan Village, Sindh. Police arrested Ali, who remained in detention.
On June 22, Mukhtiar Ahmed shot and killed his sister Reshman and Abdul
Shahoor in Munaabad Village, Sindh after accusing them of adultery.
Despite the filing of a complaint with police, no arrest was made.
Police arrested several family members in the 2003 death of Afsheen
Musarrat; all except her father, Musarrar Hussain, remained in custody.
No progress was made in the Muridke case from 2003, nor is any likely.
On October 26, the National Assembly adopted a bill increasing
penalties for crimes involving matters of honor and placing
restrictions on the victims or heirs' right to pardon perpetrators of
such crimes; however, human rights groups remained concerned that
perpetrators of such crimes, in a limited number of cases, could still
be pardoned by the victim or heirs (see Section 5).
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of shelling across
the Line of Control in Kashmir, the country's border with India.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, police and security forces held prisoners
incommunicado and refused to provide information on their whereabouts,
particularly in terrorism and national security cases. For example, on
June 14, unidentified security force personnel detained a British and
Dutch national at Lahore University for alleged ties to al-Qa'ida.
Despite High Court petitions from their families, police refused to
provide any information on their whereabouts. After holding journalist
Kahlwar Mehdi Rizvi in secret detention for nearly 40 days, authorities
charged Rizvi with sedition and conspiracy on January 28. Rizvi was
released on bail on March 29.
MQM-H claimed that security forces acting on behalf of the MQM
routinely held its activists incommunicado. Opposition parties charged
that the MQM kidnapped and tortured their activists during the March 28
local government by-elections and the May 12 provincial and national
assembly by-elections in Karachi.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution and the Penal Code prohibit torture and
other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; however, security forces
tortured and abused persons, often to elicit confessions. Ordinary
courts at times dismissed such confessions. Under provisions of the
Anti-Terrorist Act, coerced confessions are admissible in Special
Courts; however, police had not used this provision to obtain
convictions.
Security force personnel continued to torture persons in custody
throughout the country. Human rights organizations reported that
methods used included beating; burning with cigarettes; whipping the
soles of the feet; prolonged isolation; electric shock; denial of food
or sleep; hanging upside down; and forced spreading of the legs with
bar fetters. Officials from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
(HRCP) estimated 5,000 cases of police torture annually; the Lawyers
for Human Rights and Legal Aid Madadgaar Project recorded 1,101 cases
of torture during the year. At times, torture resulted in death or
serious injury (see Section 1.a.). For example, on January 2, police in
Choti Zaireen village, Punjab, beat Saifullah Ghangle with a blunt
object until he fell unconscious. Ghangla remained in a coma in Lahore
at year's end. Five police officials were charged in the case but none
were arrested. On November 21, Naddeem Latif died during torture in
custody. Two police officials were arrested in the case and remained in
detention at year's end. There were no new developments in the Rasheed
Azam case from 2003, nor were any expected.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of paramilitary
forces or the army torturing or killing farmers for refusing to sign
contracts ceding their land rights to the Army in Okara.
The Hudood Ordinances provide for harsh Koranic punishments for
violations of Islamic law (Shari'a), including death by stoning and
amputation. These punishments, which require a high standard of
evidence, were not used during the year.
Special women's police stations with all female staff have been
established 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 women were often
detained and interrogated at regular stations. Instances of abuse of
women in prisons were less frequent. Sexual abuse of child detainees by
police or guards reportedly also was a problem.
There were allegations from several sources that during military
operations in South Waziristan security forces committed human rights
violations. Security forces destroyed houses of known and suspected
militants in accordance with the collective punishment provisions of
the Frontier Crimes Regulations (see Sections 1.e. and 1.f.). Press
reports indicated that 65 civilian casualties occurred during the
course of the campaign; however, the Government took care to minimize
casualties, including advance notification of impending operations.
Police failed in some instances to protect members of religious
minorities--particularly Christians, Ahmadis, and Shi'as--from societal
attacks (see Sections 2.c. and 5).
Prison conditions were extremely poor, except those for wealthy or
influential prisoners. Overcrowding was widespread. According to HRCP,
there were 85,000 prisoners occupying 87 jails originally built to hold
a maximum of 36,075 persons. Nine prisoners died in the Faisalabad Jail
due to a lack of medical assistance.
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. Mentally ill prisoners usually
lacked adequate care and were not segregated from the general prison
population (see Section 5). Foreign prisoners, mostly citizens of
African countries, often remained in prison long after their sentences
were completed because there was no one to pay for deportation to their
home country.
Shackling of prisoners was routine. The shackles used were tight,
heavy, and painful, and reportedly led to gangrene and amputation in
several cases.
There were reports of prison riots. On September 2, a riot broke
out in the Sargodha district jail following the death of an inmate,
allegedly from torture. Four inmates were killed and six guards and
several inmates were injured. Several guards were briefly held hostage.
The riots ended when an autopsy showed that the inmate in question died
of a heart attack rather than torture. In the Sialkot prison riot of
July 2003, 17 police officials were charged. None had been arrested by
year's end.
Female detainees and prisoners were held separately from male
detainees and prisoners. According to women's rights NGOs, there were
approximately 3,000 women in jail nationwide at year's end. Pretrial
detainees often were not segregated from convicted criminals.
On December 5, the Lahore High Court struck down the Juvenile
Justice System Ordinance, designed to protect the rights of children,
on the grounds of being unconstitutionally vague. At year's end, the
judgment remained in abeyance during appeals to the Supreme Court.
Child offenders were generally kept in the same prisons as adults,
albeit in separate barracks. Children in prison were subjected to the
same harsh conditions, judicial delay, and mistreatment as the adult
population. Local NGOs estimated 3,000 children were in prison at
year's end. 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.
Landlords in Sindh, political factions in Karachi, and tribes in
rural areas operated private jails.
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 International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) was denied access to alleged terrorist detainees.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, in practice the authorities did not
always comply with the law. The District Coordinating Officer (DCO) may
order preventive detention for up to 90 days; however, human rights
monitors reported instances in which prisoners have been held in
preventive detention for up to 6 months. Human rights organizations
charged that a number of individuals affiliated with terrorist
organizations were held in preventive detention indefinitely. Under the
criminal code, police may hold a suspect in investigative detention for
24 hours. 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 judicial concurrence is granted every 15 days (see Section
1.e.).
The police force was generally considered ineffective, abusive, and
corrupt. Failure to punish abuses created a climate of impunity. Police
and prison officials frequently used the threat of abuse to extort
money from prisoners and their families. 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 to avenge their personal
grievances. Corruption was most prominent among Station House Officers
(SHO), who ran each precinct. Some reportedly operated arrest for
ransom operations and established unsanctioned stations to increase
illicit revenue collection.
The 2002 Police Order was not fully implemented during the year.
While the central government has allocated funding for the envisioned
reforms, the national, provincial, and local police oversight bodies
were not operating in most locations, ostensibly due to disputes
between provincial and federal officials as to the scope of their
authority.
A First Information Report (FIR) is the legal basis for all
arrests. Police are to issue FIRs provided complainants offer
reasonable proof that a crime has been 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 were
frequently issued without supporting evidence as part of harassment or
intimidation. 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 asked, 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 sexually abused (see Sections 1.c. and 5).
Police also detained relatives of wanted criminals in order to compel
suspects to surrender (see Section 1.f.).
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.
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 were 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 6 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. HRCP
estimated that 80 percent of the prison population was awaiting trial.
In November, the Supreme Court granted bail to Asif Zardari,
husband of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in the final of
several outstanding cases against him. Zardari was released, but on
December 21, a Karachi anti-terrorism court cancelled Zardari's bail in
a separate murder case. He was rearrested at the Islamabad airport
while on his way to address a political rally; however, after 24 hours
of house arrest in Karachi, Zardari was again released and remained
free on bail at year's end. The Pakistan People's Party-
Parliamentarians (PPPP) claimed all cases against Zardari were
political and that the cancellation of his bail in December was ordered
by the Government to prevent him from holding marches and rallies in
Punjab.
The Government permitted visits to prisoners and detainees by human
rights monitors, family members, and lawyers (see Section 1.c.), with
some restrictions. Courts appointed attorneys for indigents only in
capital cases. In some cases persons had to pay bribes to see a
prisoner. Foreign diplomats may meet with prisoners when they appear in
court and may meet with citizens of their countries in prison visits.
Local human rights activists reported few restrictions to their access
to prisons.
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 MQM-H activists, arrested between 1999 and 2003
remained in custody at year's end, some without charge.
According to human rights monitors, 80 to 85 percent of the female
prison population was awaiting trial on adultery related offenses under
the Hudood Ordinances. Most of these cases were filed without
supporting evidence, trials often took years, and bail was routinely
denied.
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. Accountability courts
may not grant bail; the NAB chairman has sole power to decide if and
when to release detainees. Anti-terrorist courts are not to grant bail
if the court has reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is
guilty. Amendments to the Anti-Terrorist Act that were passed by the
National Assembly on October 18 allow security forces without reference
to the courts to restrict the activities of terrorist suspects, seize
their assets, and detain them for up to a year without charges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice, the judiciary remained
subject to executive branch influence at all levels. 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.
Unfulfilled judgeships and inefficient court procedures resulted in
severe backlogs at both trial and appellate levels. In non-political
cases, the High Courts and Supreme Court were generally considered
credible.
There are several court systems with overlapping and sometimes
competing jurisdictions: Criminal; civil and personal status;
terrorism; commercial; family; and military.
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, the 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 7
working days, but judges are free to extend the period as required.
Under normal procedures, the High and Supreme Courts hear appeals from
these courts. Human rights activists have criticized this expedited
parallel system, charging it is 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 would be pursued
independent of an individual's political affiliation, opposition
politicians were more likely to be prosecuted (see Section 1.d.);
however, in November, NAB issued orders for sitting Minister of Kashmir
and Northern Areas Faisal Saleh Hayat to appear in court on corruption
charges originally filed in 2000. NAB prosecuted no serving members of
the military or judiciary.
At the trial level, ordinary criminal courts hear cases involving
violations of the Hudood ordinances, which criminalize nonmarital rape
(see Section 5), extramarital sex, gambling, alcohol, and property
offenses. The Hudood 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 obligations or future commitments.
All Hudood convictions resulting in sentences of more than 2 years
are appealed in first instance to the Federal Shariat Court. The
Federal Shariat Court was subject to political and religious pressure.
Attorneys in such cases must be Muslims familiar with Koranic law. The
Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court hears appeals from the Federal
Shariat Court. The Federal Shariat Court may overturn legislation that
it judges to be inconsistent with Islamic tenants, but such cases are
appealed and finally heard by the Shari'a bench of the Supreme Court.
The Penal Code 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, it was not known that Qisas have been
used.
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.
Feudal landlords in Sindh and tribal leaders in Patan and Baloch
areas continued to hold jirgas 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 Pashto
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--either real or perceived--to redeem their
honor. Frequently, these disputes arose over women and land, and often
resulted in violence (see Section 5). There were no developments in the
killing of eight family members for failure to provide two girls in
marriage in 2003. The eight suspects in the 2002 gang rape of Mukhtaran
Bibi in Meerwalla, ordered by the tribal code, remained on death row.
Some political groups claimed their members were marked for arrest
based on their political affiliation (see Section 1.c. and 1.d.). On
April 12, PML-N leader Javed Hashmi was convicted in closed proceedings
on charges of sedition and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Hashmi was arrested in October 2003 for releasing an anonymous letter
allegedly written by army officers that was critical of President
Musharraf's leadership. Appeals were ongoing at year's end. Hashmi was
permitted visits by numerous opposition and civil society leaders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law requires court-issued search warrants for
property but not persons, in most cases; however, 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 Antiterrorist 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,
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, many of the groups that the Government
banned still remained active.
While the Government generally did not interfere with the right to
marry, local officials on occasion assisted influential families to
prevent marriage 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, the authorities detained relatives in order to force
a family member who was the recipient of an arrest warrant to surrender
(see Section 1.d.).
The Frontier Crimes Regulation, the separate legal system in the
FATA, permits collective responsibility, and empowers the authorities
to detain innocent members of the suspect's tribe, or to blockade an
entire village (see Section 1.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and citizens generally were free to
discuss public issues; however, some journalists were intimidated and
others practiced self-censorship.
There were numerous English and Urdu daily and weekly newspapers
and magazines. All were independent. The Ministry of Information
controls and manages the country's primary wire service, the Associated
Press of Pakistan (APP), which is the official carrier of Government
and international news to the local media. 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. Newspapers were free to criticize
the Government, and most did. Condemnation of government policies and
harsh criticism of political leaders and military operations were
common. The only known retribution against a publication was denial of
government advertising for several months to one English-language and
one Urdu-language newspaper.
The Government directly owned and controlled Pakistan Television
and Radio Pakistan, the only national free electronic broadcasters. The
semi-private Shalimar Television Network, in which the Government held
the majority ownership stake, expanded its broadcast range during the
year. All three reflected the Government point of view 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 British Broadcasting Corporation
and the Voice of America, were available.
The Government arrested, harassed, and intimidated journalists
during the year. For example, on January 29, the mayor of Mansehra in
NWFP killed Sajid Tanoli, a reporter for the Urdu-language daily
Shumaal (North) following a report in which Tanoli accused the mayor of
alcohol smuggling. The mayor's brother and son were arrested as
accomplices, but he remained at large. On April 21, Pakistani security
forces detained and secretly held Afghan national Sami Yousafzai, a
Newsweek stringer, who accompanied a western journalist to FATA.
Yousafzai was released on June 2. Several local journalists were denied
entry to the FATA during the year. On September 9, police in Okara
district Punjab detained Sarwar Mujahid, a journalist with the Urdu-
language daily Nawa-i-Waqt, following a series of articles he wrote on
the ongoing Okara Farms land dispute.
On January 28, authorities brought to court on sedition and
conspiracy charges carrying a possible life sentence freelance
journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, who was detained along with two western
journalists in December 2003 and subsequently held incommunicado for
over a month. After reviewing the charges, an anti-terrorism court in
Quetta ordered him released on bail on March 29, and he remained free
pending trial. In August, the Government dropped the original charges
but filed new ones carrying a maximum sentence of 21 years. Trial on
these charges was ongoing. Rizvi left the country in December.
Several individual journalists were threatened and intimidated by
government agencies for reports that called into question the
Government's commitment to fight terrorism. Amir Mir, who was seriously
harassed by the Government in 2003 for an article alleging that the
Government condoned the presence of a terrorist suspect in Karachi, was
able to republish the story in a book without incident.
Extremist groups also harassed and physically assaulted
journalists. For example, on February 24, a bomb exploded without
causing personal injuries at the Quetta office of the daily Urdu-
language newspaper Jang. The separatist Baluchistan Liberation Army
claimed responsibility. On February 29, Shi'a protesters ransacked the
Karachi Press Club, injuring a guard, in retaliation for disparaging
remarks made during a debate aired on the private television station
Geo. Police blocked protesters from proceeding to Geo's Karachi
studios. There were no developments in the 2003 killing of journalist
Ameer Bux Brohi.
The Government directly and indirectly censored the media during
the year. For example, on May 9, satellite broadcaster ARY cancelled an
interview with opposition politician Shahbaz Sharif due to what its
executives termed ``huge government pressure.'' On October 12,
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid publicly castigated satellite
broadcasters for airing programs ``glorifying terrorists'' and
threatened unspecified action. In response, ARY suspended its popular
news program ``News and Views,'' which had aired a sympathetic report
on deceased terrorist Amjad Farooqi. The program was restored on
October 25. Media outlets also practiced self-censorship.
On August 31, the Government shut down a new Urdu-language paper,
the Islamabad Times, before it could bring out its first issue.
Constitutional prohibitions on ridiculing Islam, the armed forces,
and the judiciary and blasphemy laws have been used in the past to
censor journalists, although there were no reports of the use of these
provisions during the year. On November 11, the Peshawar High Court
overturned the 2003 blasphemy conviction of Frontier Post copy editor
Munnawar Mohsin Ali, and he was released. Many private media
organizations were dependent on government advertising revenue, and two
major anti-government newspapers were denied government advertising for
several months.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of the Government
denying visas to Indian journalists.
An Anti-Defamation Law passed during the year significantly
expanded the definition of and increased penalties for defamatory
statements. The Government claimed the Bill's language exempted members
of the media, and no member of the media had been prosecuted under the
new law.
The Anti-Terrorist Act prohibits the possession or distribution of
material designed to foment sectarian hatred or obtained from banned
organizations. Court rulings mandate the death sentence for anyone
blaspheming against the ``prophets.'' The Penal Code 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.)
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. During the
year, an Islamabad magistrate ordered the November 22 issue of Newsweek
destroyed due to objectionable photos accompanying an article on the
murder of Dutch national Theo Van Gogh.
Obscene literature, a category broadly defined by the Government,
was subject to seizure. Dramas and documentaries on previously taboo
subjects, including corruption, social privilege, narcotics, violence
against women, and female inequality, were broadcast on television;
however, some sensitive series have been canceled before being
broadcast. During the year, police cracked down on pornographic and
unlicensed cinemas in the NWFP.
The Government limited access to the Internet. Access to the South
Asian Tribune, an anti-government online magazine, was blocked
sporadically.
The Government generally did not restrict academic freedom.
However, the atmosphere of violence and intolerance fostered by student
organizations, typically tied to religious political parties, continued
to limit academic freedom. On some university campuses, well-armed
groups of students, primarily from radical religious organizations, had
clashes 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, controlled those admitted to the universities, and
sometimes also controlled the funds of the institutions. Such control
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.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom ``to assemble peacefully and without arms subject
to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of public
order,'' and the Government generally observed this right, but with
some restrictions. While the Government allowed numerous opposition
rallies and demonstrations to proceed during the year, at times, it
denied permits or imposed restrictions on timing and/or venue. For
example, the Jamaat-e-Islami was forced to move its annual September
gathering from Lahore to the outskirts of Peshawar when its initial
permit application was denied. Ahmadis have been prohibited from
holding any conferences or gatherings since 1984 (see Section 2.c.). In
the wake of renewed sectarian violence in October, the Government
banned religious extremist organizations from holding any public
gatherings.
Police sometimes used excessive force against demonstrators (see
Section 1.a.). For example, on August 20, police used tear gas and shot
in the air to disperse Christian protestors in Sheikhupura who were
angered over the death in custody of Nasir Masih. A woman passerby was
injured. The Government did not prosecute any members of the security
forces, nor was it likely to do so. On December 21, police used batons
and tear gas to disperse a PPPP crowd gathered at the Islamabad
International Airport to meet Asif Zardari. The crowd had started to
vandalize airport property when it became clear that Zardari had been
rearrested. The PPPP claimed police action was designed to prevent its
holding rallies and marches in Punjab Province.
The authorities sometimes prevented leaders of religious political
parties from traveling to certain areas if the authorities believed
their presence would increase sectarian tensions or cause public
violence (see Section 2.d.).
The Constitution provides for the right of association subject to
restriction by government ordinance and law. NGOs were required to
register with the Government under the Cooperative Societies and
Companies Ordinance of 1960. No prominent NGO reported problems with
the Government over registrations during the year. Some continued to
operate without registering and were not prosecuted.
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.
Islam is the state religion. The Constitution requires that laws be
consistent with Islam. All citizens were subject to certain provisions
of Shari'a, 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 to charge persons
who committed them. 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 Constitution declares the Ahmadi community, which considers
itself a Muslim sect, to be a non-Muslim minority. Provisions of the
penal code prohibited Ahmadis 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 are 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. Ahmadis were frequently discriminated against in government
hiring and in admission to government schools.
Complaints under the blasphemy laws, which prohibit derogatory
statements or action against Islam, the Koran, or the prophets, were
used to settle business or personal disputes and to harass religious
minorities or reform-minded Muslims. Most complaints were filed against
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 a final verdict. Trial courts were
reluctant to release on bail or acquit blasphemy defendants for fear of
violence from religious extremist groups. On October 26, the National
Assembly passed a bill that revises the complaint process and requires
senior police officials' review of such cases in an effort to eliminate
spurious charge. During the year, there were 8 persons convicted under
the blasphemy laws and another 50 ongoing cases.
All religious groups experienced bureaucratic delays and requests
for bribes when attempting to build houses of worship or to obtain
land. Ahmadis were prevented from building houses of worship. For
example, in Taltay Aali, Gujranwla District, the Ahmadi community was
barred from completing construction, following attacks on the site by
local Muslims.
``Islamiyyat'' (Islamic studies) is compulsory for all Muslim
students in state-run schools. Students of other faiths are exempt from
such classes; however, in practice, teachers induced many non-Muslim
students to complete Islamic studies.
Although there were few Jewish citizens in the country, anti-
Semitic sentiments appeared to be widespread, and anti-Semitic and
anti-Zionist press articles were common.
Sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'a extremists continued
during the year. Attacks on mosques and religious gatherings resulted
in over 100 deaths (see Sections 1.a. and 5). Unidentified gunmen
allegedly linked to Sunni extremist groups continued to kill Shi'a
professionals, primarily doctors and lawyers, during the year.
Investigations into the 2003 attack on a Shi'a mosque in Quetta were
ongoing.
Christians and Ahmadis were the targets of religious violence. On
August 21, unknown assailants shot and killed Barkatullah Mangla, an
Ahmadi advocate, at his residence in Sargodah. No one was arrested in
the case. On May 2 in a Faisalabad hospital, Javed Anjum, a 19-year-old
Christian, died. Anjum had drunk water from a tap at a local madrassa
and was held by the teachers and students for 5 days and allegedly
beaten. Subsequently, he was transferred to police and charged with
theft. Because of his injuries, police later transferred him to the
hospital in Faisalabad where he died. No arrests had been made by
year's end. On August 3, a Christian, Tasneem Dean, and his family
relocated from their home in Asafabad for fear of violence from the
local Muslim community. Dean's 11-year-old daughter had accidentally
thrown her father's antique copy of the Koran in the garbage. While the
community's Islamic religious leaders accepted the Deans' explanation
that the incident was an accident, local authorities advised Dean to
depart, as they could not ensure his safety from extremist elements.
Islamic religious leaders frequently harassed the Ahmadi community
and organized marches, conferences, and demonstrations against it. For
example, on July 23, several thousand Sunni Muslims demonstrated in the
Ahmadi-majority city of Chenab Nagar (Rabwah) over a decision to
relocate the local police station. The station, which had included a
small mosque, had been constructed on land on loan from the Ahmadi
community. The local Islamic leadership objected to the return of the
mosque site to the Ahmadi owners. On September 6, the provincial
government, bowing to public pressure, ordered the site returned to
police.
On September 25, a Muslim mob attacked the Sikh Gurudwara Junam
Asthan in the village of Nankana Sahib, causing damage to the shrine. A
government report, which stated that the land on which the Guru Nanak
Degree College was located rightfully belonged to the Gurudwara,
angered the mob. The National Assembly called on the Punjab provincial
government to prosecute those responsible. Several persons were
arrested in connection with the case.
The Ahmadi, Christian, Hindu, and Shi'a Muslim communities reported
significant discrimination in employment and access to education,
including at government institutions.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 at
times prevented political party leaders and religious leaders from
traveling to certain parts of the country (see Section 2.b.). Special
permission was required to enter certain restricted areas, including
parts of the FATA.
Law prohibited travel to Israel. 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) are prohibited from
foreign travel. There were approximately 2,153 names on the ECL. While
the ECL was intended to prevent those with pending criminal cases from
traveling abroad, no judicial action is required to add a name to the
ECL. Those on the list have the right to appeal for removal to the
Secretary of Interior and the Advocate General of the Senior Judiciary.
Courts have intervened to have opposition leaders removed from the ECL.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile; however, former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif remained in exile in Saudi Arabia, in accordance
with a 2000 agreement with the Government. Former Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto remained in self-imposed exile. She faces a number of
corruption and contempt of court charges should she return to the
country. In May, Shahbaz Sharif, PML-N President and brother of the
deposed former Prime Minister, returned to Saudi Arabia only 2 hours
after he landed in Lahore. Sharif asserted that he was forced into
exile.
According to press reports there were approximately 1.5 million
displaced Kashmiris, from Indian-held Kashmir, in the country. Under
the law, the Kashmiris are entitled to the same rights as citizens.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol; however, the Government has a
system to protect refugees. The Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. Since 1979, the Government has provided temporary
protection to millions of refugees from neighboring Afghanistan. The
Government maintained there were 3.2 million Afghan refugees in the
country at year's end. The Government continued to work closely with
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide
support to this population. The Government cooperated with UNHCR in the
voluntary repatriation of 384,032 Afghan refugees during the year.
Police in some cases demanded bribes from Afghan refugees. There
were credible reports that intelligence communities harassed refugees
during their search for al-Qa'ida. Some women 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. In November, Afghan refugees attacked health clinics in the
Girdi Jungle refugee camps run by Save the Children after desecrated
Korans were found outside the buildings. Save the Children temporarily
suspended its operations in the camp until the Government provided
enhanced security.
Approximately 300,000 Biharis, Urdu-speaking non-Bengali Muslims
from Bangladesh, continued to campaign for resettlement in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provided citizens with the right to change their
government; however, this right was restricted in practice. President
Musharraf has controlled the Government since 1999 and dominated the
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) federal coalition government.
International observers deemed the 2002 national elections somewhat
free and fair, although they noted serious flaws.
Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf assumed the presidency
by decree in 2001 following the military overthrow of the elected
government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999. The Supreme Court
later sanctioned the coup; however, it directed Musharraf to restore
elected government within 3 years. In 2002, President Musharraf held a
nationwide referendum on a 5-year extension of his presidency and
claimed to have received a 97.5 percent vote in favor of the
referendum. However, some 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 December 2003, the
National Assembly affirmed Musharraf as President until 2007.
Elections were held for the National and Provincial Assemblies in
October 2002. Musharraf's Legal Framework Order (LFO) created a number
of new candidate eligibility prerequisites. International and domestic
observers found the election somewhat free and fair, but identified
serious flaws in the election framework and tampering with results in
certain districts. After a number of floor crossings, which the
opposition claim were induced, the PML was able to form a governing
coalition in concert with the MQM, smaller parties, and dissident
groups from opposition parties. In February 2003, indirect Senate
elections resulted in a majority for the governing coalition. In
December 2003, the Parliament incorporated a large part of the LFO into
the 1973 Constitution as its 17th Amendment. The Amendment affirms
Musharraf's presidency until 2007 and exempts him from a prohibition on
holding two offices of state until the end of 2004, thereby allowing
him to continue as Chief of Army Staff. The Amendment allows the
President to dissolve Parliament, but requires him to obtain the
consent of the Supreme Court within 30 days. Opposition parties say the
amended constitution legitimizes the powerful role of the military in
politics, and transfers significant powers from the prime ministership
to the previously ceremonial presidency. On October 15, the National
Assembly, over objections from all opposition parties, approved a bill
that extends Musharraf's exemption to hold two offices through 2007. On
December 30, Musharraf announced that he would continue as Chief of
Army Staff.
The National Assembly and the Cabinet functioned normally during
the year. On June 26, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali
resigned, and was replaced on an interim basis by Chaudhry Shujaat
Hussain. On August 27, the National Assembly elected the PML candidate,
former Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, as 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 to the National Assembly, claiming his two by-election
victories to the National Assembly on August 18 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 2001,
non-partisan elections for local government assemblies were held in 97
districts. Directly elected union councilors elected district nazims
(mayors) and members of district councils. According to local and
international election observers, the elections were generally free and
fair. However, opposition parties accused the Government of intervening
to ensure that pro-Musharraf candidates were elected.
The Government permitted all existing political parties to
function. The Government forced the PPP-P and PML-N to elect leaders
other than former P.M.s 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 barring Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
The opposition claimed the Government convicted two of its leaders
on politically motivated charges during the year. On April 12, PML-N
leader Javed Hashmi was convicted in closed proceedings on charges of
sedition and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison (see Section
1.e.). Former PPP National Assembly Speaker Yousaf Raza Gillani was
sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 18 on charges of abuse of
office. Gillani was accused of using his position as Speaker to obtain
jobs for relatives and supporters.
The Government ban on political party activities in the FATA
continued. Candidates were not allowed to register by political party,
and political party rallies were not allowed. Several political parties
campaigned covertly during the 2002 national elections.
Corruption among executive and legislative branch officials
remained a problem during the year, and public perception of corruption
was widespread.
The National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 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 members of
the military.
While fairly restrictive regarding the information that citizens
are entitled to, a Freedom of Information Ordinance became law after
being enacted by Presidential Ordinance in 2002.
Inhabitants of the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) are not
covered under the Constitution and have no representation in the
federal legislature. An appointed civil servant administered these
areas; an elected Northern Areas Council serves in an advisory
capacity. Members of the Azad Kashmir assembly and government are
required to claim allegiance to Pakistan before they can stand in
elections. Some Kashmiri political parties advocated for an independent
Kashmir and have therefore not been allowed to stand in provincial
elections.
There were 73 women in the 342-seat National Assembly; there were
five women in the Cabinet; and none in the Supreme Court. Sixty seats
in the National Assembly are reserved for women, as are 128 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.
Local leaders in the Lower Dir District in the NWFP did not allow women
to contest the local government by-elections in March. As a result of
this agreement and similar ones from the past, 196 of 204 seats
reserved for women in the local council remained vacant. A similar ban
was also agreed in part of Swabi and other NWFP districts. Provincial
chief ministers have named women to serve in their cabinets.
There were 10 minorities in the 342-seat legislature; there was
none in the Cabinet; and there was 1 on the Supreme Court. All 10
minority members of the National Assembly hold reserved religious
minority seats. Such seats are apportioned to parties based on the
overall percentage of elected seats held in parliament. Previous direct
elections for minority seats have been abolished. Under the
Constitution, minorities also have reserved seats in the provincial
assemblies (see Section 2.c.). The Government requires voters to
indicate their religion when registering.
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. They are required to
be registered, although this requirement was not generally enforced.
Government officials often were cooperative and responsive to their
views. Human rights groups reported that they generally had good access
to police stations and prisons. The HRCP continued to investigate human
rights abuses and sponsor discussions on human rights issues during the
year.
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.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law, Justice, and Human
Rights held hearings on a number of issues during the year, including
honor crimes, the Anti-Defamation Law, the Blasphemy Law, and the
Hudood Ordinance. While the Committee served as a useful forum to raise
public awareness of such issues, its final action generally adhered to
government policy. The Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice, and
Human Rights debated a number of issues of significant concern during
the year and published a well-regarded investigatory report into the
2002 and 2003 dispute at Okara Farms in which security force personnel
were implicated in abuse. The Parliamentarians Commission for Human
Rights, an inter-party caucus of parliamentarians, was active in
lobbying for reform in key areas.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equality before the law for all
citizens and broadly prohibits discrimination based on race, religion,
caste, residence, or place of birth; however, in practice there was
significant discrimination based on these factors.
Women.--Domestic violence was a widespread and serious problem.
Husbands frequently beat, and occasionally killed, their wives, and
often newly married women were abused and harassed by their in-laws.
Dowry and family-related disputes often resulted in death or
disfigurement through burning or acid. For example, on July 9, in
Latifabad, Musa Khan threw acid on the face of his estranged wife
Basira. A case against him was pending at year's end. During the year,
there were 193 cases of stove deaths, many of these related to disputes
with in-laws.
According to the HRCP, one out of every two women was the victim of
mental or physical violence. The National Commission on the Status of
Women has called for 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. Battered 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.
The Government has criticized violence against women. Its Crisis
Center for Women in Distress refers abused women to NGOs for
assistance. During the year, the NGO Struggle for Change, which
operated a shelter for abused women, provided rehabilitation assistance
(shelter, employment counseling, and legal aid) to 67 women. An
additional 157 women received legal or financial assistance. Provincial
governments operated shelters for women in distress at the district
level. In some cases, managers of such shelters have abused women in
their care. For example, in August, the manager of the shelter in
Hyderabad was suspended after three women at the shelter were tortured
when they refused to work for her as prostitutes. The case was pending
at year's end.
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 is
estimated that less than one-third of rape cases were reported to the
police. Police were at times implicated in the crime (see Section
1.c.).
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 cases in which rape victims were jailed on such charges. The
standard of proof for rape set out in the Hudood Ordinances is based on
whether the accused is to be subjected to Koranic or secular
punishment. In cases of Koranic punishment, which can result in public
flogging or stoning, the victim must produce four adult male Muslim
witnesses to the rape or a confession from the accused. No Koranic
punishment has ever been applied for rape. The standards of proof are
lower for secular punishment, which can include up to 25 years in
prison and 30 lashes. Such punishment was applied. Courts, police and
prosecutors, at times, refused to bring rape cases when Koranic
standards of evidence could not be met.
Police frequently discouraged women from bringing rape charges and
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 even though 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.
Husbands and male family members often brought spurious adultery
and fornication charges against women under the Hudood Ordinances. Even
when courts ultimately dismissed charges, the accused spent months,
sometimes years, in jail and saw her reputation destroyed. The
Government's National Commission on the Status of Women advocated for
the repeal of the Hudood Ordinances. On October 26, the National
Assembly adopted legislation that requires senior police officials to
evaluate the merits of adultery and fornication allegations and
requires a court order before a woman can be arrested on such charges.
Honor killings and mutilations occurred during the year (see
Section 1.a.). Women were often the victims at the hands of their
husbands or male relatives. Authorities reported 1,261 honor crimes in
the 12 months after June 2003, with the majority in Sindh. The practice
was also common in Punjab and among tribes in Baluchistan, NWFP, and
FATA. On October 26, the National Assembly adopted legislation that
provides for additional penalties for all crimes involving honor and
that restricts the right of victims or heirs to pardon perpetrators in
exchange for restitution.
The estimated 100,000 Bohra Muslims in country practiced female
genital mutilation (FGM). While no statistics on the prevalence of FGM
among the Bohras exist, the practice reportedly has declined.
Sexual harassment was a widespread problem. While the Pakistan
Penal Code prohibits harassment, prosecution was rare.
The Constitution 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.). The Hudood Ordinances create 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 future obligations, a woman's testimony is equal to half that of a
man.
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. In practice, 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. 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.
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 Government's 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.
Numerous women's rights groups such as the Progressive Women's
Association, Struggle for Change, and Aurat Foundation, were active in
urban areas. Primary issues of concern included domestic violence, the
Hudood Ordinances, and honor crimes.
Children.--The Government does not demonstrate a strong commitment
to children's rights and welfare through its laws and programs. There
is no federal law on compulsory education. Public education is free;
however, fees were charged 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 (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 a foreign aid organization, out of 18 million children
between ages 5 and 9, only 42 percent were in school. Less than half of
children who enrolled completed more than 5 years of education. Out of
every 100 children who enrolled, only 6 complete grade 12. The national
literacy rate of 38 percent showed a significant gap between males (50
percent) and females (24 percent) due to historical 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, particularly in the Afghan border area,
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. Government
funding has been allocated in the budget to assist with teacher
training.
At the vast majority of madrassas, students were reasonably well-
treated. However, press reports claimed that there were some madrassas
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 5 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.
Child abuse was widespread. According to child rights NGOs, abuse
was most common within families. In rural areas, poor parents sold
children as bonded laborers (see Section 6.d.) and at times, sold
daughters to be raped by landlords.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation were problems (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a significant problem (see Section 6.d.).
NGOs like Sahil 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.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in persons was a serious problem. All forms of
trafficking are prohibited under the Prevention and Control of Human
Trafficking, Ordinance 2002, and maximum penalties range from 7 to 14
years' imprisonment plus fines. The Government arrested 67 and
prosecuted 39 under the ordinance during the year. The Federal
Investigation Agency (FIA) had primary responsibility for combating
trafficking. The Government established a dedicated Anti-Trafficking
Unit in the FIA during the year. 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 erroneous
promises of legitimate jobs. 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, both groups had
passports confiscated and were forced to work to pay off their
transportation debt. Although the practice declined, families continued
to sell young boys between ages 3 and 10 for use as camel jockeys in
Middle Eastern countries. Women and children from rural areas were
trafficked to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation and
labor. In some cases, families sold these victims into servitude, 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 prosecuted 17 governmental
officers and arrested 3 FIA inspectors.
The Government rescued some kidnapped victims. In the 14 months
following June 2003, the Overseas Pakistani Foundation and the Ansar
Burney Welfare Trust repatriated 5,700 citizens trafficked to the
Middle East. The Government sponsored shelters and training programs
for actual and potential trafficking victims. There were 276 detention
centers where women were 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. The Interior Minister was
personally engaged in such efforts. 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.
Police often treated trafficking victims as criminals, charging
them with immigration law violations. Police remained reluctant to
assist foreign trafficking victims in filing charges. Women victims who
were forced into prostitution at times feared prosecution for adultery
and fornication if they pursued cases. Foreign victims, particularly
Bangladeshis, faced difficulties in obtaining repatriation to their
home countries. Women trafficked abroad and sexually exploited faced
societal discrimination on their repatriation.
A few NGOs held workshops on trafficking during the year, and the
Government and NGOs worked to publicize the plight of camel jockeys and
discourage the continuation of the practice.
Persons With Disabilities.--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; organized
criminals took much of the proceeds. There is a legal provision
requiring 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. Mentally ill
prisoners normally lacked adequate care and were not segregated from
the general prison population (see Section 1.c.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexual intercourse
is a criminal offence; however, prosecution was rare. Homosexuals did
not openly reveal their sexual orientation, and there were no
allegations during the year of discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation.
Those suffering from HIV/AIDS faced broad societal discrimination.
While the Government has launched education and prevention campaigns,
these have done little to protect victims.
The Shi'a, Christian, Hindu, and Ahmadi communities all faced
discrimination and societal violence (see Section 2.c.).
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, non-profit 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 number of union
members was underestimated.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--In those
sectors covered by the IRO, unions were allowed to conduct their
activities without government 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. Several
small strikes occurred during the year. For example, in October,
Pakistan Telecommunications workers' unions held intermittent strikes
of brief duration in cities around the country demanding increased
wages and better regulation of the use of contract workers. The strikes
ceased after the Government termed them illegal.
National labor laws require the Government to determine every 6
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 Pakistan's three Export
Processing Zones (EPZs) are exempted 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 Constitution and
law prohibit forced or bonded labor, including by children; however,
the Government did not enforce these prohibitions effectively. The
Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act (BLAA) 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 5 years in prison and up to $833 (Rs. 50,000) in
fines.
Conservative estimates put the number of bonded workers at several
million. Such labor was common in the brick, glass, carpet, and fishing
industries, and was found among agricultural and construction workers
in rural areas. 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 some
4,500 bonded laborers. Ties between such landlords and influential
politicians hampered effective elimination of bonded labor.
The Constitution and the law prohibit slavery; however, human
rights groups claimed that in remote areas of rural Sindh, bonded
agricultural labor and debt slavery continued.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government has 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. The
Ministry of Labor has identified 35 hazardous forms of child labor,
including street vending, surgical instrument manufacturing, deep-sea
fishing, leather manufacturing, brick making, and carpet weaving, among
others. Child labor in agriculture and domestic work was also 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, e.g. no child is allowed to
work overtime or at night; however, there were few child labor
inspectors in most districts, and the inspectors often had little
training, insufficient resources, and were susceptible to corruption.
By law, inspectors may not inspect facilities that employ less than 10
persons, where most child labor occurs. Hundreds of convictions were
obtained 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. 7,280) in Baluchistan--were not a significant
deterrent. The Employment of Children Act allows for fines of up to
$333 (Rs. 20,000). 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-ILEC) continued programs in the carpet
weaving, surgical instrument, rag picking, and deep sea fishing
industries and launched 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. An ILO-IPEC program to eliminate child labor in
the soccer ball manufacturing industry was completed and deemed a
success.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for
unskilled workers was $42 (Rs. 2,500) per month. It applies 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. 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 often
only had 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 republic with an active multiparty system. The
popularly elected president, reelected in 1999 to a second 6-year term,
and the 225-member Parliament, elected during the year for a 6-year
term, share constitutional power. The April parliamentary election was
deemed largely free and fair by the European Union Election Observation
Mission, except in the north and east, where widespread voter
impersonation and multiple voting allegedly occurred. From 1983 until
2001, the Government fought the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), a terrorist organization that advocated a separate ethnic Tamil
state in the north and east of the country. In 2001, the Government and
the LTTE each announced unilateral cease-fires and signed a formal
cease-fire accord in 2002. In April 2003, after participating in six
rounds of talks facilitated by the Norwegian Government, the LTTE
suspended the negotiations. During the year, both parties violated the
2002 accord, although the LTTE's violations were more numerous and more
serious. The judiciary is independent; however, some NGOs claimed that
higher levels of the judiciary were subject to political pressure and
that corruption, particularly at lower levels, was a problem. Long
trial delays and a lack of training and resources for the judiciary
further complicated the judicial process.
The Ministry of Internal Security controls the 66,000-member police
force, which is responsible for internal security in most areas of the
country. The Ministry of Defense controls the 112,000-member Army, the
27,000-member Navy, and the 20,000-member Air Force. Home Guards, an
armed militia of more than 20,000 members drawn from local communities
and who are responsible to the police, provide security for Muslim and
Sinhalese communities located near LTTE-controlled areas. The civilian
authorities maintained effective control of the security forces. Some
members of the security forces committed serious human right abuses.
The country's economy is market based and primarily driven by the
manufacturing and services sector. The population was approximately
19.4 million in 2003, and gross domestic product growth was 5.9 percent
in 2003. Public sector wages and benefits kept pace with inflation. On
December 26, a large-scale tsunami devastated significant parts of the
southern, northern and eastern coastal areas of the country, killing,
injuring and displacing thousands of persons.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. There
were no reports of security forces committing politically motivated
killings and no reports of disappearances; however, there were
extensive reports of torture and 13 custodial deaths as a result of
police torture. The Government continued investigations into past
abuses by armed forces personnel and opened investigations into past
abuses by police personnel. Prison conditions remained poor and there
were reports of arbitrary arrests during the year. The Government
continued to hold 38 Tamils under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
during the year; however, no new arrests under the PTA occurred. The
PTA, like the repealed Emergency Regulations, permitted warrantless
arrest and nonaccountable detention. Violence and discrimination
against women, and child prostitution occurred. Violence against
religious minorities increased, and institutionalized ethnic
discrimination against Tamils remained a problem. Trafficking in women
and children for the purpose of forced labor occurred, and there was
some trafficking of women and children for the commercial sex industry.
The Government acted against the child sex trade. Child labor,
limitations of worker rights, especially in the Export Processing Zones
(EPZs), and discrimination against persons with disabilities continued
to be problems.
The LTTE continued to commit serious human rights abuses. The LTTE
was responsible for politically motivated killings, arbitrary arrests,
torture, harassment, abduction, disappearances, extortion, and
detention. The LTTE continued to use and recruit child soldiers.
Through a campaign of intimidation, the LTTE continued to undermine the
work of elected local government bodies in Jaffna and the east. On
occasion, the LTTE prevented political and governmental activities from
occurring in the north and east. There were instances of intimidation
of Muslims by the LTTE during the reporting period. The LTTE continued
to control large sections of the north and east. The LTTE permitted
journalists some access to the areas of the country it controlled. Some
LTTE-imposed restrictions remained on freedom of movement of citizens.
The LTTE denied those under its control the right to change their
government, killed candidates standing for office, did not provide for
fair trials, infringed on privacy rights, and discriminated against
ethnic and religious minorities.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of political killings by the Government; however, human rights
organizations and other sources reported that 13 individuals died as a
result of torture in police custody.
For example, on February 22, police officers from the Baduraliya
Police Station in Kalutara District reportedly assaulted
Bellanavithanage Sanath Yasarathne while investigating a family quarrel
at his sister's home. Yasarathne fled, and a police officer shot and
killed him. At year's end, police were still investigating the case.
On April 19, Muthuthanthrige Chamal Ranjith Cooray died from
injuries sustained during 2 days of torture at the Modara Police Post
and Moratuwa Police Station in Colombo district. At year's end, the
investigation continued.
On October 3, according to media and human rights organization
reporting, Polonnaruwa police allegedly killed Herman Quintus Perera
after he reportedly refused to sell police liquor on a holiday on which
liquor sales were prohibited. Police took Perera and three other
persons to the Polonnaruwa Police Station, where the next morning
Perera died. A police officer claimed Perera was killed in a fight, but
this claim was uncorroborated by other police. At year's end, four
policemen were arrested and remained in custody pending trial.
On November 21, unknown assailants shot Gerald Perera in Wattala.
Perera, who was scheduled to testify on December 2 about alleged
torture he had undergone in 2002, died 3 days later from the shooting.
On December 23, a police sub-inspector and the suspected gunman were
arrested in the case, and at year's end, their trials were pending.
No charges were filed against police in the July 2003 death in
custody of Sunil Hemachandra, and there were no developments in the
November 2003 S.L. Kulatunga death in custody.
Security force impunity remained a problem. At year's end, the
Government continued to investigate 5 past cases of rape, 100 past
cases of torture, and approximately 1,240 past cases of disappearance.
In July 2003, 5 individuals, including 2 police officers, were
sentenced to death in the court proceedings involving the 2000
Bindunuwewa rehabilitation camp deaths of 27 Tamil men. The sentences
were immediately commuted to 23 years' rigorous imprisonment.
On November 19, High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya and his
bodyguard were shot and killed by four assailants outside Ambepitiya's
Colombo residence. Ambepitiya had presided over several high-profile
narcotics cases and was scheduled to hear another narcotics case the
following week. Several arrests for the killings had been made by
year's end.
In 2003, representatives of the victims of the 1992 massacre of 35
Tamil civilians in the village of Mailanthani requested that the
Attorney General (A.G.) appeal the 2002 acquittal of the 21 soldiers
accused of the killings. The A.G. did not grant the appeal during the
year, and the case remained closed on the final verdict.
In March, when the eastern military LTTE leader Karuna split from
the northern Vanni LTTE, 120 LTTE cadre and civilians died in fighting
that ensued between the 2 LTTE factions in the east. There were reports
that the Government provided aid to the Karuna faction.
During the year, there was credible evidence that, in addition to
the 120 cadres and civilians killed in fighting between LTTE factions
in March, the LTTE killed more than 81 members of anti-LTTE Tamil
political groups, LTTE cadres loyal to Karuna, alleged Tamil informants
for the security forces in the north, the east, and in Colombo, and
civilians. Both current and former members of anti-LTTE Tamil political
parties were targeted by the LTTE. During the year, 10 current and past
anti-LTTE Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) members were killed,
including V. R. Kamalan, an eastern town council leader, and Media
Secretary Balanadarajah Iyer. In March, unknown assailants killed
Sinnathamby Sunderpillai, a candidate in the country's parliamentary
elections. The assailants killed Sunderpillai at the hospital after
failing to kill him near his home earlier in the day. Credible sources
indicated that after the fighting in March, the LTTE killed an
additional 43 members of breakaway military leader Karuna's group. On
August 24, Karuna supporter Periyaamman Jayakumar was killed, and two
prison officials injured, when a LTTE member shot Jayakumar in the
Magistrate's courtroom in Akkaraipattu in Ampara District. On July 15,
an inmate in the Batticaloa prison with allegiance to the Vanni faction
of the LTTE killed pro-Karuna cadre Kanapathipillai Mahendran (see
Section 2.a.).
The LTTE also targeted alleged Tamil informants to the military,
killing 10 during the year, including Kandaiah Yoharasa and
Tissaveerasingam Dushyanthan.
On July 7, a suspected LTTE suicide bomber detonated explosives
attached to her body at a police station, killing herself and four
policemen. Her intended target was believed to be Hindu Affairs
Minister Douglas Devananda, a long-time anti-LTTE Tamil politician.
After the fighting in March, Karuna's group allegedly killed 26
LTTE cadres, including S. Senathirajah, the LTTE political leader for
Batticaloa. Karuna's group also killed 7 civilians, including LTTE
supporter, journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan, who was killed in Batticaloa
on May 31 (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.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances at the hands of the security forces during the year.
The 2000 U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances listed the country as having an extremely large number
of ``unclassified'' disappearances. There were no developments in any
of these cases during the year. From 1995 to 2003, the Rehabilitation
of Persons, Property & Industries Authority paid compensation to the
next of kin of 17,740 missing persons. At year's end, the Ministry of
Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation was seeking cabinet approval
to compensate another 960 next of kin. Since 2000, 12 disappearances
were reported by the U.N. Working Group, 7 of which are still pending.
In 2002, the Government formed a new commission to investigate
disappearances that occurred in the Jaffna area during 1996-97. During
the year, the Commission 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 were 45 cases pending.
Unlike in previous years, there were no indictments,
investigations, or prosecutions of security force personnel for past
disappearances. Regional commissions, 3 established in 1994 and a 4th
established in 1998, reported a total of 21,215 disappearances between
1988 and 1994, most of which occurred during the 1988-89 period of the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front-JVP) uprising. The
commissions found that many people disappeared after having been
removed involuntarily from their homes, in most cases by security
forces. There were no developments in any of these cases during the
year, and none were expected.
During the year, the LTTE continued to detain civilians, often
holding them for ransom, especially Muslims in the east. In July, the
LTTE abducted 13 Trincomalee-area Muslims who were collecting firewood
and demanded ransom for their release. The 10 who were released that
same day were forced to provide manual labor, while the other 3 were
held for several days and severely beaten before being released (see
Sections 1.c. and 1.g.).
At year's end, there were more than 120 reports that the LTTE had
abducted adults.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Convention Against Torture Act (CATA) of 1994 makes
torture a punishable offense; however, the CATA does not implement
several provisions of the U.N. Convention Against Torture, and human
rights groups maintain that while torture is prohibited under specific
circumstances it is allowed under others. According to Human Rights
Commission (HRC) and other sources, the use of police torture to
extract admissions and confessions was routine and conducted with
impunity. In addition, the PTA makes confessions obtained under any
circumstance, including by torture, sufficient to hold a person until
the individual is brought to court; however, no arrests were made under
the PTA during the year (see Section 1.d.).
Methods of torture included beatings, often with wire or hose,
electric shock, the suspension of individuals by the wrists or feet in
contorted positions, burning, slamming testicles in desk drawers, and
near-drowning. In other cases, victims were forced to remain in
unnatural positions for extended periods or had bags laced with
insecticide, chili powder, or gasoline placed over their heads.
Detainees reported broken bones and other serious injuries as a result
of their mistreatment, and during the year 13 deaths occurred in police
custody (see Section 1.a.).
Of the 42 allegations of police torture, complaints came
disproportionately from police stations outside the north and east.
There were credible nongovernmental organization (NGO) reports that
some police tortured individuals in custody. For example, the Asian
Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that on January 5, police in
uniform and civilian attire from the Matale Police Station poured
boiling water for 10 minutes on the genitals and thigh of Jayasekara
Vithanage Saman Priyankara, resulting in serious burns. Priyankara was
again tortured after Matale police illegally arrested him following his
filing of a complaint against police for the initial torture. The
National Police Commission (NPC) was investigating the incident at
year's end.
On February 2, according to AHRC and media reports, Palitha Tissa
Kumara Koralaliyanage was illegally arrested and tortured in the
Welipenna Police Station in Kalutara District. Police severely beat
Koralaliyanage with a cricket bat and forced a tuberculosis patient to
spit into his mouth. Koralaliyanage was later diagnosed with
tuberculosis. In May, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Koralaliyanage's
case, which was still pending at year's end.
On September 27, Mr. Ruwan Chandrasekera, an officer at the Jaffna
Human Rights Commission office, was assaulted by police from the main
Jaffna Police Station while investigating a complaint from a detainee's
family about incommunicado detention. HRC filed a torture case against
the police officer. At year's end, the HRC and the Senior
Superintendent of Police in Jaffna were investigating the case (see
Sections 1.d and 4).
Unlike in previous years, there were no reported cases of rape or
sexual assault in custody. According to Amnesty International, Nandini
Herat, arrested in 2002 for theft, was subjected to sexual torture
while in the custody of the Wariyapola police in Kurunegala District.
In July 2003, the Officer in Charge of Wariyapola police and five
others were charged in the High Court under CATA. During the year, the
case filed against Herat was dismissed from the Magistrate's Court at
Wariyapola, and the three police officers who allegedly tortured her
were indicted under CATA by the Kurunegala High Court. At year's end,
the case was pending.
Under fundamental rights' provisions in the Constitution, torture
victims may file civil suit for compensation in the high courts or
Supreme Court. Courts have granted awards ranging from approximately
$142 (14,200 rupees) to $1,825 (182,500 rupees). The guilty party paid
fines based on the decision of the judge hearing the case. In some
cases, the Government did not pay fines incurred by security force
personnel found guilty of torture.
Special sections of the A.G.'s Office and the Criminal
Investigation Unit focused on torture complaints. During the year, the
units forwarded 44 cases for indictments, of which 11 resulted in
indictments, with the remaining cases pending at year's end. There were
two convictions from indictments in earlier years. The
Interparliamentary Permanent Standing Committee and its
Interministerial Working Group on Human Rights Issues also continued to
track criminal investigations of torture. In June, 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,
it was not possible to assess the success of this unit in handling
torture complaints.
Prison conditions did not meet international standards; acute
overcrowding and lack of sanitary facilities were the main causes.
Women were held separately from men. 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 and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
which during the year conducted 60 visits to 22 permanent places of
detention, including prisons and some police stations. During the year,
representatives from the national office of the HRC visited 142 police
stations and 5 detention centers, while representatives from regional
offices of the HRC visited 250 police stations and 19 detention
centers.
The LTTE used torture on a routine basis (see Section 1.b.).
Conditions also reportedly were poor in LTTE-run detention
facilities. The ICRC conducted 6 visits to 2 LTTE-controlled prison
facilities, and 18 visits to 14 LTTE-operated police stations. Credible
observers reported that conditions in these prisons were acceptable, in
that they were on a par with local standards. The ICRC has not had
access to other places of detention in LTTE-controlled areas in the
Vanni and the east (see Section 1.d.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Ministry of Internal
Security controls the 66,000-member police force, which includes the
6,000-member paramilitary Special Task Force, and is responsible for
internal security in most areas of the country. Senior officials in the
police force handle complaints against the police, as does the
civilian-staffed National Police Commission. Impunity, particularly for
cases of police torture, was a problem. Several NGOs claimed that
corruption was also a problem in the police force.
In 2002, the Government established the NPC, composed entirely of
civilians, and authorized it to appoint, promote, transfer, discipline,
and dismiss all police officers other than the Inspector General of
Police; however, in practice, the NCP devolved responsibility for
discipline of less senior police officers to the Inspector General of
Police. The NPC has the power to establish procedures to investigate
public complaints against the police. During the year, the NPC handled
1,192 complaints, of which 10 percent were forwarded to local
Superintendents of Police for further action.
The law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there
were reports of arbitrary arrest and detention during the year. Police
do not need an arrest warrant for certain offences, such as murder,
theft, robbery, and rape. Under the law, authorities must inform an
arrested person of the reason for arrest and bring that person before a
magistrate within 24 hours. In practice, persons detained generally
appeared within a few days before a magistrate, who can authorize bail
for bailable and many nonbailable offences, at his or her discretion,
or order continued pretrial detention for up to 3 months or longer. For
certain offences, such as murder, the magistrate must remand the
suspect, and only the High Court may grant bail. In all cases, suspects
have the right of representation. Counsel is provided for indigent
defendants in criminal cases before the high court and the courts of
appeal, but not in other cases.
Impunity remained a problem. In the majority of cases in which
security forces personnel may have committed human rights abuses, the
Government has 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 the CATA-directed 7-
year mandatory sentence for committing torture. 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, which made
obtaining 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.
In February, the President granted amnesty to 2,000 prisoners.
Pardons were not granted to those prisoners sentenced for unlawful
assembly, bribery, burglary, theft, treason, abduction, cruelty to
children, narcotic offenses, or rape.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution 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.
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.
In addition, the Legal Aid Commission offered legal aid to assist those
who could not afford representation; however, some sources report 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 criminal proceedings but are allowed in
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.
Most court proceedings in Colombo and the south 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 and east were in
Tamil and English. While Tamil-speaking judges existed at the
magistrate level, only four High Court judges, an Appeals Court judge,
and a Supreme Court justice spoke fluent Tamil. Few legal textbooks
existed in Tamil, and the Government has complied slowly with
legislation requiring that all laws be published in English, Sinhala,
and Tamil.
In July, the U.N. Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) reviewed the case
of Nallaratnam Singarasa, an ethnic Tamil who was arrested in 1993
during the conflict between the Government and the LTTE. Singarasa
claimed he was tortured and made to sign a confession he could not
read. The UNHRC found that his right to a fair trial had been violated
and called for his release or retrial. In August, the Government was
given 90 days to respond to the UNHRC recommendation, but it had not
responded, and at year's end, Singarasa remained in prison.
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 expand the operations of its
court system into areas previously under the Government's judicial
system in the north and east. On July 28, the LTTE opened a court
complex in Mannar. With the expansion, the LTTE demanded that all Tamil
civilians stop using the Government's judicial system and rely only on
the LTTE's legal system. Credible reports indicated that the LTTE
implemented the change through the threat of force.
The LTTE has its own self-described legal system, composed of
judges with little or no legal training. LTTE courts operate without
codified or defined legal authority and essentially operate as agents
of the LTTE rather than as an independent judiciary. In June, according
to press reports, LTTE courts tried two men for sedition near
Batticaloa and ordered their execution.
The LTTE reportedly held a number of political prisoners. The
number was impossible to determine because of the secretive nature of
the organization. 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 Constitution 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.
The LTTE routinely invaded the privacy of citizens by maintaining
an effective network of informants. The LTTE forcibly recruited over
1,000 children during the year (see Section 6.d.). However, during the
year, the LTTE also released 613 children, at least 219 of whom were
later re-recruited. There were intermittent reports of children as
young as 8 years escaping from LTTE camps. After the March fighting
between LTTE factions, some Tamils in the east were forced to relocate
to the north, and some Tamils in the north were forced to relocate to
the east. They were allowed to return later in the year.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External 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 kidnapping,
hijackings of truck shipments, and forcible recruitment, including of
children.
The LTTE expropriated food, fuel, and other items meant for
internally displaced persons (IDPs), which resulted in a high rate of
anemia, high levels of malnutrition, and low birth rates for IDPs in
LTTE-controlled areas.
Landmines were a serious problem in Jaffna and the Vanni, 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. At the end of 2002, a U.N. team established oversight for a
mine removal program. In 2003, a U.N. team established a landmine map
database, which was shared with all 10 demining agencies that worked in
the country. The Government reported 20 mine-related deaths and 34
mine-related injuries during the year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. Individuals could criticize the Government without fear of
reprisal. In the past, the Government restricted press freedom, often
using national security grounds permitted by law. In 2002, criminal
defamation laws, which had been used often by the Government to
intimidate independent media outlets, were eliminated. Private
television stations imposed their own, informal censorship on
international television news rebroadcast in the country.
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;
however, in February, the Government cancelled the license of a new
television channel planned by Asian Broadcasting Corporation.
Unlike in previous years, travel by local and foreign journalists
to conflict areas was not restricted.
In its final report, the European Union Election Observation
Mission reported that in the period before the April election, the
government-owned media displayed an evident bias towards the
President's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition and
disregarded its duty to provide equitable and fair coverage of the
election contestants.
On March 23, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
wrote to the President and Prime Minister protesting the March 18
suspension of Lakshman Gunasekera, the editor of the Sunday Observer, a
government-owned English language weekly. IFJ's letter suggested
Gunasekera's suspension was a result of his writing that state-owned
media should maintain a neutral position during election periods. At
year's end, Gunasekera had not been reinstated.
On March 28, police raided the Colombo premises of the English
language weekly Sunday Leader, known for its investigative reporting.
Reporters Without Borders quoted the weekly's publisher, Lasantha
Wikramatunga, as saying that police did not have a warrant and that the
search was part of the Government's ongoing harassment of the weekly.
On March 29, under Article 27 of the 17th Amendment to the
Constitution, the independent Elections Commission took control of
government-owned television and radio until the declaration of election
results.
In December, the Batticaloa office of Thinakkural, a Tamil daily,
was attacked with grenades on two separate occasions by unknown
perpetrators, injuring two employees of the newspaper. On December 6,
unidentified assailants entered a television and radio transmission
station owned by MTV/MBC, an independent network in Jaffna, injuring a
guard and vandalizing and damaging equipment. By year's end, no arrests
had been made in connection with these incidents.
In 2002, defamation laws were repealed and all cases pertaining to
the defamation laws were dropped. During the year, the Government did
not restrict access to the Internet.
The LTTE tightly restricted the print and broadcast media in areas
under its control. There were also reports of LTTE intimidation of
Colombo-based Tamil journalists, and self-censorship was common for
journalists covering LTTE controlled areas.
On May 31, pro-Karuna LTTE cadres killed Tamil journalist
Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticaloa. On August 16, in Colombo, the LTTE
killed Tamil newspaper journalist and senior EPDP politician Bala
Nadarajah Iyer.
In March and April, according to credible sources, pro-Karuna LTTE
cadres in the east stopped the distribution of the independent Tamil
daily Thinakkural on several occasions.
The LTTE restricted academic freedom, and it repressed
intellectuals who criticized its actions. On March 24, according to
media reporting and University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)
(UTHRJ), the Acting Dean of the Agriculture faculty of the Eastern
University, T. Thiruchelvam, was shot and injured by the LTTE at his
home in Batticaloa. UTHRJ reported that Thiruchelvam had worked many
years for the protection of the eastern region's environment and
cultural identity.
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; however, some restrictions existed.
The 1981 Referendum Act 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.
On May 26, according to the NGO Home for Human Rights, police in
Kotagala used tear gas on a crowd of 2,000 persons protesting the
closure of Sripada College. Police allegedly beat four protesters who
sought medical attention for their injuries. The Supreme Court did not
hear the fundamental rights cases brought by the four injured
protesters.
The LTTE does not allow freedom of association in the areas it
controls and reportedly used coercion to make persons attend its
rallies. In July, the Sri Lanka Army protested LTTE coercion of large
numbers of school children to attend the July 5 Black Tigers Day in
Jaffna.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution 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.
Foreign clergy may work in the country, but the Government sought
to limit the number of foreign religious workers given temporary work
permits. Permission usually was restricted to denominations registered
with the Government.
During the year, there were at least 30 confirmed reports of
assault on Protestant and Catholic churches and church members by
Buddhist mobs, often led by extremist Buddhist monks. Village police
often were reluctant to pursue Buddhist monk agitators out of deference
for their position; however, in February police arrested three Buddhist
monks and four other persons for an attack on the Kebithigollwa office
of the Christian NGO World Vision and charged them with arson. The
arrested persons were freed on bail and the investigation continued at
year's end.
In May, an M.P. of the Jathika Hela Urumaya party formally
presented to Parliament a draft anticonversion bill as a private
member's bill. Several groups submitted Supreme Court petitions
challenging the constitutionality of the draft; in August, the Supreme
Court ruled that portions of the bill were unconstitutional. At year's
end, the bill faced a protracted legislative process prior to a
parliamentary vote and did not become law.
Most Muslims expelled by the LTTE since 1990 remain displaced.
During the year, the LTTE continued the intimidation of Muslims in the
east, although LTTE extortion of Muslims lessened. 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.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the LTTE used
churches and temple compounds to congregate in the event of hostilities
or as shields for the storage of munitions.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution 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, 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. Unlike in previous years, Tamils no
longer were required to obtain police-passes to move around the
country; however, they were frequently harassed at checkpoints
throughout the country.
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. Some
observers claimed the High Security Zones were excessive and unfairly
affected Tamil agricultural lands, particularly in Jaffna. In August,
the Government lessened restrictions at one site in Chavakachcheri and
allowed farmers and their families to return to their land; however,
the general public was still denied access to this area. The LTTE
limited travel on the road connecting Jaffna to the rest of the
country.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), as of October, 377,776 IDPs had returned to their places of
origin, leaving roughly 353,624 IDPs displaced by the conflict in the
country. There were 295 camps for those displaced by ethnic conflict,
and during the year, 78,398 persons were in welfare centers, and
275,226 were staying with friends or relatives. According to various
sources, approximately 65,000 IDPs were unable to resettle as a result
of the High Security Zones. The UNHCR found sexual abuse to be endemic
in IDP camps. According to the UNHCR, 5,633 Tamil refugees had returned
from India during the year. During the year, the Government began a
program to relocate 1,500 IDPs 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. Unlike in previous
years, the LTTE invited the Muslim IDPs to return home, asserting they
would not be harmed. Although 500 Muslim IDPs returned home during the
year, 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 taxed
civilians traveling through areas it controlled.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum and/or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or 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. There were no reports of
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully. Citizens exercised this right in practice
through multiparty, periodic, free, and fair elections held on the
basis of universal suffrage; however, recent elections have been marred
by violence and some irregularities. The President (elected in 1999 for
a 6-year term) holds executive power, while the 225-member Parliament,
elected in April, exercises legislative power.
In February, the President dissolved Parliament and called for a
general election in April, in which the President's alliance, the UPFA,
received 45 percent of the vote. The UPFA did not win enough seats to
command a majority in Parliament, but it was able to form a government
headed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. The April parliamentary
election was largely free and fair. The EUEOM described the 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 occurred, resulting in
the deaths of 5 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.
In October, the Parliament passed a bill to require all citizens to
present a national identity card when they vote. The Government
provided for a 1-year grace period because many Tamils living in the
north, east, and hill country did not have identity cards, and the
Government allowed local poll supervisors to accept other forms of
identification during this period.
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. TI
also noted that low frequency but high-value ``big-ticket'' corruption
was a problem in tender processes and establishing business operations.
Until 2003, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or
Corruption (CIABOC) did not operate fully. Some sources described as
difficult the procedure for prosecution on corruption charges. At
year's end, CIABOC had received 1,543 complaints, 48 of which were in
the court system. No major cases of bribery resulted in conviction.
There was no law providing for public access to government
information.
There were 9 women in the 225-member Parliament. There was one
woman in the Cabinet, and two sat on the Supreme Court. In December
1999, a woman, Chandrika Kumaratunga, was elected President for a
second term. There were 28 Tamils and 26 Muslims in the 225-member
Parliament. There was no provision for or allocation of a set number/
percentage of political party positions for women or minorities.
The LTTE continued to refuse to allow elections in areas under its
control, and opposed campaigning by certain Tamil parties in the east
during the April parliamentary elections. Credible sources reported
that there were two killings of candidates in the east--a UNF
candidate, S. Sunderampillai; and a TNA candidate, R. Sathiyamoorthi--
as well as killings of three supporters of political parties.
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. There are no restrictive regulations governing
the activities of local and foreign NGOs, although the Government
officially required NGOs to include action plans and detailed
descriptions of funding sources as part of the registration process it
requires at an NGO's commencement of work and every 5 years thereafter.
Some NGO workers viewed this 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.
On March 29, the Government submitted a report to the UNHRC as a
part of its reporting responsibilities under the Convention Against
Torture. The U.N. did not evaluate the report during the year, and it
remained confidential.
In September, AHRC alleged that the Government tried to discredit
it in a letter to a German-based NGO, Action of Christians Against
Torture, suggesting that the AHRC had been engaged in a campaign of
vilification against the Government.
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.).
The HRC by statute 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 HRC often was not as effective as it should have
been. The HRC did not have enough staff or resources to process its
caseload of 6,720 pending complaints. The HRC adopted a tribunal-like
approach to investigations and declined to undertake preliminary
inquires in the manner of a criminal investigator. In December, HRC
issued an annual report for 2003. In June, the HRC established a
Torture Prevention Monitoring Unit in its headquarters and three of its
regional offices 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
Torture Prevention Monitoring Unit.
During the year, there were instances of interference with HRC
investigations. In June, HRC officers attempting to investigate a
complaint of torture were harassed and intimidated by police officers
at the Paiyagala Police Station in Kalutara District. On September 27,
a police officer assaulted HRC officer Ruwan Chandrasekera who was
investigating a complaint at the Jaffna Police Station (see Sections
1.c. and d.).
In July, the LTTE set up the Northeast Secretariat of Human Rights
(NESOHR). By year's end, NESOHR had drafted terms of reference and had
begun to hear some of the complaints it had received.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equal rights under the law for all
citizens, and the Government generally respected these rights in
practice; however, there were instances where sex-based discrimination
occurred. The HRC is a mechanism the Government has established to
ensure enforcement of constitutional provisions in addition to access
to the courts (see Section 1.d.).
Women.--Sexual assault, rape, and spousal abuse (often associated
with alcohol abuse) continued to be serious and pervasive problems.
Amendments to the Penal Code introduced in 1995 specifically addressed
sexual abuse and exploitation and modified rape laws to create a more
equitable burden of proof and to make punishments more stringent.
Marital rape is considered an offense in cases of spouses living under
judicial separation. While the Penal Code may ease some of the problems
faced by victims of sexual assault, many women's organizations believed
that greater sensitization of police and judicial officials was
necessary. During the year, the Bureau for the Protection of Children
and Women received 1,190 complaints of violent crimes against women.
Unlike last year, there were no reported incidents of rape or
attempted rape by security forces. At year's end, a case was pending in
the October 2003 charge that two policemen attempted to rape Mrs.
Selvarajan in Uyilankulam in Mannar District. No case was filed in the
August 2003 charge that three soldiers attempted to rape a woman in
Vadamarachchi in the Jaffna Peninsula. During the year, police reported
approximately 928 rape investigations in the country compared with 900
rape investigations in 2003. Services to assist victims of rape and
domestic violence such as crisis centers, legal aid, and counseling
were limited.
Prostitution, which was not legal, occurred during the year. Some
members of the police and security forces reportedly participated in or
condoned prostitution. Although laws against procuring and trafficking
were strengthened in 1995, 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 5 years in prison; however, these laws were not enforced.
The Constitution 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, often experienced difficulty in rising to
supervisory positions, and faced sexual harassment. Even though women
constituted approximately one-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.
In December, UNHCR launched a media campaign to promote awareness
of sexual and gender-based violence, including sexual harassment in the
workplace, and violence against women and children, and domestic abuse.
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, except in the case of Muslims, who may follow their customary
marriage practices and marry at 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 Compulsory Attendance at Schools Act requires
children between the ages of 5 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. In
2002, police opened an office to work directly with the National Child
Protection Authority (NCPA) on children's issues, to support NCPA
investigations into crimes against children, and to arrest suspects
based on those investigations.
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, retired police, and legal professions and
reported directly to the President. During the year, the Bureau for the
Protection of Children and Women received 1,841 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 5 to 20 years imprisonment and an unspecified
fine. During the year, 39 cases of pedophilia were brought to court and
were pending at year's end. Child prostitution was a problem in certain
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 13 years of age, surrendered to the military
or the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, and credible reports indicated
that the LTTE stepped up recruiting efforts, especially in the east
(see Section 1.g.). During the year, credible sources reported that
there were over 1,000 cases of forcible child recruitment by the LTTE
and that more than 5,000 children remained in LTTE custody at year's
end. In 2003, the LTTE and UNICEF reached an agreement on the
demobilization and rehabilitation of child soldiers and began work on
an action plan to address issues relating to child labor, including
underage recruitment. Several sources reported that the action plan was
not working because of LTTE obstruction. Senior LTTE officials alleged
to foreign officials that child soldiers were volunteers.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
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. The country was a
source for women who were trafficked to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar for the purposes of
coerced labor and sexual exploitation. A smaller number of Thai,
Chinese, and Russian 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.
The legal penalties for trafficking in women include imprisonment
for 2 to 20 years and a fine. For trafficking in children, the law
allows imprisonment of 5 to 20 years and a fine.
In 2003, law enforcement efforts against trafficking improved with
the introduction of a computerized immigration system that expanded the
number of officials who could input names of suspected traffickers or
sex tourists, thereby subjecting them to investigation and preventing
them from leaving the country. The NCPA instituted a CyberWatch Project
to monitor suspicious Internet chat rooms. Sting operations were
conducted based on information gathered in these chat rooms, leading to
several trafficking arrests. For those convicted, the sentence was 1
year of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of $1,000 (100,000 rupees).
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 there were 6,000 male children between the ages of 8 and
15 years engaged as sex workers at beach and mountain resorts. Some of
these children were forced into prostitution by their parents or by
organized crime.
The NCPA has adopted, with the International Labor Organization
(ILO) assistance, a comprehensive national plan to combat the
trafficking of children for exploitative employment. With the NCPA,
police began work in 2002 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.
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 in the provision of other state services. The law does
not mandate access to buildings for persons with disabilities. 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 some 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 1
million Tamils of comparatively recent 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 October 2003,
Parliament passed a bill granting full citizenship to over 300,000 tea
estate Tamils. In August, UNHCR began awareness campaigns to alert
Tamils to the new legislation and by year's end had registered
approximately 200,000 persons.
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 HRC, 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 Constitution. 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.--Penal Code Section 365a
criminalizes homosexual activity between men and between women;
however, it was not enforced. NGOs working on lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender issues did not register with the Government. During the
year, human rights organizations reported that police harassed,
extorted money 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; however, there was some societal discrimination against these
groups.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Government respects the
constitutional 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; however, in
practice, such rights were subject to administrative delays.
Nonetheless, approximately 20 percent of the 7 million-person work
force nationwide and more than 70 percent of the plantation work force
was unionized. In total, there were more than 1 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. In 2003, the Ministry of
Employment and Labor registered 168 new unions and canceled the
registration of 64 others, bringing the total number of functioning
unions to 1,604 by the end of 2003. 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. Antiunion discrimination is a punishable offense liable for
a fine of $200 (20,000 rupees).
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to collective bargaining; however, very few
companies practiced it. At year's end, about 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
collective agreements registered at the Department of Labor 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 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 8 out of approximately
200 factories in the EPZs. In a few other factories, management has
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,
during the year there were some violations of trade union rights in the
EPZs. The nonrecognition 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 bonded 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. A recent
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 5 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 nonplantation
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. A 2003
International Labor Organization/International Program for Elimination
of Child Labor (IPEC)-sponsored Rapid Assessment survey on domestic
child labor in five districts found child domestic workers (under 18
years) in roughly 2 percent of households.
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) is the central
agency for coordinating and monitoring action on the protection of
children. The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Probation
and Child Care Services, and the Police Department are responsible for
the enforcement of child labor laws. The NCPA and DOL have observed a
declining trend in employment of children under 14 years due to
stricter regulations and increasing public awareness regarding child
labor. The Labor Department reported 203 complaints of child labor in
2003, with 65 of these cases withdrawn due to lack of evidence or
faulty complaints. The Department prosecuted 44 cases in 2003. During
the year, the Labor Department reported 64 complaints, with 9 cases
withdrawn and 19 prosecuted. Penalties for employing minors were
increased from approximately $10 (1,000 rupees) and/or 6 months
imprisonment to $100 (10,000 rupees) and/or 12 months imprisonment.
Although the law prohibits forced or bonded labor by persons of any
age, some rural children reportedly have served in debt bondage (see
Sections 5 and 6.c.).
The LTTE used children as young as age 13 years in battle, and
children often were recruited forcibly (see Section 5, Children).
During the year, 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 universal
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. In late 2003, the Ministry of Labor began increasing
the minimum wages of all wage boards by a minimum of 15 percent;
however, at year's end, this process had not been completed for garment
and hotel worker wages.
The law prohibits most full-time workers from regularly working
more than 45 hours per week (a 5-day workweek). New regulations limited
the maximum overtime hours to 15 per week. Labor organizers were
concerned that the new legislation did not include a provision for
overtime with the consent of the worker. Workers receive 14 days of
annual leave, 14 to 21 days of medical leave, and approximately 20
local holidays each year. Maternity leave is available for permanent,
seasonal and part-time female workers. 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 and feared that they would
lose their jobs if they removed themselves from the work situation.
__________
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
----------
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
Antigua and Barbuda is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy
governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and a bicameral legislative
assembly. A governor general, appointed by the British monarch, is the
titular head of state, with largely ceremonial powers. In March
parliamentary elections, which observers described as generally free
and fair, the United Progressive Party (UPP) defeated Prime Minster
Lester Bird's Antigua Labour Party (ALP), which had controlled the
Government and Parliament continuously since 1976. Since taking office,
Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer has passed important reform legislation
improving government accountability and transparency. The judiciary is
independent.
Security forces consist of a police force and the small Antigua and
Barbuda Defense Force. The security forces are responsible for law
enforcement, and civilian authorities maintained effective control of
them. Some members of the security forces committed human rights
abuses.
The country had a mixed economy with a strong private sector. The
population was approximately 76,000. Tourism and financial services
were the most important source of foreign exchange earnings. The
Government was the largest employer, with approximately 13,000 workers.
The government's large debt was a serious problem. Real economic growth
was projected to be 4 percent for the year. The Labor Commission
estimated that the unemployment rate was 11 to 13 percent at year's
end.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems remained in a few areas. There were
allegations of police brutality. Prison conditions were poor, and there
were allegations of abuse of prison inmates and sexual harassment of
female prison guards. Societal discrimination and violence against
women continued to be problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
The inquest into the November 2003 police killing of escaped
convict Frederick Martin James continued 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 the
authorities generally respected these prohibitions in practice;
however, there were occasional reports of police brutality and
threatening behavior and allegations of abuse by prison guards.
There were no developments in the investigation of the October 2003
police shooting of bystander Khary Roberts.
Prison conditions were poor. At year's end, the prison held 183
prisoners (154 men and 14 women) in a facility designed to hold 182.
Prison conditions were inadequate, particularly recreation and
rehabilitation facilities. The prison did not have toilet facilities,
and slop pails were used in all 122 cells. The Rehabilitation Center
for prisoners found guilty of committing minor crimes held an
additional eight male prisoners at the end of the year. During the
year, a school for juvenile offenders was established offering classes
in crafts, computers, and auto repair, and 11 juveniles were enrolled
at year's end.
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 separately from adult inmates.
Pretrial detainees were held separately from convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such monitoring occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
The 571-person police force is headed by a Police Commissioner, and
included 32 senior officers and 28 inspectors. The Police Welfare
Association advocated additional training for the police, particularly
management training for senior officers, and two officers received such
training.
Police are permitted to arrest without warrant persons suspected of
committing a crime. Criminal defendants have the right to a judicial
determination of the legality of their detention. The police must bring
detainees before a court within 48 hours of arrest or detention. UPP
assertions of violations were curbed following the March elections.
Criminal detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel and family
members.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judicial system is part of the Eastern Caribbean legal system
and reflects historical ties to the United Kingdom. The first level of
court is the magistrate, followed by the Court of Appeals and the
Supreme Court. The Constitution designates the Privy Council in London
as the final court of appeal, which always is employed in the case of
death sentences.
The Constitution provides that criminal defendants should receive a
fair, open, and public trial. Trials are by jury. Defendants enjoyed a
presumption of innocence. In capital cases only, the Government
provided legal assistance at public expense to persons without the
means to retain a private attorney. Courts may reach verdicts quickly,
with some cases coming to conclusion in a matter of days.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Violations were subject to effective legal sanction.
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 provisions in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. Privately owned print media, including daily and weekly
newspapers, were active and offered a range of opinion. However, early
in the year, the then-opposition UPP alleged that the Government
restricted access to electronic media, effectively denying them equal
coverage.
The Government owned one of the four general-interest radio
stations and the single television station. One of the former Prime
Minister's brothers owned a second radio station, and another brother
was the principal owner of the sole cable television company. The
government-controlled media reported regularly on the activities of the
Government and the then-ruling ALP party. After the March election, the
government media became less politicized.
In October, the Bird family-owned radio station ZDK was taken off
the air briefly for not paying its overdue electricity bill of $49,000
($132,000 EC). The ALP complained that the station was taken off the
air for politically motivated reasons.
Prior to the March national election, the Government restricted
opposition access to the media, and there were allegations of
censorship as the result of subtle coercive pressure by influential
persons. For example, owners of the independent Observer radio station
claimed that several large corporations declined to advertise on the
station for fear of losing lucrative government contracts. In addition,
the former Government cited violations of the Telecommunications Act to
revoke the owners' license to operate satellite transmission equipment
and seized the equipment. At year's end, the matter was still before
the courts, and the equipment had not been returned.
The media was highly politicized, and most media outlets supported
one of the political parties. The editorial and news focus of the
mainstream daily Antigua Sun was influenced by a foreign owner who has
major investments in the country and wields considerable political
influence. During the year, the new Government took steps to de-
politicize the government-owned media.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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. The police generally
issued the required permits for public meetings but sometimes denied
them to avert violent confrontations.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it
in practice.
Although the country is a signatory of the 1951 U.N. 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. The Government did not routinely grant
refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the office of
the U.N. 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. All citizens 18 years of age and older may register
and vote by secret ballot. The Constitution requires general elections
at least every 5 years. The Governor General appoints senators in
proportion to the parties' representation in Parliament and with the
advice of the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition.
In March elections, the opposition UPP won 12 of 17 seats in the
House of Representatives and 55 percent of the popular vote. UPP leader
Baldwin Spencer was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 24, replacing
Lester Bird, whose ALP had held power continuously since 1976. Members
of the Commonwealth observer group reported that the elections were
free and fair.
High-level corruption was a problem, particularly concerning the
former ALP Government. Numerous high profile corruption investigations
began during the year. These investigations hindered the new Government
because the losing ALP party stripped many government offices of key
files and documents. During the year, the Spencer Administration
implemented an aggressive anti-corruption program and passed
legislation concerning anti-corruption and ethics.
During the year, the Spencer Administration passed legislation on
government transparency to provide access to government information.
The Directorate of Gender Affairs participated in workshops to
encourage women to become active in politics. There was 1 woman elected
to the 17-seat House of Representatives; there were 2 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, although two
women served as Ministers of State.
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, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative
and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, creed,
language, or social status, and the Government generally respected
these provisions in practice.
Women.--Violence against women was a matter of public concern, and
nongovernmental social welfare groups focused on the problem. Many
women were reluctant to testify against their abusers. A 1999 Domestic
Violence Act prohibits and provides penalties for domestic violence,
rape, and other sexual offenses. 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 hotline and worked with a
nongovernmental organization (NGO) to provide safe havens for abused
women and children. There were a number of active NGOs that addressed
issues affecting women.
Prostitution is prohibited, but it remained a problem. There were a
number of brothels, staffed mostly by women from the Dominican
Republic, which catered primarily to the local population.
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.
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; 54 percent of the public service and over half the permanent
secretaries--the most senior positions--were female. In addition, 41
percent of bar association members were female.
The Professional Organization for Women of Antigua was a networking
and resource group for female executives. It held seminars for women
entering the workforce during the year.
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. However, schools faced
many shortages, 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. Police estimated that there were
approximately 20 cases of child sexual abuse reported during the year,
of which less than 5 involved incest. There were no new developments
and none were expected in the 2001 child pornography and prostitution
ring involving several high-ranking members of society.
Trafficking in Persons.--There are no laws that specifically
address trafficking in persons. Although there were no reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country, a task force
evaluating the passport office determined that passports could be
fraudulently obtained, raising the possibility that fraudulent
passports could be used to facilitate migrant smuggling or trafficking
in persons
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services, although the
Government did not enforce constitutional anti-discrimination
provisions. No specific laws 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 75 percent of workers
belong to a union; the hotel industry was heavily unionized. During the
year, there were reports that the owner of Caribbean Star Airlines,
based in the country, threatened to shut down the airline after some
employees began to organize a union, effectively putting a stop to the
effort.
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 recognizes 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, and
petroleum workers, in addition to 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 then 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. The International
Labor Organization's Committee of Experts repeatedly requested the
Government to amend certain paragraphs of the Industrial Courts Act and
the extensive list of essential services in the Labor Code, asserting
that these provisions prohibit the right to strike.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
forbids slavery and 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 exploitative 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. In 2002, upon recommendation from a
tripartite committee of representatives from employers, employees, and
government, the Minister of Labor set the minimum wage at $2.22
(EC$6.00) an hour for all categories of labor. The minimum wage
provided a barely adequate standard of living for a worker and family,
and 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, 6-day workweek, but in practice the standard workweek was 40
hours in 5 days. Laws provide for overtime work in excess of the
standard workweek; excessive overtime is not prohibited. The law
stipulates that workers receive a minimum of 12 days of annual leave.
The law requires employers to provide maternity leave with 40 percent
of wages for 6 weeks of leave, while social service programs provide
the remaining 60 percent of wages. The employer's obligation ends after
the first 6 weeks, but social services continue to pay 60 percent of
wages for an additional 7 weeks.
Although the Government has not yet developed occupational health
and safety laws or regulations, a section of the Labor Code includes
some provisions regarding occupational safety and health. Although not
specifically provided for by law, workers may leave a dangerous
workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
ARGENTINA
Argentina is a federal constitutional democracy with an executive
branch headed by an elected president, a bicameral legislature, and a
separate judiciary. Free and fair presidential elections were held in
April 2003; although no candidate gained sufficient votes to win in the
first round, former President Carlos Menem withdrew his candidacy
before the second round, and President Nestor Kirchner assumed office
on May 25, 2003. The Constitution provides for an independent
judiciary, but it was often inefficient and at times subject to
political manipulation.
The President is the constitutional commander-in-chief, and a
civilian Defense Minister oversees the armed forces. Several agencies
share responsibility for maintaining law and order. In August, the
President returned authority over the Federal Police (PFA), the Border
Police, and the Coast Guard from the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights to the Secretary of Security, under the Ministry of Interior.
The PFA has jurisdiction in the Federal Capital and over federal crimes
in the provinces. Provincial police are subordinate to the provincial
governors. 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.
Some members of the security forces committed human rights abuses.
The country is resource rich and has a market-based economy and a
population of approximately 36.2 million. Real economic growth was
predicted to be 8.2 percent, while consumer price inflation was 6.1
percent. The purchasing power of salaried workers increased more than 3
percent during the year.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were
instances of killings and brutality by police and prison officials.
Authorities prosecuted some police for such actions, although impunity
remained a serious problem. Police corruption was also a problem,
although the federal Government and the provincial governments in
Buenos Aires and Cordoba removed corrupt police officials. Jails and
prisons were often overcrowded. Police sometimes arbitrarily arrested
and detained citizens. The judiciary continued to work through the
legacy of human rights abuses committed during the ``dirty war'' of the
1976-83 military regime, and the Supreme Court ruled that crimes
against humanity were not subject to statutes of limitations. Anti-
Semitism remained a concern despite government efforts to combat it. A
Federal Court in Buenos Aires acquitted 22 defendants charged with the
1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center. Domestic
violence and sexual harassment against women were problems. There were
reports of trafficking for sexual exploitation and labor. Child labor
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.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, police and prison officers were responsible for killings
involving the use of unwarranted or excessive force. The authorities
investigated, and, in some cases, detained, tried, and convicted the
officers involved.
In early December, the Coordinator against Institutional and Police
Repression (CORREPI), an NGO representing the families of the victims
of police abuse, estimated that domestic security forces had killed 131
persons in the first 11 months of the year. The Center for Legal and
Social Studies (CELS) reported higher numbers: 139 killed between
January and June in the Greater Buenos Aires area. CORREPI and CELS
numbers included individuals killed in confrontations with security
forces during the presumed commission of a crime. A total of 24 Federal
and Province of Buenos Aires police officers were killed either in the
line of duty or intervening in crimes while off duty as security forces
continued to confront the surge in violent crime resulting from high
unemployment and poverty levels.
On October 21, three juvenile detainees died in a fire in Buenos
Aires in the Quilmes police station under suspicious circumstances. The
families claimed that police beat the juveniles before the fire. Nine
policemen were suspended and under investigation.
Policeman Hector Albarracin confessed to the 2003 killing of
Patricia Villalba and testified to the involvement of former Santiago
del Estero chief of intelligence Musa Azar and policemen Jorge Pablo
Gomez and Francisco Mattar in her killing and that of Leyla Bshier
Nazar. The trial of these 4 individuals and another 23 defendants
charged in the murder of Patricia Villalba was scheduled for March
2005. The killing of Leyla Bshier remained under investigation.
There were no developments in the investigation of the death of
Lucas Ricardo Carrizo, a prisoner who was found hanged in his cell in
August 2003 in the Ezeiza Penitentiary Complex 1.
The court scheduled March 2005 for the trial of a provincial police
chief for the 2002 shooting deaths of demonstrators Dario Santillan and
Maximiliano Kosteki. In October, three of nine Federal Police charged
in the 2002 beating and drowning of Ezequiel Demonty were found guilty
and sentenced to life imprisonment; the other six policemen were
sentenced to 3 years in prison.
In early August, a judge in Rosario convicted policemen Esteban
Velasquez of homicide for killing Claudio Lepratti during
demonstrations in 2001 in Rosario, Santa Fe, and ordered the Province
of Santa Fe to compensate Lepratti's family. The Chamber of Deputies'
Human Rights Committee initiated an investigation into police actions
during that demonstration but did not release any information on its
findings.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the
investigation into the 2001 killings of Gaston Galvan and Miguel
Burgos. One policeman remained in jail in connection with these
killings.
In June, policeman Felipe Gil was acquitted of charges related to
the deaths of Jose Zambrano and Pablo Rodriguez in Mendoza Province in
2000. The families appealed the decision citing the judge's alleged
mishandling of the case.
On September 2, the 3-judge panel of Federal Oral Court No. 3 in
Buenos Aires acquitted all 22 defendants charged in connection with the
1994 terrorist bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center
(AMIA), in which 85 persons were killed (see Section 2.c.).
Legal efforts continued in a number of European countries,
including France, Italy, and Spain, to prosecute those believed
responsible for disappearances and killings during the military regime.
Judicial authorities planning to prosecute these and other ``dirty
war'' cases traveled to Spain and France to interview witnesses.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
Judicial proceedings and extradition attempts related to killings,
disappearances, and torture committed by the 1976-83 military regimes
continued (see Sections 1.a. and 1.e.).
The Under Secretariat for Human Rights, 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. In October, a judge
ordered the Government to pay compensation to a disappeared person's
family on grounds that they had been forced into exile.
At the urging of the human rights organization Grandmothers of the
Plaza de Mayo, judicial authorities continued to investigate an
estimated 250 to 300 cases of kidnapping and illegal adoption by
members of the former military regime of children born to detained
dissidents. A number of those suspected of crimes linked to illegal
adoptions of the children of disappeared persons remained under
detention, including Francisco Gomez and his wife and Navy doctor Jorge
Luis Magnacco.
Human rights activists continued to pursue ``truth trials''
intended to correct official records, particularly with regard to the
fate of those who disappeared and those born in captivity.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices, and the
Criminal Code provides penalties for torture similar to those for
homicide; however, some police and prison guards continued to employ
torture and brutality. Human rights organizations described police
brutality, the occasional use of torture on suspects, and corruption
within the prison and police forces. The Government investigated some
past reports of police or prison brutality; however, few cases were
tried, and even fewer resulted in convictions.
Prison conditions often were poor. Some facilities were old and
dilapidated, and many prisons and jails were overcrowded. Higher crime
rates and stricter provisions for early release, combined with a slow
judicial system, aggravated overcrowding in prisons and police
stations. A July report by the Center of Legal and Social Studies on
Buenos Aires Province claimed that there were more than 5,400 detainees
in police station facilities designed for 3,200 and that the number of
minors detained had increased significantly. Juvenile detention centers
also were overcrowded, which often resulted in holding minors in police
station facilities. The overcrowding contributed both to security
problems and to mistreatment of prisoners. On October 21, three
juvenile detainees died in a fire in Buenos Aires in the Quilmes police
station and on November 13, another minor was found hanged in his cell
under suspicious circumstances (see Section 1.a.).
On October 28, the Buenos Aires Provincial Memory Commission
released a report detailing the overcrowding in the province's prisons,
their substandard conditions, the mistreatment, abuse, and torture of
prisoners by prison officers, and the lack of investigation and
prosecution of prison officials implicated in abuse and other illegal
activities. On November 15, Amnesty International (AI) presented a
report to the U.N. Committee on Torture that referred to the
Government's ``inability and lack of political will to close the circle
of impunity that exacerbates human rights abuses such as torture in
every corner of the country.'' As an example, AI described a September
8 incident in Mendoza in which nine prisoners caught attempting to
escape were repeatedly beaten, denied medical assistance, and kept
naked or in their underclothing for several days.
Impunity for corruption, torture, and brutality by prison guards
and officials remained a serious problem. Prisoners who filed torture
and mistreatment complaints were targeted for torture or killed. Mar
del Plata Batan Penitentiary senior officials and guards were under
investigation for allegedly torturing Claudio Benavides and other
prisoners in May. Additionally, these officials were charged with
threatening to kill the prisoners' families if the prisoners filed a
complaint against them. The investigating judge stated that he was
convinced that this was not an isolated incident but rather reflected
ordinary behavior in the penitentiary.
Male and female prisoners were held separately. The law provides
that juveniles are to be held separately from adults; however,
overcrowding in juvenile facilities often resulted in minors being held
in police station facilities, although separated from adult detainees.
Despite government regulations prohibiting the practice, reliable
reports indicated that pretrial prisoners often were held with
convicted prisoners.
The Government permits prison visits by independent human rights
observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Federal Code of Criminal
Procedure limits arrest and detention without warrants to certain
restricted situations, for example, criminals caught in the act,
fleeing suspects, or overwhelming evidence of a crime being committed,
and, while the Government generally observed these prohibitions,
provincial police sometimes ignored these restrictions and arbitrarily
arrested and detained citizens. 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
inaction.
In addition to the PFA and Border Police, each province has its own
police force. These generally come under a provincial police hierarchy,
which in turn responds to a provincial security ministry or
secretariat. The effectiveness of and respect for human rights by
different forces varied considerably. Corruption was systemic in some
forces, and impunity for police abuses was common.
Some of the most common abuses included contract abuses, 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 and kidnapping.
Addressing police corruption was difficult, in part, because the
suspects intimidated whistleblowing colleagues, judicial officials, and
civilian witnesses. Threats and beatings allegedly aimed to intimidate
witnesses were common and, in some cases, occurred in connection with
killings believed committed by members of security forces or their
criminal allies.
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 identity of a suspect. Human rights groups argued that
this provision of law was disregarded to extort money from persons by
threatening to charge them with illegal weapons or drug possession.
The law provides for the right of prompt determination of legality,
but this right often was not respected in practice.
The law provides for the right to bail, and it was utilized in
practice.
Criminal detainees were allowed access to counsel, and public
defenders are provided for detainees unable to afford counsel. Lack of
resources for the Public Defender's Office resulted in an overly heavy
caseload for public defense attorneys. Detainees also were generally
allowed prompt access to family members.
The law provides for investigative detention of persons charged
with a crime but awaiting or undergoing trial for up to 2 years. This
term can be extended to 3 years under certain situations: A
particularly complex or serious crime; intentional delays by the
defense or if investigations could be hampered by release of the
detainee; or if there is serious risk of flight. The slow pace of the
justice system often resulted in lengthy detentions beyond the period
stipulated by law (see Section 1.e.). If convicted, a prisoner usually
received credit for time already served. According to the Federal
Bureau for Criminal Policies, approximately 62 percent of inmates in
federal prisons had been charged but were awaiting trial or completion
of their trials.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, while the judiciary is nominally
independent and impartial, some judges and judicial personnel were
inefficient and, at times, subject to, and apt to exercise, political
manipulation. There were credible allegations of efforts by members of
security forces and others to intimidate the judiciary and witnesses.
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 sense 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,
each headed by a Supreme Court with chambers of appeal and section
courts below it. The federal courts are divided between the criminal
courts and economic courts.
The Council of Magistrates submits a slate of candidates for each
federal judicial vacancy to the President, whose selection is subject
to Senate approval. The Council also conducts impeachment hearings of
judges and administers the federal court system. In October, there were
187 vacant positions and 65 slates awaiting congressional action and
120 pending appointments by the executive.
Investigations of a number of Supreme Court justices by the Chamber
of Deputies' Impeachment Committee continued, resulting in the
resignation in September of Justice Adolfo Vasquez. This action
followed the 2003 impeachment of Justice Eduardo Moline O'Connor and
the resignations of Justices Julio Nazareno and Guillermo Lopez. On
December 16, the Chamber of Deputies accused Justice Antonio Boggiano
of improper performance of duties and sent the case to the Senate,
which was expected to consider the case for impeachment early in 2005.
Trials are public, and defendants have the right to legal counsel
and to call defense witnesses. A panel of judges decides guilt or
innocence. Federal and provincial courts continued the transition to
oral trials in criminal cases, replacing the old system of written
submissions. Although the 1994 Constitution provides for trial by jury,
implementing legislation has not been 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. Suspects other than minors are presumed innocent, and
defendants have the right to appeal, as do prosecutors.
There is a military court system. Only military personnel are
subject to its jurisdiction.
In August, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of non-
applicability of statutes of limitations to war crimes and crimes
against humanity in the case of former Chilean intelligence agent
Enrique Anacibia Clavel, charged with the 1974 Buenos Aires murder of
Chilean General Carlos Prats and his wife.
Judge Claudio Bonadio's investigation into the kidnapping and
killing of exiled Montonero guerrillas upon their return to the country
from Chile in 1979-80 ended without any indictments. The former
Montonero leaders under investigation filed suit against Bonadio for
unlawful detention. Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral's investigation into
cooperation among military and security officials of six countries as
part of ``Operation Condor'' continued.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
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 provides the PFA with search, seizure, and entry powers
without a court order in cases of danger.
The law provides for legislative oversight of government
intelligence activities and prohibits unauthorized interception of
private communications; however, in practice, the legislative oversight
has yet to be effectively applied.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
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. The
Federal Government owned the Telam wire service, a radio network, and a
television station. A few provincial governments also owned broadcast
media.
Some sources cited an increased tendency by national and provincial
government agencies to withhold advertising to manipulate media
coverage. The Inter American Press Association expressed concern
regarding legal and other actions taken in August by the Nequen
Province government against the Rio Negro newspaper, allegedly in
reprisal for the newspaper's editorial policy against revealing
sources. Concerns also were raised about the degree to which major
print media, subject to severe financial constraints, exercised self-
censorship in their criticism of the Government in exchange for
favorable government treatment of debts and allocation of official
advertising.
The Government did not restrict Internet access.
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. Although most protests
and demonstrations were peaceful, there was an increase in violent
demonstrations and confrontations with security forces, resulting in
injuries and arrests. Security forces occasionally used rubber bullets
but more often used tear gas and water cannons to disperse unruly
demonstrators.
Demonstrators were detained in several instances, leading to
charges that the Government was criminalizing protests. Agitators
reportedly often inserted themselves into otherwise peaceful
demonstrations to provoke confrontations with the police. An appeals
court upheld the decision that police officer Jose Antonio Aleman
should stand trial in the death of Marcelo Luis Cuellar, killed during
a November 2003 demonstration in Jujuy Province.
The court set a March 2005 trial date for three Buenos Aires
provincial police accused of killing two demonstrators in 2002 (see
Section 1.a.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Constitution states that the Federal Government
``sustains the apostolic Roman Catholic faith,'' and the Government
provided the Catholic Church with a variety of subsidies. Other
religious faiths were practiced freely.
The Secretariat of Worship in the Ministry of Foreign Relations,
International Trade, and Worship is responsible for conducting the
Government's relations with the Catholic Church, other Christian
churches, and other religious organizations. Religious organizations
that wish to hold public worship services and obtain tax-exempt status
must register with the Secretariat and report periodically to maintain
their status.
Acts of discrimination and vandalism against religious minorities,
particularly the Jewish and Muslim communities, continued. Combating
this and other forms of intolerance was a priority for the National
Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI). The
Government continued to support a public dialogue to highlight past
discrimination and to encourage improved religious tolerance. There
were a number of reports of anti-Semitic acts and of threats against
Jewish organizations and individuals during the year. Jewish
organizations reported their continued concern but noted that there was
no increase in incidents from the previous year. The most frequent
incidents included anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi graffiti and posters in
cities throughout the country and the proliferation of anti-Semitic
publications in bookshops, as well as vandalism in the Israeli Cemetery
of Ciudadela, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
The Supreme Court's investigation into the 1992 bombing of the
Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires remained at a virtual standstill. On
September 2, the 3-judge panel of Federal Oral Court No. 3 acquitted
all 22 defendants charged in connection with the 1994 terrorist bombing
of the AMIA, in which 85 persons were killed. The panel faulted the
investigation of the original judge and prosecutors and called for an
investigation into the handling of the investigation and trial.
Criminal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral reconfirmed the validity of
international arrest warrants against 12 Iranian nationals (including
the former Iranian ambassador to Argentina at the time of the attack)
and 1 Lebanese national implicated in the attack.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution and laws provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. 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. In April 2003, presidential elections were held
with no candidate receiving sufficient votes to win outright. Before a
runoff could be held, former President Carlos Menem withdrew his
candidacy, and, according to constitutional procedures, Nestor Kirchner
was declared the winner and assumed the Presidency in May 2003.
The Government continued to pursue anti-corruption measures.
Supreme Court justice Adolfo Vasquez, accused of malfeasance in office,
resigned in the face of ongoing impeachment proceedings in the National
Legislature (see Section 1.e.). The Chamber of Deputies voted to send
the impeachment case of another Supreme Court justice facing the same
charges to the Senate for determination. Prosecutions of a number of
former government officials accused of corruption continued. Further
firings of large numbers of federal and provincial police officials
also continued in efforts to clean up the security forces.
In March, the Government established a federal trusteeship in the
Province of Santiago del Estero following a long accumulation of
accusations of corruption and abuses by provincial authorities,
culminating in the February 2003 killings of two young women and a
subsequent cover-up (see Section 1.a.). Governor Mercedes Aragones de
Juarez and her 5-time governor husband Carlos Juarez were under arrest
facing numerous charges.
A 2003 National Decree provided regulations to increase public
access to government information within the federal executive branch
and public institutions. The Senate initiated a television program to
transmit sessions live, and the Chamber of Deputies' website provided
information on schedules and agendas for committee meetings. The
Supreme Court makes public all its decisions, both judicial and
administrative.
Surveys conveyed conflicting pictures of the perceived levels of
corruption in the country. Transparency International's 2004 Corruption
Perceptions Index, based on polls of international businessmen and
country analysts, rated the country as beset by widespread corruption.
According to a survey conducted by international consulting firm KPMG,
opinion leaders, including business executives, academics, and
government bureaucrats, felt that corruption in the country had
significantly lessened over the past several years.
The Constitution affirms that political parties are fundamental
institutions of the democratic system and calls on political parties to
implement measures to increase women's representation in elective
office. 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 31 women in the 71-seat Senate and 87 women in the
255-seat Chamber of Deputies. The Minister of Social Development was
the only woman in the cabinet. There were two female Supreme Court
justices, and women were prominent in other levels of the judiciary.
There were no known indigenous, ethnic, or racial minorities in the
national legislature, the cabinet, or 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
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. The Government usually was
cooperative, although not always responsive to their views.
Among the most active human rights organizations were the
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Founding
Line, the Center for Legal and Social Studies, the Permanent Assembly
for Human Rights, Service for Peace and Justice, Coordinator Against
Police and Institutional Repression, and New Rights of Man.
Within the Government, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights'
Under Secretariat for Human Rights addresses human rights concerns at a
domestic level. The Directorate General of Human Rights of the Ministry
of Foreign Relations is responsible for international human rights
issues. The Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Ministry of Justice
and Human Rights cooperated with international human rights entities.
The Constitution establishes the Office of the Ombudsman (Defensor
del Pueblo de la Nacion), an independent and autonomous institution
charged with defending and protecting human rights and other rights and
interests provided by the Constitution, and with oversight of the
exercise of public administration functions. The Ombudsman's office
produces an annual report to Congress, which includes reports on human
rights, administration of justice, social action, and the status of
women, children, and minorities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution and law provide for equal treatment for all
citizens, and the Government generally enforced this provision in
practice. The law provides for prison terms of up to 3 years for
discrimination based on race, nationality, ideology, political opinion,
sex, economic position, social class, or physical characteristics.
The INADI, which is mandated to identify and combat all forms of
intolerance in the country, investigated violations of the anti-
discrimination law and carried out research and educational programs to
promote social and cultural pluralism and combat discriminatory
attitudes.
Women.--Domestic violence and sexual harassment against women were
recognized as serious societal problems. The Inter American Development
Bank estimated that 25 percent of women were victims of violence.
Any person suffering physical or psychological domestic violence by
a family member may file a formal complaint with a judge or police
station, and the Law on Protection Against Family Violence gives a
family court judge the right to prevent the perpetrator of a violent
act from entering the victim's home or workplace. Charges may also be
brought in criminal court, which may apply corresponding penalties.
Public and private institutions offered prevention programs and
provided support and treatment for abused women, but there was little
transitory 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.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in the area of women's
rights 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.
Reliable statistics of rape were not available. Rape falls under
the Law of Crimes Against Sexual Integrity. Marital and acquaintance
rape involving force are offenses under the law; however, 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 vary from 6
months to 20 years in prison.
Soliciting for prostitution is generally illegal but did occur.
Some women were trafficked to the country for prostitution (see Section
5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment occurred, but few complaints were lodged, likely
due to a lack of information on existing legal protections. No federal
law expressly prohibits sexual harassment. The city of Buenos Aires and
the provinces of Buenos Aires, Jujuy, and Tucuman have anti-harassment
legislation.
Women enjoyed equality under the law, including property rights;
however, women encountered economic discrimination and occupied a
disproportionate number of lower paying jobs. Often women were paid
less than men for equivalent work, a practice explicitly prohibited by
law. Approximately 70 percent of women employed outside the home worked
in non-skilled jobs, although the number of women with university
degrees was 7.2 percent higher than men. Women accounted for 57 percent
of university enrollment, and the law bans all acts that would hinder
the access or continuity of the studies for pregnant or nursing
students. Approximately 46 percent of women employed outside the home
did not have social security or contribute to pension funds.
The National Council of Women carried out programs to promote equal
social, political, and economic opportunities for women. The Special
Representative for International Women's Issues, a unit in the Ministry
of Foreign Relations, participated in studying domestic law standards
so as to adapt them to the rules of international law. That office and
the National Council of Women, together with the Ministry of Labor and
union and business organizations, formed 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.
Other active women's rights groups included the Women's Social and
Political Institute, the Women's Research and Study Institute, and the
Foundation for Women's Equality.
Children.--The Government voiced strong commitment to issues of
children's rights and welfare, including education and health; however,
budgetary restrictions for many programs continued. National,
provincial, and local agencies worked with international agencies,
including UNICEF, to promote children's welfare.
Education is free, universal, and compulsory for 10 years,
beginning at age 5; however, adequate schooling was unavailable in some
rural areas. The 2001 census showed that 98 percent of all children of
primary school age attended school, with approximately the same
percentages for both genders. The average child attended school up to
the age of 16.3.
There were numerous federal and provincial health care programs for
boys and girls on basis of equal access, although not all children had
access to them.
Child abuse and prostitution continued to occur, but there was
progress in some areas. In 2003, the Council for the Rights of Girls,
Boys, and Adolescents, which operated a hotline and a network of
neighborhood defenders offices to assist victims in the city of Buenos
Aires, intervened in 38 cases of reported child commercial sexual
exploitation and 2,926 cases involving violence against a child. In
conjunction with other agencies and organizations, such as UNICEF, the
council also conducted active educational and awareness raising
efforts. Prosecutors and police pursued cases of Internet child
pornography and sought additional legal tools to confront such
cybercrime.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for the purpose of prostitution through fraud, intimidation, or
coercion, or in the case of minors; however, trafficking occurred. The
law also prohibits alien smuggling, indentured servitude, and similar
abuses. Other laws, including a December 2003 migration law, also may
be used to prosecute crimes associated with trafficking, such as
kidnapping, forced labor, use of false documents, and prostitution.
Penalties for trafficking ranged from 3 years to 15 years in prison.
Coordination of trafficking detection and anti-trafficking
prosecution efforts improved. The Government convened a number of
interagency coordination meetings, participated in regional anti-
trafficking workshops and conferences, and, late in the year,
identified the Federal Office of Victim Assistance, a unit under the
Federal Prosecutor's office, as the lead agency for coordinating anti-
trafficking. The country's law enforcement officers lacked a clear
mandate from political leaders and resources to pursue aggressively
domestic and international traffickers; however, the Government made
efforts to improve its effectiveness in combating trafficking. Three
traffickers were convicted and received sentences of 3 to 4 years'
imprisonment; 10 other trafficking-related cases were pending.
The country was primarily a destination for men, women, and
children trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor. Most foreign
victims were women and children trafficked from Paraguay, Bolivia, and
Brazil. Victims within the country were trafficked from rural to urban
areas. Bolivians were trafficked into the country for forced labor.
Trafficking victims generally were found in situations of
prostitution, but there were also cases of other forms of forced labor,
such as work in illegal textile factories. Traffickers may confiscate
travel documents, which prevented victims from appealing to authorities
for protection. Victims, particularly women and girls in prostitution,
may be denied contact with the outside world. Victims were often
threatened or beaten.
There were no allegations of federal government official
involvement in trafficking, and local police and officials suspected of
involvement were investigated and prosecuted.
Although the country lacks a comprehensive nationwide policy of
victim assistance, the city of Buenos Aires, in particular, assisted
dozens of victims, and police department staffs in outlying areas
included 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 Ministry of Foreign Relations began to train consular
officials to assist victims abroad, but no data were yet available on
the number of possible victims helped. The Catholic Oblate Sisters
assisted victims, offering such help as emergency shelter and
counselling.
Trafficking victims normally were not detained, jailed, or
deported, although some who were arrested for prostitution-related
crimes may be jailed or deported.
The Government did not have a comprehensive policy to prevent
trafficking, but isolated preventive measures were in place. The
Government made efforts to improve its effectiveness in combating
trafficking, notably in the city of Buenos Aires, where the Government
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 law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, and the
provision of other state services and mandates access to buildings for
persons with disabilities; however the Government did not effectively
enforce these rights in practice.
Laws mandating greater accessibility to buses and trains for
persons with disabilities were not enforced fully. The Coordinator
Committee for the Defense of Disabled People's Rights, composed of
governmental and nongovernmental members, focused on accessibility in
urban transportation for persons with disabilities and presented a
complaint against the Secretariat of Transportation for non-compliance
with existing regulations. No effective action was taken.
NGOs and special interest groups claimed accessibility laws and an
employment quota reserving 4 percent of national government jobs for
persons with disabilities often were not respected in practice. They
noted that the law provided no deadlines or penalties and was not
mandatory for the provinces. In October, the Buenos Aires City
Legislature passed a law reserving 5 percent of city jobs for persons
with disabilities. The law imposes a 5-year deadline for compliance.
Indigenous Persons.--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;
however, in practice, indigenous people did not participate in the
management of their lands or natural resources. The National Institute
of Indigenous Affairs is the government agency responsible for
implementing these provisions.
The principal indigenous groups--the Kollas in Salta and Jujuy, the
Mapuches in the Patagonian provinces, and the Wichis and Tobas in the
northern provinces--were believed to represent less than 5 percent of
the national population. Estimates of the number of indigenous persons
varied widely, with the Association of Indigenous Communities
estimating between 4 to 5 million, and the last official census
indicating 1.75 million.
Poverty rates were higher than average in areas with large
indigenous populations. Indigenous people had higher rates of
illiteracy, chronic disease, and unemployment. Government efforts to
offer bilingual education opportunities to indigenous people continued
to be hampered by a lack of trained teachers.
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. In June,
a Mapuche family in the Province of Chubut was acquitted on charges of
unauthorized appropriation of lands, although the family lost its claim
to the land in question. Compania de Tierras Sud Argentino brought the
suit before civil and criminal courts. Atilio Curinnaco, a member of
the accused family, claimed an ancestral entitlement to the lands.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides for the
right to form ``free and democratic labor unions, recognized by simple
inscription in a special register,'' and workers exercised this right.
With the exception of military personnel, all workers were free to form
unions. An estimated 35 percent of the work force was organized. Trade
unions were independent of the Government and political parties.
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.
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
Constitution 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 cover roughly three-
fourths of the formally employed work force. According to the ILO, the
ratification process impedes free collective bargaining because the
Ministry not only considers whether a collective labor agreement
contains clauses violating public order standards but also considers
whether the agreement complies with productivity, investment,
technology, and vocational training criteria. However, there were no
known cases during the year when the Government refused to approve any
collective agreements under the above criteria.
The Constitution provides for the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right. Numerous small-scale strikes generally protested
sector-specific problems.
There are three functioning export processing zones with many
others legally registered but not active. The same labor laws apply
within these zones as in all other parts of the country.
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 problem, and the Government continued its effort to
develop and implement a national plan of action to eliminate it.
The Law on Labor Contracts sets the minimum age for employment at
14 years, and, 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 15. The penalty for employing underage workers ranged
from $350 to $1,750 (1,000 to 5,000 pesos) for each child employed.
In 2002, the most recent year for which data was reported, the
Ministry of Labor estimated that 7.1 percent of children ages 5 to 14
worked. In June, the National Commission for the Eradication of Child
Labor (CONAETI) estimated that up to 1.5 million children, or 23
percent of the child population under the age of 15, worked in some
capacity. The rate was believed to be higher in rural areas.
Child labor in urban zones increased following the 2001 economic
crisis and included such work as trash recycling, street sales,
domestic labor, and food preparation. Children also were involved in
prostitution, sex tourism, and drug trafficking, although firm
statistics were unavailable (see Section 5).
CONAETI worked with unions and other groups to train rural child
labor monitors, and with provincial authorities in the tri-border area
to undertake activities to address child sexual exploitation. The
program director in Puerto Iguazu had received approximately 60 reports
of child sex exploitation and, at year's end, was working with 15 minor
girls and their families to provide counseling and to get the girls
back into school.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly national minimum
wage increased from $105 to $150 (300 to 450 pesos); however, it still
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Most workers in the formal sector earned significantly more than the
minimum wage.
Federal labor law sets standards in the areas of health, safety,
and hours. The maximum workday is 8 hours, and the maximum workweek is
48 hours. Overtime payment is required for hours worked in excess of
these limits. The law also sets minimums for periods of rest and paid
vacation. However, laws governing acceptable conditions of work were
not enforced universally, particularly for workers in the informal
sector who constituted an estimated 40 percent of the workforce.
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 governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and a bicameral
legislature, with an appointed governor general. Prime Minister Perry
Christie's Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) regained control of the
Government after May 2002 elections that observers found to be
generally free and fair. The judiciary is independent.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) maintains internal security,
and the small Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) is responsible for
external security and some minor domestic security functions such as
guarding foreign embassies and ambassadors; both answer to civilian
authority. There continued to be reports that security forces
occasionally committed human rights abuses.
The country has a market-based economy that depends primarily on
tourism, which accounts for 60 percent of the gross domestic product.
The country's population is approximately 310,000, not including an
additional estimated 30,000 illegal Haitian immigrants. Financial
services, particularly offshore banking and trust management, are also
major sources of revenue. While many citizens enjoyed relatively high
income levels, there was considerable underemployment and poverty. The
unemployment rate was estimated at 10.2 percent in March, but may have
temporarily increased following the hurricane season.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems remained in several areas. There were
reports of unlawful killings by police and that police occasionally
beat and abused detainees. Conditions at the prison and detention
center remained harsh. The police occasionally used arbitrary arrest
and detention. Lengthy pretrial detention and delays in trials were
problems. Violence and discrimination against women and violence
against children also were problems. Discrimination against persons
with disabilities and persons of Haitian descent persisted.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of political killings by the Government or its agents; however,
there were reports that the RBPF committed unlawful killings. Police
killed four persons the year, and the cases remained under
investigation before the Coroner's Court at year's end.
In February 2003, the body of a young man was found on the Grand
Bahama Freeway. Although the family of the victim made allegations of
police mistreatment, further investigation by the Coroner's Court
during the year indicated that the victim's wounds were the result of a
traffic accident.
There were no new developments in the case of the August 2003
killing of a 16-year-old girl by a RBPF reserve police officer or the
2002 police shooting of a young man. At year's end, these cases were
still before the Coroner's Court.
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 other cruel and
degrading treatment or punishment; however, the police occasionally
beat or otherwise abused suspects. Many past allegations of abuse
involved beatings to extract confessions; however, no formal complaints
involving beatings to extract confessions were filed during the year.
Local media reported an increase in allegations of police brutality and
police shootings in particular. Human rights monitors and members of
the public continued to express concern over such instances of police
abuse of criminal suspects. Police officials, while denying systematic
or chronic abuses, acknowledged that police on occasion abused their
authority and pledged to address any wrongdoing by police officers (see
Section 1.d.).
In February, a detained 19-year-old from Grand Bahama claimed he
was stripped, handcuffed to a tree, and beaten with a metal pipe to
extract a confession. He was released, but, subsequently, he was
charged with attempted armed robbery, and the case was pending a court
decision. The Chief of Police in Grand Bahama admitted this was ``not
an isolated event,'' and investigators were sent from New Providence
Island to conduct inquiries; however, there were no further
developments in the case at year's end.
Conditions at Her Majesty's Prison at Fox Hill, the only prison,
remained harsh. Overcrowding was a major problem. The men's maximum-
security block, originally built in 1953 to hold 400 to 600 inmates,
held more than 800 of the approximately 1,400 total inmate population.
The remaining prisoners were housed in medium- and minimum-security
units that were at, or above, intended capacity. Opened in 2002, the
Remand Center provided some overcrowding relief. However, prison
officials estimated there were approximately 700 prisoners awaiting
trial, many of whom were confined in cells with convicted prisoners.
The recidivism rate at Fox Hill Prison was 69 percent.
Prisoners initially were assigned to the Maximum Security Unit
before a housing determination was made as a means of ``breaking them
in'' to prison life. Male prisoners were crowded into poorly ventilated
cells that generally lacked regular running water, toilets, and laundry
facilities. Most prisoners lacked beds. Many of them slept on concrete
floors and were locked in small cells 23 hours per day. Maximum-
security inmates were allowed outside for exercise 4 days a week for 1
hour per day. Inmates reported that food service operations improved
from the previous year due to a professional staff overseeing the
inmate cooking staff; however, some unsanitary conditions in food
preparation remained.
Prison officials estimated that approximately 8 percent of the
prison population was infected with the HIV virus and one-third
suffered from tuberculosis. Amnesty International (AI) stated in a 2003
report that the HIV infection rate was closer to 20 percent.
Organizations providing aid, counseling services, and religious
instruction had regular access to inmates. The Government provided
limited funds for improvements in prison facilities and prisoner
rehabilitation programs. Prison officials instituted some technical and
vocational programs, and correctional officers were undergoing
instruction to become certified trainers, although the process was
hindered by resource constraints. A farming program for the prisoners
to become more self-sufficient continued during the year, although the
program has decreased in size pending the purchase of an additional 10
acres. Modern training facilities were equipped with new computers, and
the prison also offered some educational and literacy programs for
prisoners; however, less than 25 percent of inmates participated in
these programs. In October, the Ministry of National Security held a 3-
day symposium to discuss prison reform.
In February, authorities reopened an investigation into the 2000
death of Sidney McKenzie, a Fox Hill Prison inmate, after fellow
inmates who initially had refused to testify for fear of retaliation
told the courts that a prison guard beat and killed him. The
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
Women were held separately from male prisoners. The prison's female
population was approximately 40 inmates, considerably less than the
female unit's full capacity of 200. Conditions for women were less
severe, and the facilities had running water. However, women did not
have access to the technical or vocational 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
housed at the Simpson Penn Center for Boys and the Williamae Pratt
Center for Girls.
In October 2003, two girls died and a third was injured severely in
a fire at the center. The girls were found in a padlocked room. At
year's end, a trial was ongoing to determine whether the Center
employed adequate fire safety procedures to evacuate the children.
Employees at the center suggested that there were no functioning fire
extinguishers, and that a fire drill had not taken place for many
years. An investigation by the Attorney General's office was ongoing at
year's end. Fire drills at the Willie Mae Pratt Center and the Simpson
Penn Center for Boys have since recommenced.
The Migration Detention Center on Carmichael Road can hold 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 700 in spring, with an additional 250 at a temporary
holding facility on the island of Great Inagua. 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
potential of being held for long stretches of time, these children did
not have access to educational materials or a place to exercise and
play. A foreign government donated money to install a water
purification system at the center to provide migrants with clean
drinking water.
In October, allegations of abuse against Haitian, Cuban, and
Jamaican inmates, including women and children, and rumors of untreated
tuberculosis at the Detention Center were made public. Inmates also
complained of poor food quality, lack of potable drinking water, and
brutality by security officers. In December, following a statement by
the Minister of Immigration to Parliament that the allegations were
baseless, Cuban detainees burned a dormitory at the center.
Domestic and international human rights groups visited the prison
and detention center during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, police occasionally arrested
and detained persons arbitrarily. In general, the authorities conducted
arrests openly and, when required, obtained judicially issued warrants.
The 3,000-member RBPF is commanded by a Commissioner who is
supported by a Deputy Commissioner, four Assistant Commissioners, and a
Director of Human Resources. The RBPF is divided into three districts:
Headquarters, New Providence/Southern Bahamas, and Grand Bahama/
Northern Bahamas.
The Police Complaints and Corruption Branch, which reports directly
to the Deputy Commissioner, 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 human rights
observers doubted the police force's ability to investigate itself
impartially in cases of alleged abuse and misconduct and believed that
many incidents of improper police behavior were unreported. The
Government appointed a four-person committee to oversee the complaints
and corruption branch; members report directly to the Minister of
National Security and consult with the Police Commissioner. Police
officials insisted that their investigations were fair and thorough. A
police officer involved in shooting or killing a suspect automatically
is placed under investigation. In addition, the officer's weapon and
permit are taken, and the officer must undergo mandatory counseling.
There were 330 complaints against the police during the year, compared
with 302 in 2003. Of these 330 cases, 165 remained under investigation
at year's end. Following investigations into complaints against police
during the year, including assault, wrongful arrest, and excessive use
of force, two police officers were imprisoned, three were dismissed
from the RBPF, and four were charged before the Magistrate's Court.
Police officials believed that continuing turnover in personnel was a
contributing factor in disciplinary cases.
The law provides that a suspect must be charged within 72 hours of
arrest. Arrested persons appear before a magistrate within 72 hours (or
by the next business day for cases arising on weekends and holidays) to
hear the charges against them. Serious cases, including those of
suspected narcotics or firearms offenses, do not require warrants where
probable cause exists. Some persons on remand claimed they were not
brought before a magistrate within the 72-hour time frame. The
Government generally respected the right to a judicial determination of
the legality of arrests.
The Bail Act 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 prefer 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.
Arrested persons may hire an attorney of their choice; however, the
Government only provided legal representation to destitute suspects
charged with capital crimes. In a 2003 report, AI estimated that 41
percent of inmates did not have legal representation at their trial.
Some 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.
In September, authorities released a Jamaican national after the
Supreme Court ruled that he had been unlawfully detained for 14 years.
The Jamaican completed a court-mandated 14-year sentence for
manslaughter in 1989, but a lack of effective record keeping following
his release and confusion about his nationality resulted in his
detention for 14 more years without additional charge. The matter
subsequently was resolved and he was released with an apology following
the filing for a writ of habeas corpus.
Attorneys and other prisoner advocates continued to complain of
excessive pretrial detention (see Section 1.e.). The Constitution
mandates that suspects can be held for a ``reasonable period of time''
before trial. It was not unusual for a murder suspect to be held 2
years before trial and on occasion up to 4 years. A 2003 AI report
stated that, in August 2002, at least 735 of the over 1,000 prisoners
at Fox Hill were awaiting trial. The same report revealed that 78
pretrial prisoners had been on remand for over 2 years.
The authorities detained illegal immigrants, primarily Haitians and
Cubans, at a detention center located off Carmichael Road 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.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
Magistrate's courts are the lowest level courts and only handle
crimes with a maximum sentence of 5 years. Trial by jury is available
only in the Supreme Court, which is the trial court that handles most
major cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence until proven
guilty and are permitted to question witnesses at trial. There is a
functioning system of bail; however, individuals who cannot post bail
are held on remand for indefinite time periods. Magistrate court
decisions may be appealed to the Court of Appeal; the Privy Council in
London 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.
The justice system derives from English common law. The
Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an independent
judiciary generally enforced this right. However, the judicial system
had a large backlog of cases, and delays reportedly lasted as long as 2
years. To reduce the backlog, the Government continued the process of
streamlining appeals, computerizing court records, and hiring new
judges, magistrates, and court reporters. During the year, the Court of
Appeals reported that it reduced its backlog to 6 months.
Despite these measures to improve efficiency, complaints persisted
of excessive pretrial detention, outdated record keeping, delayed
justice for victims, and a failure to update new laws in the books.
Some judges have been recruited from abroad. 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.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law
usually requires a court order for entry into or search of a private
residence; however, 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 and did not restrict academic
freedom.
Three daily and several weekly newspapers, all privately owned,
expressed a variety of views on issues of public interest, including
varying degrees of criticism of the Government and its policies.
Foreign newspapers and magazines were readily available.
There is a government-run radio station and five privately owned
radio broadcasters. The country has two television stations, one
operated by the state-owned Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas,
and a privately owned station. The state-owned station presented a
variety of views, although opposition politicians claimed, with some
justification, that their views did not receive as extensive coverage
as those of the Government.
The Government did not restrict Internet access.
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. Groups must obtain
permits to hold public demonstrations, and the authorities generally
granted such permits.
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. There were no allegations of religious freedom violations
during the year.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
The country is a signatory to both the 1951 U.N. Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, the
Government has not established a consistent system for providing
protection to all refugees and asylum seekers. The Government
particularly faced difficulties with regard to Haitian migrants. All
Cuban migrants were given the opportunity to apply for asylum. In
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they faced persecution, and
applications for political asylum were adjudicated on a case-by-case
basis at the cabinet level.
The Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees. The Government asserted that all migrants who
claimed asylum were interviewed by trained immigration officials;
however, this claim was disputed by AI. The UNHCR reviewed the
interview records of cases they were provided and offered
recommendations on certain cases. 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 was a lack of
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.
The Department of Immigration reported that 3,034 persons were
repatriated to their home countries during the year. The authorities
did not grant asylum during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
The country is a constitutional, parliamentary democracy governed
by a prime minister and a bicameral parliament. General elections are
held at least every 5 years. The political process is open to all
elements of society, and citizens 18 years of age and older are
eligible to register and vote. Voting is by secret ballot. The two
principal political parties are the ruling PLP and the opposition Free
National Movement (FNM). In 2002, 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. Both the ruling
party and the opposition name members to the upper house, the Senate,
in compliance with constitutional guidelines. Although it passes
legislation, the Senate is primarily a deliberative body that serves as
a public forum to discuss national problems and policies.
There were no laws providing for public access to government
information; however, in practice, the Government provide such access
in most cases.
The 40-seat House of Assembly had 8 elected female members; there
were 7 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.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Several domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Government generally respected in practice the constitutional
provisions for individual rights and freedoms regardless of race, place
of origin, political opinion, creed, or sex. However, the Constitution
and the law contained certain provisions that discriminated against
women.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a serious,
widespread problem. During the year, the RBPF reported that 12 of the
44 recorded killings were the result of domestic violence, a 5 percent
increase from 2003. Women's rights groups cited a general reluctance on
the part of law enforcement authorities to intervene in domestic
disputes and a lack of police training and sensitivity in dealing with
domestic violence. The police recognized domestic violence as a high
priority and provided specialized training for all incoming officers
and offered continuing training in domestic violence. The police force
specifically made efforts to increase awareness of domestic violence in
the Family Islands. The courts impose various legal constraints to
protect women from abusive spouses or companions. Advocates for women's
rights saw a need to improve the effectiveness of enforcement of court
orders.
The Government operated a toll-free hotline 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 company, operated a safe house to assist battered women.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The maximum penalty for a
first-time offender is 7 years and, in the case of a second or
subsequent conviction, the penalty is 14 years. On occasion, rapists
are given life sentences. Some rape accusations brought by foreign
victims did not result in formal charges. The RBPF issued a report
stating there were 86 rapes reported during the year, down from 111 in
2003. More than half of the victims knew their attacker. The RBPF
credited public outreach programs and the involvement of the Department
of Social Services, the Crisis Center, and the Adolescent Clinic for
this decrease. Prosecutions and convictions on rape charges were
common, and the maximum penalty was frequently applied.
Prostitution is illegal. On November 7, police raided a local strip
club and arrested all 76 persons present, including locals and
nationals from several foreign countries. Several individuals were
charged with ``soliciting for immoral purposes.'' Police placed
plainclothes officers in various nightclubs to monitor illegal
activities. Police officials acknowledged that sex entertainment was a
developing industry.
The Constitution 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. Some inheritance
laws also favored men over women. Prominent women of all political
persuasions continued to push for an amendment to the Constitution and
revision of related laws to redress this situation.
Women participated fully in society and were well represented in
the business and professional sectors.
Children.--The Government claimed child welfare and education were
priorities, but lacked sufficient funding to maintain and improve
standards.
Public schools, in particular, lacked basic educational materials,
and facilities were overcrowded and substandard. Public education is
compulsory for children through the age of 16, and most children attend
school until this age. Cultural biases often forced unwed, pregnant
teenagers to leave public schools, and a quasi-governmental group
sought to create an alternative school program for these girls. 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 hospital housed 19 abandoned children (all of whom had
physical disabilities) during the year, as there was no effective
foster care program in which to house them.
Both the Government and civic organizations conducted intensive
public education programs aimed at the problem of child abuse and
appropriate parenting behavior; however, child abuse and neglect
remained serious problems. During the summer months, the RBPF operated
a hotline in response to an increase in the number of reports of
missing or exploited children.
From January through November, the Ministry of Social Services
reported 539 cases of child abuse, including 45 reports of incest, 142
reports of physical abuse, 80 reports of sexual abuse, 260 reports of
neglect, 3 reports of verbal abuse, and 9 reports of abandonment. The
Ministry estimated that only one-third of cases were reported.
The law requires that all persons who have contact with a child
they believe to be sexually abused report their suspicions to the
police. However, the same reporting requirement does not apply to cases
of physical abuse, which health care professionals believed occurred
quite frequently. The police referred reported cases of sexual and
physical abuse to the Ministry of Social Services, which investigates
them and can bring criminal charges against perpetrators. The Ministry
may remove children from abusive situations if the court deems it
necessary. In May, the Ministry reopened a center for abused and
neglected children.
Trafficking in Persons.--There are no laws that specifically
address trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, within, or through the country,
although the lack of a legal distinction may have obscured trafficking
within the vulnerable illegal migrant communities. The Penal Code bans
prostitution, and the maximum penalty is 5 years' imprisonment. The
Code also prohibits the procurement of persons for purposes of
prostitution either in or outside the country by force, threats,
intimidation, or the administering of drugs and carries a penalty of 8
years' imprisonment. In June and November, the International
Organization for Migration, in conjunction with other organizations,
held seminars to inform relevant authorities of anti-trafficking
methods, including preventative measures and raising awareness.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. Although the law
mandates certain accommodations for persons with physical disabilities
in new public buildings, the authorities rarely enforced this
requirement. There were housing units in Nassau designed specifically
for persons with disabilities, but very few buildings and public
facilities were accessible to them. Parking for persons with
disabilities was provided in most parking lots. 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.
In December, the Bahamas Council for Disability held a symposium in
conjunction with the Ministry of Social Services. During the symposium,
participants voiced concerns about the draft Anti-Discrimination of
Persons with Disabilities Bill.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Unofficial estimates suggest
that between 20 and 25 percent of the population are Haitians or
citizens of Haitian descent, making them the largest and most visible
ethnic minority in the islands. While 30,000 to 40,000 Haitian citizens
(approximately 10 percent of the total population) resided in the
country legally, some observers believed that an equal or greater
number were in the country illegally. Haitian children were granted
access to education and social services. Children born in the country
of non-Bahamian parents or to a Bahamian mother and a non-Bahamian
father do not automatically acquire citizenship.
Although Haitians and Bahamians of Haitian descent generally were
well integrated into society, nonviolent interethnic tensions and
inequities persisted. Some members of the Haitian community complained
of discrimination in the job market, and resentment concerning
continued Haitian immigration was widespread. For example, 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. However, reports of ethnic violence or
blatant discrimination against legally resident Haitians were scarce.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Social discrimination
against homosexuals was evident. Although homosexual relations between
consenting adults are legal, there is no legislation to address the
human rights concerns of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, or
transgendered persons. The Parliament passed the Employment Bill of
2001 only after removing a clause barring discrimination in the
workplace based on sexual orientation.
In July, several religious groups protested the Government's
acceptance of a port visit from a cruise ship catering to gay families.
Widespread homophobia and religiously based objection to homosexuality
led to reports of job termination following disclosure of sexual
orientation and discrimination in housing.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides labor
unions with the right of free assembly and association, and workers
exercised these rights in practice. Private sector and most public
sector workers may form or join unions without prior approval. 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.
Under the law, labor disputes first are filed with the Ministry of
Labor and then, if not resolved, are transferred to an industrial
tribunal. The tribunal follows normal court procedures for the
admission of evidence, direct examination, and cross-examination. 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 workers exercised
this right in practice; however, 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 must supervise the vote.
Several unions threatened several work stoppages against both public
and private employers during the year.
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. However, human rights advocates asserted that the Port
Authority has allowed the Hong Kong-based company Hutchison-Whampoa,
which owns the harbor, airport, and many major hotels in Freeport, to
discourage unions.
In June, 300 Freeport workers went on a 5-day strike to protest the
firing of a coworker who had led an unofficial labor union within
Hutchison-Whampoa. Approximately 30 workers subsequently were fired for
taking part in the strike.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14 for
industrial work or work during school hours; however, 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.
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.
In view of the high cost of living, these minimum wages 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 requires overtime
payment (time and a half) for hours worked beyond the standard
workweek.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing labor laws and
has a team of inspectors that conducts 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.
The national insurance program compensates workers for work-related
injuries. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to find
suitable alternative employment for employees injured on the job but
still able to work. 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 longstanding constitutional democracy with a
multiparty, parliamentary form of government. In the May 2003
parliamentary elections, which were considered generally free and fair,
citizens returned Prime Minister Owen Arthur of the Barbados Labour
Party (BLP) for a third successive term in office. The judiciary is
independent.
The Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) numbers 1,283 with an
additional 123 Special Constables and is responsible for internal law
enforcement. The small Barbados Defense Force (BDF) maintains national
security and may be called upon to maintain public order in times of
crisis, emergency, or other specific need. The civilian authorities
maintained effective control of the security forces. Some members of
the security forces committed some human rights abuses.
The market-based economy relied on tourism, services, light
manufacturing, and agriculture. The country's population is
approximately 278,000. The Government was the largest employer,
employing about 20 percent of the workforce. Real economic growth was
estimated at 2.9 percent and the average inflation rate was
approximately 1.4 percent. The unemployment rate fell to 10 percent
compared with 11.7 in 2003.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas. There were
occasional allegations of excessive use of force by police and reports
of poor prison conditions. Societal violence against women and children
remained problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces killed five persons, including two persons
during the arrest process, and two individuals who suffered from mental
illnesses. In April, police revamped the use of force policy to provide
non-lethal means of incapacitating a suspect. All cases remained under
investigation at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution specifically prohibits torture and
inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment; however there were
reports that police sometimes used excessive force. The majority of
complaints against the police alleged unprofessional conduct and
beating or assault. A Police Complaints Authority was established in
September, and by year's end there were 12 complaints filed against the
police. Authorities filed charges against three police officers accused
of using excessive force against two citizens. In May, three off-duty
plainclothes officers beat two spectators following a cricket match.
The officers involved were suspended until the trial, which had not
occurred at year's end.
Police procedures provide that the police may question suspects,
and other persons they hold, only at a police station, except when
expressly permitted by a senior divisional officer. An officer must
visit detainees at least once every 3 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.
Police regularly were accused of beating suspects to obtain
confessions; suspects often recanted their confessions during their
trial. There were numerous cases where the only evidence against the
accused was a confession.
Prison conditions remained inadequate. The sole adult prison
(Glendairy) was antiquated and overcrowded, with more than 1,006 male
and female inmates in a 150-year-old structure built for 350 inmates.
There is a separate wing for female prisoners at the adult prison.
The sole juvenile prison has separate facilities for boys and girls.
There are separate areas for pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners
at the prison; however, there was occasional mixing due to space
constraints.
The Government allowed private groups to visit prisons to observe
conditions, and such visits occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, and the Government generally
respected these prohibitions in practice.
The RBPF is responsible for internal law enforcement. 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
September, the independent Police Complaints Authority began operating
to review complaints against the police. The authority reported 12
complaints filed by year's end.
Police are authorized to arrest persons suspected of criminal
activity. The Constitution permits detainees to be held without charge
for up to 1 week; however, once charged, detainees must be brought
before a court of law without unnecessary delay. During the year, two
detainees were released after 2 years in prison because the Government
failed to bring their cases to court. 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.
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 court of first instance, or Magistrate's
Court, and the Supreme Court, which consists of the High Court and
Court of Appeals. The Governor General, on the recommendation of the
Prime Minister and after consultation with the leader of the
opposition, appoints the Chief Justice and other judges. Judges serve
until the age of 65.
The Constitution provides that persons charged with criminal
offenses be given a fair public hearing without unnecessary delay by an
independent and impartial court, and the Government generally respected
this right in practice. The judicial system provides for the right of
due process at each level. The law presumes defendants innocent until
proven guilty. The Government provided free legal aid to the indigent
in family matters, child support, criminal cases such as rape or
murder, and all cases involving minors.
There is a limit of approximately $2,100 (BP 1,300) on expenses
incurred for appeals by death row prisoners to the Privy Council in
London. Two inmates challenged this limit and sued the Government on
the grounds that it effectively deprived them of their right to due
process. The case was pending at year's end.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
The Government did not censor mail; however, the Government
restricted the receipt and importation of foreign publications deemed
to be pornographic.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were two independent daily newspapers,
both of which presented opposition political views. There were nine
radio stations, three of which were owned by the Government. The
Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) television service (the only
television source, excluding direct satellite reception) was government
owned. Although CBC was a state enterprise, it regularly reported views
opposing government policies.
In October, the CBC refused to air a program critical of police
conduct in restricting media access during a high profile wedding.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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. The law requires police
approval for public assemblies, which was granted routinely. Gatherings
related to school activities do not require written police permission.
A court date still had not been set after students filed charges in
2003 against members of the police for using excessive force in
response to student demonstrations at the University of the West Indies
in 2001. All parties remained free on bail.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. While the predominant religion was Christianity, members of
many other religions worshipped freely.
For more detailed information, see the 2004 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 it was not used.
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.
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.
Political parties compete in free and fair elections by secret
ballot at least every 5 years. All citizens over the age of 18 may
vote. The Prime Minister exercises executive power along with the
Cabinet of Ministers that he appoints, balanced by the bicameral
Parliament and the judicial system. In the May 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
Democratic Labor Party.
Access to information was provided on government websites; however,
requests for specific government information by citizens and other
interested parties often were delayed for excessive periods of time.
Approximately one-third of cabinet members were women, including
the Deputy Prime Minister, who was served concurrently as the Attorney
General and Minister of Home Affairs. There were 4 women and no
minorities in the 30-seat Parliament. There were 7 women and 3
minorities in the 21-member Senate.
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 under the law,
regardless of race, religion, or sex, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Women.--Violence and abuse against women continued to be
significant social problems. One official reported that one of every
five injured women treated in the emergency room was a victim of
domestic violence. The Police Commissioner stated that there were 84
rapes reported during the year. Spousal abuse remained a significant
problem during the year, despite legal protections against spousal rape
for women holding a court-issued divorce decree, separation order, or
nonmolestation order.
The Domestic Violence Law provides protection to all members of the
family, including men and children, and applies equally to marriages
and to common law relationships. Criminal penalties for violent crimes
were the same regardless of the sex of the offender or the victim;
however, in practice, female offenders usually received lighter
sentences than their male counterparts for similar offenses. Penalties
depend on the charge and severity and include a fine for a first time
offense (unless the injury is serious) up to the death penalty for a
killing. Police reported 491 complaints of domestic violence. The
courts heard a number of cases of domestic violence against women
involving assault or injury. 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 civilians and volunteers, which offered support to
victims, particularly female victims, of violent crimes.
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,
which accommodated 20 women and children. The shelter offered
psychological and physiological counseling by trained counselors to
victims of domestic violence.
Prostitution is illegal, but it remained a problem, fueled by
poverty and tourism. The media occasionally reported about
prostitution, usually in the context of concern over HIV/AIDS. There is
no statute specifically prohibiting sexual tourism, and no statistics
on it; however, anecdotal evidence suggested it occurred.
Sexual harassment in the workplace was a problem, but no statistics
were available. Media reports often indicated that women were afraid to
report sexual harassment because they feared abuse in the workplace.
The Barbados Workers Union continued to seek guidelines on sexual
harassment in contracts and agreements it concluded with employers.
The Office of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Social
Transformation worked to ensure the rights of women. 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. Women owned approximately 30 percent of
all businesses in the Small Business Association and carried in excess
of 70 percent of the recent mortgages in the country. 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. Women have equal property rights, including after a divorce.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's human rights
and welfare, although violence and abuse against children remained
serious problems. The Government provided for compulsory, free, and
universal education until the age of 16. The Government estimated that
98 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 16 attended school.
The highest educational level achieved by most children was secondary
school.
The national health insurance program 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 of 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. Through
October, 953 cases of child abuse were reported, including 243 cases of
physical abuse, 224 cases of sexual abuse, 396 cases of neglect, 85
cases of emotional abuse, and 5 cases of abandonment.
Trafficking in Persons.--No laws specifically address trafficking
in persons, although laws against slavery and forced labor could be
applied, and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--Other than constitutional provisions of
equality for all, there are no laws that specifically prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, or the provision of other state services. In practice,
persons with disabilities faced discrimination. Informal surveys
suggested that there were 10,000 to 12,000 persons with disabilities in
the country. The Ministry of Social Transformation operated a
Disabilities Unit to address the concerns of persons with disabilities.
However, in October, a group of parents accused the Government of not
providing higher education for deaf children. Officials from the
Ministry of Education stated that there was no law preventing deaf
students from gaining higher education, but the students were not up to
standard. There were also complaints of added fees assessed to parents
and transport difficulties for children with disabilities at government
schools. The Labor Department, a unit within the Ministry that finds
jobs for persons with disabilities, has long advocated the introduction
of legislation prohibiting discrimination.
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. Societal
discrimination was common, although reported incidents of
discrimination against homosexuals dropped significantly during the
year.
The Government sustained a well-financed fight against the high
incidence of HIV/AIDS. In addition to actions designed to limit the
spread of the disease, the Government initiated programs designed to
assist persons living with HIV/AIDS and to discourage discrimination
against infected persons.
In October, the Labor Department, in association with the
International Labor Organization (ILO), established a partnership to
reduce the stigma of AIDS in the workplace.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers freely exercised their right
to form and belong to trade unions. Approximately 19 percent (28,800)
of the 148,000-person workforce was unionized; unionized workers were
concentrated in key sectors, such as transportation, government, and
agriculture.
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 have contained provisions for
increases in basic wages and increases based on productivity. 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. The
ILO criticized the Better Security Act of 1920, which provides that
persons who willfully and maliciously break a contract knowing that it
would cause injury to persons are liable for a fine or 3 months'
imprisonment. The ILO asked that the law be amended on the grounds that
it could be invoked in the case of a strike; the Government did not
take any action to do so.
At year's end, the Government was still reappraising civil service
salary scales.
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 establish minimum wages for specified categories of
workers. Only two categories of workers have a formally regulated
minimum wage--household domestics and shop assistants. The minimum wage
for these employees is $2.50 (BP 1.55), which provided a decent
standard of living for a worker and family; most employees earned more
than the minimum wage. Some persons also received remittances from
relatives abroad or operated cottage industries to supplement their
income.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours in 5 days, and the law
requires overtime payment for hours worked in excess. The Government
respects ILO conventions, standards, and other sectoral conventions
regarding maximum hours of work. However, there is no general
legislation that covers all occupations. Work in excess of 8 hours a
day or 40 hours a week or work on a holiday or day off requires
payments of a premium. Employers must provide a minimum of 3 weeks'
annual leave. Unemployment benefits and national insurance (social
security) covered all workers. A comprehensive, government-sponsored
health program offered subsidized treatment and medication.
The law provides for occupational safety and health standards. The
Labor Department enforced health and safety standards and followed up
to ensure that management corrected problems cited. The law also
requires that in certain sectors firms employing more than 50 workers
create a safety committee. This committee 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 Barbados
Workers Union accused government-operated corporations in particular of
doing a ``poor job'' in health and safety. The Labor Department's
Inspections Unit conducted several routine annual inspections of
government-operated corporations and manufacturing plants. During the
year, two workers died after exposure to toxic fumes while cleaning the
waste well at a local brewery. Workers were not provided with masks or
other needed safety equipment for this dangerous task. Workers had a
limited right to remove themselves from dangerous or hazardous job
situations without jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
BELIZE
Belize is a constitutional parliamentary democracy governed by the
Prime Minister, a cabinet of ministers, and a legislative assembly. The
Governor General represented Queen Elizabeth II in the largely
ceremonial role of Head of State. 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 March of 2003. The judiciary is independent.
The Police Department has primary responsibility for law
enforcement and maintaining order. The Belize Defense Force (BDF) is
responsible for external security but, when deemed appropriate by
civilian authorities, may be tasked to assist the police department.
Armed BDF soldiers routinely accompanied police patrols in Belize City
in an attempt to reduce the violent crime rate. The police report to
the Minister of Home Affairs, while the BDF report to the Minister of
Defence. The civilian authorities maintained effective control of the
security forces. Some members of the security forces committed human
rights abuses.
The market-based economy was primarily agricultural, although
tourism has become the principal source of foreign exchange earnings;
the country's population was approximately 273,000. There was a very
small industrial sector, comprising limited agribusiness, clothing, and
boat manufacturing. The agricultural sector was heavily dependent upon
preferential access to export markets for sugar and bananas. Gross
domestic product grew at an estimated rate of 4 percent, while
inflation was estimated at 3 percent; 45 percent of the population
lived in poverty.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police allegedly
committed unlawful killings. Brutality and excessive use of force by
members of the security forces, allegations of arbitrary arrest and
detention, and lengthy pretrial detention were problems. Domestic
violence and discrimination against women, sexual abuse of children,
and employer mistreatment of undocumented foreign workers also were
problems. There were reports of trafficking in persons and child labor
was prevalent.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, the security forces were accused of some unlawful or
unwarranted killings.
On February 12, police constable Burton Caliz shot and killed Leroy
Pilgrim at the waterside in San Pedro. After stopping and searching
Pilgrim, two officers took him to the water to search his boat. Caliz
claimed that a struggle over an illegal firearm led to the fatal
shooting, but subsequent police investigations found no evidence to
support that scenario. On March 29, Caliz was arrested and charged with
manslaughter. At year's end, his trial was still pending.
There were no developments in the 2003 manslaughter cases against
police constable Sheldon Arzu and BDF private Giovanni Gutierrez. The
trial of police constable Sherwood Wade on charges of manslaughter
resulted in a hung jury, and a re-trial was pending at year's end. The
prosecution dropped charges against police constable Kevin Alvarez in
connection with the 2002 shooting death of Albert Pennil.
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 or other inhuman
punishment; however, there were numerous reports that police and prison
staff used excessive force.
Some of the most common complaints received by the office of the
Ombudsman involved alleged misconduct and abuse by police and
Department of Corrections personnel. The Ombudsman reported that the
number of such reports decreased; however, a number of cases of alleged
abuse featured in the press were never reported to the Ombudsman's
office. In many cases, the Government ignored reports of abuses;
withheld action until the case had faded from the public's attention,
at which point no action was taken; or transferred guilty officers to
other districts. The Government did take action in a small number of
cases. The Ombudsman stated that police use of force was appropriate in
the majority of cases he investigated, usually due to the complainant
having resisted arrest, even if the level of force used was sometimes
excessive.
On March 30, San Ignacio police constable Julio Shal shot and
injured Pedro Guzman. Guzman had been detained in connection with a
burglary, and was released after 48 hours. The night of Guzman's
release an inebriated Shal, in plain clothes, forced Guzman into a car
at gunpoint. He proceeded to threaten Guzman with his gun, eventually
shooting him in the hand. On March 31, Shal was arrested and charged
with attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm, and possession of a
firearm while under the influence of alcohol. Shal's trial was ongoing
at year's end.
On September 14, the police suspended police constables Clayton
Marin and Cyril Wade and charged them with dangerous harm in connection
with the beating of Emile Pinelo. While arresting him and later at the
police station, Marin and Wade allegedly choked, punched, repeatedly
kicked, and beat Pinelo. Police initially denied Pinelo medical care
but eventually took him to the hospital where he was treated for
multiple injuries, including a broken nose and a head injury. Pinelo
suffered massive internal injuries and required emergency surgery to
remove 25 inches of his small intestine.
Police superintendent Ewart Itza was acquitted on all charges
stemming from a 2003 brutality investigation. Prosecutors appealed his
case to the Supreme Court and that appeal was pending at year's end.
The Director of Public Prosecutions had no record of charges against
police constable Adrian Lopez, who was reportedly charged in December
with attempted rape and indecent assault.
Prison conditions were poor, but they improved during the year. The
country's only prison, in Hattieville, designed for 500 inmates, held
approximately 1,120 male and 40 female prisoners. The prison budget
provided only $6 (Bz$12) per prisoner per day to cover all operating
costs. In the remand section, 220 detainees shared 40 15- by 20-foot
cells that were designed to hold 150. The prison had a medical clinic
with four beds, a full-time doctor, and two nurses. Prisoners often had
to pay for their own treatment and medicine. Under the oversight of the
Ministry of Home Affairs, the nonprofit Kolbe Foundation managed
Hattieville Prison and concentrated on improving professionalism of
prison guards, reducing waste and corruption, and using prison labor on
prison infrastructure projects.
There were reports that prison wardens and guards sometimes
brutalized troublesome prisoners. A common punishment was placing
inmates in a small, unlit, and unventilated punishment cell. Inmates
claimed that prison officials sometimes withheld food and water as
further punishment.
In addition, prisoners enforced their own code of conduct and
attacked prisoners convicted of heinous crimes such as child
molestation. Prisoners convicted or accused of such crimes often were
housed in the immigration section for their protection.
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 40
women held there occupied 17 cells. The facility was clean, and inmates
had access to limited educational and vocational classes.
Juvenile prisoners lived in a separate, newly built facility
outside the main perimeter fence. The youthful offenders program
included 16 hours per day of structured schooling, exercise, and
vocational training.
Pretrial detainees and immigration violators were held in
overcrowded cells separate from convicted criminals. Inmates with
mental illnesses were housed in separate cells. First-time offenders
were housed in the same building as those who committed capital crimes.
Incidents of gang- and drug-related violence in the prison continued.
Prison breaks, confiscation of weapons, and reports of beatings also
occurred during the year.
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
arbitrary arrest or detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions; however, there were occasional accusations of
arbitrary arrest and detention.
The 950-member national police force had a hierarchical structure
and generally was effective in responding to complaints; however, lack
of resources and corruption were problems. Police, who were poorly
paid, sometimes succumbed to bribery.
The Police Department's internal affairs and discipline (IAD)
section, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the Ombudsman's
office investigated allegations of police abuses. According to the IAD,
there were a number of sanctions against police officers for
infractions during the year. Through October, the IAD handled 124
complaints against the police. Eleven police officers were disciplined,
three were dismissed, and five were arrested and charged.
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 if the presence of a firearm was suspected. Customs officers
could search a premise with a writ of assistance issued by the
Comptroller of Customs. The law requires police to inform a detainee of
the cause of detention and to bring the person before a court to be
charged formally within 48 hours of arrest. In practice, authorities
normally 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. In rare
instances, entire cases were 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 murder and was granted
in all but the most serious cases. In cases involving narcotics, police
cannot grant bail, but a magistrate's court may do so after a full
hearing. Detainees sometimes could not afford bail, and backlogs in the
docket often caused considerable delays and postponement of hearings,
resulting in an overcrowded prison, and at times prolonged pretrial
detention. At year's end, 18 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.
Judges hold lifetime appointments (until the mandatory retirement
age of 65). There were four Supreme Court justices and 17 magistrates;
only 3 magistrates had a legal background. Most judges were members of
the civil service and routinely were transferred between court and
administrative postings. The Government appointed the DPP for life. The
DPP reported no attempted political interference in his job.
The judiciary consists of the alcalde courts (with 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; however, trials in cases that came before the
family court generally were private. The convicted party 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.
Persons accused of civil or criminal offenses have constitutional
rights to presumption of innocence, protection against self-
incrimination, defense by counsel, a public trial, and appeal.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trial unless the
opposing party feared for his or her safety. In such a case, the court
granted interim provisions under which both parties were addressed
individually during a 5-day period.
Legal counsel for indigent defendants was provided by the State
only for capital crimes. Most defendants could not afford an attorney
and were convicted at a much higher rate than those with legal
representation. The Legal Aid Center's staff attorney handled up to 150
cases a year, leaving the majority of defendants unrepresented. A
severe lack of trained personnel constrained the judicial system, and
police officers often acted as prosecutors in the magistrate's courts.
Although the DPP replaced 11 of the inadequately trained and
inexperienced police prosecutors with full-time prosecutors, the new
hires often had little legal and prosecutorial background.
There were lengthy trial backlogs in the judicial system. Routine
cases without a defense attorney were disposed of within 1 month, but
cases involving a serious crime or where there was a defense attorney
took more than 1 year. Citing a lack of evidence and uncooperative
witnesses, the DPP dismissed a large number of cases. Despite an
increase in serious crimes, poor case management, lack of attorney
discipline, and several cases that had been ongoing for years, the
backlog of cases was shrinking, largely because many cases were simply
dismissed. However, other cases were continued repeatedly.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such practices, government
authorities generally respected these prohibitions, and violators were
subject to legal action. However, some disputes regarding the
Government's exercise of eminent domain rights remained unresolved
despite pending for years in the courts.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. The Constitution also permits the authorities to make
``reasonable provisions'' in the interests of defense, public safety,
public order, public morality, or public health. These provisions
include forbidding any citizen to question the validity of the
financial disclosure statements submitted by public officials. Anyone
who questioned these statements orally or in writing outside a rigidly
prescribed procedure was subject to a fine of up to $2,500 (Bz$5,000),
or imprisonment of up to 3 years, or both.
A wide range of viewpoints was presented publicly, usually without
government interference, in 10 privately owned weekly newspapers, 2 of
which were owned by major political parties. There were no daily
newspapers. All newspapers are subject to the constraints of libel
laws, but these laws have not been invoked in several years. Newspapers
were routinely critical of the Government without fear of reprisal.
There were 10 privately owned commercial radio stations and 1
British military station that broadcast news directly from London and
other Caribbean nations. Popular radio call-in programs were lively and
featured open criticism of, and comments on, government and political
matters.
There were two privately owned television stations that produced
local news and feature programming. There were also several cable
television providers throughout the country that rebroadcast foreign
stations. The Belize Broadcasting Authority regulated broadcasting and
retained the right to preview certain broadcasts, such as those with
political content, and to delete any defamatory or personally libelous
material from political broadcasts, a prerogative that has not been
exercised in several years.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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. The organizers of public
meetings must obtain a permit 36 hours in advance of the meetings; such
permits were not denied for political reasons and were granted
routinely in practice. Political parties and other groups with
political objectives freely held rallies and mass meetings.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 exile, and it was not used.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has not established a
system for providing protection to refugees. Since 1999, the Government
has not accepted asylum applications, and there was no legislation that
formalized the asylum process. Until the Government closed its Refugee
Department in 1999, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
relied upon a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) to monitor the
status of asylum seekers and to represent its interests. The Government
had no procedure in place to accept or resettle refugees and has not
recognized any individual as a refugee since 1997.
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. All elections were held by secret ballot, and
suffrage was universal for citizens age 18 and older. The country is
governed by a national assembly with executive direction from a cabinet
of ministers headed by Prime Minister Said Musa. The law requires
national elections every 5 years. In March 2003, the PUP won re-
election, maintaining 22 of 29 seats in the House of Representatives in
generally free and fair elections. The opposition United Democratic
Party (UDP) gained a seat in an October 2003 by-election, reducing the
PUP majority to 21 seats.
Corruption worsened during the year. In July, the media reported on
inappropriate investments by the Social Security Board whereby the
Government reportedly authorized the use of millions of dollars in
public funds to shore up the business interests of well-connected
citizens. Following the revelation, 7 of the 13 cabinet ministers
threatened to resign unless the Prime Minister dismissed the Minister
of Finance and allowed more cabinet oversight of public finances. The
parties reached a compromise solution that included the Prime Minister
taking over the Finance portfolio and two of the seven dissenters
gaining roles as Ministers of State in the Finance Ministry. On August
28, nearly 10,000 persons marched in protest of the scandal, calling
for an independent investigation of the matter. Following weeks of
turmoil, the Prime Minister ordered a Senate investigation, which was
ongoing at year's end.
Public surveys and Transparency International indicated that
community perception of corruption rose. In addition to the Social
Security scandal, the Government faced questions over the sale of
public lands and assets for significantly less than market value. On
April 28, the Printers Association sued the Government for full
disclosure on the privatization of the Printing Department, claiming
that the Government divested that national asset at far below market
value. On October 15, the Court of Appeals upheld a Supreme Court
ruling that the Government must turn over the 5-year contract and
ordered them to produce an inventory of the assets that were included
with the privatization.
The Freedom of Information Act 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 affecting national security, defense, or foreign
relations. The Government must supply, in writing, the reason for any
denial of access, the name of the person making the decision, and
information on the right to appeal to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman
reported that he had received no such appeals between April 2003 and
March.
There were 2 women in the 29-seat House of Representatives, 1 of
whom was appointed to serve as Speaker of the House. There were 3 women
in the 12-member appointed Senate, and another woman served as
president of the Senate. There was one woman in the Cabinet, and five
women were chief executive officers of ministries.
There are no laws impeding participation by indigenous persons or
minority groups in politics. There were Mestizo, Creole, Maya, and
Garifuna representatives in the National Assembly. Voter registration
and participation were not tracked by ethnicity; however, there were no
complaints or reports of electoral discrimination on the basis of
ethnicity.
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, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials usually were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Human Rights Commission of Belize (HRCB), an NGO affiliated
with regional human rights organizations and partly funded by the
UNHCR, operated without government restriction on a wide range of
issues, including migrant and agricultural workers' rights and cases of
alleged police abuse. The HRCB published human rights complaints and
urged police and other governmental bodies to act upon them.
In March, the Belize Center for Human Rights Studies opened in
Belmopan. The Center was a non-profit educational institution colocated
with the University of Belize, with the primary mission of furthering
human rights education at the tertiary level, conduct research, and
promote discussion of human rights issues.
There is an independent Ombudsman whose role is to act as a check
against governmental abuses. The Ombudsman stated in his fourth annual
report that he received 244 formal complaints between April 2003 and
March. While most complaints were against the Government, a number were
against private entities. There were 114 complaints against the Police
Department, 35 regarding the Lands Department, 21 against the
Department of Corrections, and 19 against the Family Court. The
Ombudsman investigated the majority of these cases and published his
findings on many of them in the annual reports.
Drug trafficking charges against human rights activist Antionette
Moore were dropped in May. The charges against her husband, radio
personality Michael Flores, were pending at year's end. Detained and
charged in 2003, Flores had been warned by police prior to his arrest
to stop his commentary against police brutality.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, place of
origin, political opinion, color, creed, or sex. The country is
multiracial and multiethnic, and discrimination was rare, although
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.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a worsening problem.
The Family Violence Unit of the police recorded approximately 1,200
instances of domestic violence against women during the year, of which
55 percent came from Belize City. One nine-bed shelter for battered
women offered short-term housing. The Belize Organization for Women and
Development, an NGO, advised women on their rights and provided
counseling.
Laws prohibit rape, including spousal rape. Despite a 25 percent
increase in reported rapes during the year, the number of convictions
declined. The police and courts treated rape more seriously than in
previous years, but it was still not a priority. The Magistrate's Court
reported three convictions for rape and one for attempted rape, with
sentences ranging from 10 to 12 years' imprisonment. Arrests and
convictions for rape received widespread press coverage. The police and
courts enforced statutory rape laws, with 5 convictions.
Adult prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits loitering
for prostitution, operating a brothel, and soliciting for prostitution.
The laws, which carry penalties of fines up to $500 (Bz$1,000) or 1
year's imprisonment, were enforced weakly. Several prominent brothels
operated openly.
The law prohibits sexual harassment, and it was punishable by a
fine of up to $250 (Bz$500) or imprisonment of up to 3 months. No
sexual harassment cases were brought during the year.
Despite constitutional provisions for equality, women faced social
and economic prejudice. It was harder for women to find employment, and
most employed women were concentrated in female-dominated occupations
with low status and wages. There was an unofficial policy of
nontolerance toward unwed pregnant teachers, who were often dismissed.
In April, Maria Roches won a $150,000 (Bz$300,000) lawsuit against a
Catholic school that released her from a teaching position after she
told management that she was pregnant. In recent years, the proportion
of women in higher education increased, and 63 percent of students at
the University of Belize were women.
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 relatively few held top managerial positions. The law mandates
equal pay for equal work; however, women tended to earn less than men;
the median monthly income for a working woman was $353 (Bz$706)
compared with $374 (Bz$748) for a man.
The Women's Department in the Ministry of Human Development, Women
and Children, and Civil Society is charged with developing programs to
improve the status of women. A number of officially registered women's
groups 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 5 and
15. After children finish their primary education, they may enter a
secondary school, the government-run apprenticeship program, or a
vocational institution. However, these programs had room for only one-
half of the children finishing primary school. Education was nominally
free, but school, book, and uniform fees placed education out of reach
for many poor children. Approximately 71 percent of school-age children
were enrolled in school; the enrollment rate was 96 percent at the
elementary level and less than 60 percent at the secondary level.
Statistics from 2001 indicated that 81 percent of students reached
fifth grade. There were also many truants and dropouts. A 2003 study
concluded that girls were victims of discrimination in the schools.
Schools often expelled pregnant students, requiring the students to
wait 1 year before applying for readmission.
Several government-run clinics provided health care to children.
Boys and girls had equal access to such care.
Child abuse was not considered to be widespread or a societal
problem; the Family Violence Unit recorded approximately 100 cases of
domestic violence against children a year. Sexual abuse of minors,
including incest, was a problem. The Families and Children Act allows
authorities to remove a child legally from an abusive home environment
and requires parents to maintain and support children until they reach
the age of 18.
A widespread practice was that of parents selling their female
children to an older man, often a friend of the family (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
The Family Services Division in the Ministry of Human Development,
Women and Children, and Civil Society was devoted primarily 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 NGOs and UNICEF to promote children's
welfare.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked within and to
the country, mainly from neighboring countries.
The law prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons; offenses are
punishable by fines of up to $5,000 (Bz $10,000) and imprisonment of up
to 8 years.
Two persons were convicted of trafficking in persons. On April 14,
the proprietor of an Orange Walk bar pled guilty to one count of
trafficking. She was fined $1,000 (Bz $2,000) or, in default, 1 year in
prison. On May 14, a foreign retiree was sentenced to 2 years in prison
after he pled guilty to trafficking in persons. There were no
convictions on the trafficking charges stemming from the August 2003
raid of 42 brothels. There were no new developments in the trafficking
cases against two male foreigners who were arrested in October 2003. In
January, prosecutors dropped the carnal knowledge charges against John
Majarrez, which dated from his arrest in 2002.
There were no authoritative estimates on the extent of trafficking.
Women and girls were trafficked to the country from neighboring
countries primarily for prostitution and nude dancing. Victims
generally lived in squalid conditions in the bars where they worked.
Some bar owners held their passports and work permits, but most victims
had access to their own money. Agents of the bars and brothels were
hired to lure women and girls to the country, and they or taxi drivers
along the border delivered the unsuspecting victims to brothels.
There were reports of persons trafficked for labor purposes. There
were instances of Chinese migrants being forced to work in local
(Chinese-owned) sweatshops. Members of the East Indian community also
imported employees from India in effect as bonded labor, holding their
passports and paying less than minimum wage.
The National Committee for Families and Children reported instances
of minors engaged in prostitution with older men, in some cases of
their own volition, in others arranged by their family. These girls
were typically of high-school age, but some as young as 13 were
reported, and came from economically disadvantaged families. They
provided sexual favors to an older man in return for clothing, jewelry,
or school fees and books. In a limited number of cases, government
attempts to prosecute the men for unlawful carnal knowledge were
stymied by the unwillingness of the girls' families to press charges.
The law also provides for limited victims' assistance, although, in
practice, government resources were too limited to provide meaningful
aid to victims. Under the law, non-citizen victims willing to assist in
prosecuting traffickers are eligible for residency status.
In 2003, the Government formed a National Task Force to combat
human trafficking, comprising multiple ministries, NGOs, diplomatic
representatives, police, immigration, and prosecution personnel. The
task force established a protocol for investigating and handling
trafficking cases under the new law.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. The law neither
provides specifically for accessibility for persons with disabilities
nor prohibits job discrimination against them. In 2001, the Government
transferred responsibility for disability service provision to private
companies and NGOs, such as the Belize Association of and for Persons
with Disabilities and the Belize Center for the Visually Impaired.
Children with disabilities had access to government special education
facilities, although the requirements to enter such programs were
strict.
Indigenous Persons.--Among the country's indigenous people, the
Mopan and Ke'kchi were grouped under the general term Maya, although
their leaders stated that they should be identified as the Masenal,
meaning ``common people.'' The Maya sought official recognition of
their communal claims to land, but the Government was reluctant to
single out one ethnic group for special consideration. The Government
designated 77,000 acres for 9 separate Mayan reserves; however, Mayan
leaders claimed an ancestral right to a total of 500,000 acres. The
Maya formed cultural councils and other groups to advance their
interests, sometimes with the collaboration of NGOs concerned with
environmental and indigenous issues.
In August, the mayor of Belmopan sent a letter to the Prime
Minister requesting help dismantling illegal Mayan communities on the
outskirts of the city and relocating the inhabitants. The mayor's plan
led to a September protest by indigenous peoples and reignited the
debate over land for the Maya.
At year's end, the Government had not responded to the 2003 Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) report recommending that it
recognize the Mayan right to traditionally occupied communal property
and demarcate such property before taking any further actions on
disputed land. In November, the IACHR rebuked the Government for not
acting on the recommendations.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law and in practice, workers
generally were free to establish and join trade unions. Eight
independent unions, whose members constituted approximately 11 percent
of the labor force, represented a cross-section of workers, including
most civil service employees. The Ministry of Labor recognizes unions
after they file with the Registrar's Office. The National Trade Union
Congress of Belize accepted only unions that held free, annual
elections of officers. Both law and precedent effectively protect
unions against dissolution or suspension by administrative authority.
The Constitution prohibits anti-union discrimination. In a report
released July 14, however, the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) encouraged the Government to take measures to
protect workers from anti-union discrimination, particularly in the
banana sector and the export processing zones. The report stated that
the fine of $125 (Bz$250) did not dissuade acts of anti-union
discrimination. According to the Trade Unions and Employers
Organizations Act, any worker who is a victim of anti-union
discrimination can seek redress in the Supreme Court with allowable
judgments of up to $2,500 (Bz$5,000). Some employers blocked union
organization by firing key union sympathizers, usually on grounds
purportedly unrelated to union activities. Effective redress was
extremely difficult to obtain in such situations. A worker could file a
complaint with the Labor Department, but, in practice, it was difficult
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.
Employers and unions set wages in free negotiations, or, more commonly,
employers simply established them. The Labor Commissioner or his
representative acted as a mediator in deadlocked collective bargaining
negotiations between labor and management, offering nonbinding counsel
to both sides. Should either union or management choose not to accept
the Commissioner's decision, both are entitled to a legal hearing.
Unions may organize freely, but the law does not require employers
to recognize a union as a bargaining agent if there is no union that
covers more than 50 percent of the workers.
The law permits unions to strike and does not require them to give
notice before going on strike. However, this right is limited for
public sector workers in areas designated as ``essential services,''
which are broadly defined and include postal, sanitary, health and
other services as well as services in which petroleum products are
sold. The Essential Services Act also empowers the Government to refer
a dispute to compulsory arbitration to prohibit or terminate a strike.
There are no special laws or exemptions from the regular labor laws
in the country's 4 general and 26 special export processing zones
(EPZs). There were no unions in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government
prohibits forced or bonded 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
Labor Act prohibits all employment of children under age 12 and
prohibits employment of children between the ages of 12 and 14 before
the end of school hours on official school days. However, there was a
tradition of children's employment on family farms and in family-run
businesses, which the law allows. The minimum age for employment was 17
years for work near hazardous machinery. Inspectors from the
Departments of Labor and Education are responsible for enforcing these
regulations.
In its July report, the ICFTU stated that child labor was
prevalent, particularly in family farms and businesses, and that child
labor laws were not well-enforced. In 2003, the Central Statistical
Office (CSO) estimated that 6 percent of children between the ages of 5
and 17 were working, half of them in hazardous work. The CSO study did
not include the sizeable undocumented population, many of whom were not
in school. In rural regions, children 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.
In urban areas, children shined shoes, sold food, crafts, and other
small items, and worked in markets. Teenage girls, some of whom were
trafficked from neighboring countries, worked as domestic servants, and
some were rumored to work as bar maids and prostitutes (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was $1.12
(Bz$2.25), except for domestic workers in private households, shop
assistants in stores where liquor was not consumed, and in export
industries, where it was $1.00 (Bz$2.00) per hour. 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 6 days or 45 hours. It
requires payment for overtime work, 13 public holidays, an annual
vacation of 2 weeks, and sick leave for up to 16 days. An employee is
eligible for severance pay after being employed continuously for at
least 5 years.
The exploitation of undocumented Central American workers,
particularly young service workers and agricultural workers, continued
to be a problem.
A patchwork of health and safety regulations covered numerous
industries, and the Ministry of Labor 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 remove themselves from a dangerous
workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment, and they
were able to exercise this right in practice.
__________
BOLIVIA
Bolivia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with an elected
president and bicameral legislature; the country has separate
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, with an
attorney general independent of all three. On October 17, 2003,
protesters forced President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who been elected
in free and fair elections in August 2002, to resign from office. After
a vote in Congress, Vice President Carlos Mesa Gisbert assumed office
and restored order. Mesa appointed a non-political cabinet and promised
to revise the Constitution through a constituent assembly. The
Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the
judiciary suffered from corruption, inefficiency, and political
manipulation.
The National Police has responsibility for internal security. The
military is responsible for external security but also has domestic
responsibilities. The Judicial Technical Police (PTJ) conduct
investigations for common crimes (cases that do not involve narcotics);
the police provide security for coca eradication work crews in the
Chapare region; the Special Counternarcotics Force (FELCN), including
the Mobile Rural Patrol Unit (UMOPAR), is dedicated to antinarcotics
enforcement. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over the
security forces. Some members of the security forces committed human
rights abuses.
The country has a market-oriented economy that continued to be
affected by social unrest and corruption. Approximately 65 percent of
the population of 8.5 million lived below the poverty line. The country
is rich in minerals and hydrocarbons; however, most workers were
engaged in traditional agriculture or self-employed in the informal
sector, and many citizens were barely linked to the cash economy.
During the year, the economy grew by approximately 3.5 percent. Wages
and benefits did not keep pace with inflation. The Government remained
heavily dependent on foreign assistance to finance development
projects.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The human rights
situation improved compared to the previous year, and the country held
its first national referendum in many decades. Security forces killed
at least three persons and injured dozens of protesters during episodes
of violent social unrest. Three members of the security forces also
were killed and dozens of others injured during social demonstrations
or while enforcing coca eradication policies. There were credible
reports of abuses by security forces, including use of excessive force,
extortion, and improper arrests. There were reports that military
conscripts were mistreated. Prison conditions were harsh, and violence
in prisons was a problem. There were credible reports of arbitrary
arrest and detention. Prolonged detention remained a problem. The
Government continued to implement a new Public Ministry Law to adapt
the prosecutorial function of the judicial system to the requirements
of the Code of Criminal Procedures (CCP). Other problems included
pervasive domestic violence and discrimination against women, abuse of
children, trafficking in persons, discrimination against and abuse of
indigenous people, and discrimination against Afro-Bolivians and
persons because of their sexual orientation. Child labor and brutal
working conditions in the mining industry were serious problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of politically motivated killings committed by government
agents; however, there were problems in some areas. Security forces
killed at least three protesters and injured dozens of others during
violent demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).
On September 28, in the Bustillos area of the Chapare, inside the
Isiboro Secure nature reserve, approximately 300-350 coca growers
(cocaleros), including women and children, attacked members of the
Joint Eradication Task Force (FTC) who were preparing to eradicate
illegal coca plants inside the park. During the previous days, the
cocaleros had laid siege to the FTC camp and employed pressure tactics
such as digging trenches and felling trees to dissuade the FTC from
completing its assignment. The cocaleros attacked the security forces
with dynamite, some firearms, and potentially lethal slings. The police
in the FTC fired tear gas and responded according to the sequence
prescribed in its rules of engagement. Nevertheless, the confrontation
escalated, and a gunshot killed cocalero Juan Colque. Two boys claimed
they saw a soldier shoot Colque, but this was not confirmed. On October
14, Genaro Canaviri also died of a bullet wound that he sustained in a
morning confrontation with security forces, in which a number of
civilians and members of the security forces also were injured. The
Human Rights Ombudsman Representative in the Chapare, the Public
Ministry, and the military launched investigations into both killings.
The Government agreed to compensate the families of the two dead coca
growers and negotiated an agreement with cocaleros to allow 3,200
hectares of coca to be exempt from eradication until a legal study of
market consumption for the coca leaf has been completed.
On December 20, at the El Paila ranch, in Santa Cruz Department,
Medrin Colque Mollo was killed by a gunshot, presumably fired by
police, during a confrontation between more than 100 squatters and
security forces who sought to remove the squatters from private land
they had occupied for more than 2 years. Eleven other persons,
including four policemen, were injured. Central Government and
departmental authorities launched an investigation, which was pending
at year's end.
Public Ministry investigations continued into the events of
February 2003 that left 33 people dead and some 200 injured and into
the October 2003 events that left 56-80 persons dead and more than 400
injured. On October 14, the Congress authorized the Supreme Court to
try former President Sanchez de Lozada and 15 members of his Cabinet
for their role in the October violence.
There has been no progress in the January 2003 shooting death of
coca grower Willy Hinojosa in the Chapare. The Public Ministry
investigation remained pending at year's end.
There were no significant developments and none expected in the
2002 killing in Sinahota, Chapare, of Marcos Ortiz Llanos, who
allegedly was shot by soldiers from the now-disbanded Chapare
Expedition Force (FEC) during a cocalero demonstration.
There were several deaths due to violence in the prisons during the
year (see Section 1.c.).
While the investigation remained open, there were no significant
developments and none were expected in the 2001 killing of Casimiro
Huanca Coloque, a leader in the Chimore Coca Growers Federation, during
a confrontation between the FEC and cocalero protesters. A military
court and the Public Ministry had concluded earlier that there was
insufficient evidence to charge the FEC soldier who had fired the shot.
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. However, on
December 17, Congress appointed a new Attorney General and filled
longstanding vacancies on the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council.
The Congressional Human Rights Committee, the Ombudsman's office, the
Vice Ministry of Justice and its Directorate of Human Rights, and
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continued to press the Government
to expedite action in the cases.
On February 27, in Santa Cruz, prosecutor Monica von Borries was
killed when a bomb planted in her car by unknown persons, exploded.
Police suspected Marco Marino Diodato, a dangerous narcotics trafficker
who had escaped earlier from prison. The Attorney General's office was
investigating the case, and several arrests and indictments have been
made.
There were fewer reports of killings of government security forces
by nongovernmental actors compared with the previous year. On June 6,
in the town of San Pablo, 200 soldiers escorted police in an operation
to clear roadblocks with explicit orders to carry only non-lethal
equipment. The security forces walked into a well-planned ambush by
armed attackers and were unable to properly defend themselves. An
officer, Saul Coronado, was killed, and 27 soldiers were injured. Two
peasants, Hernan Masay and Eddy Argmon, also were killed, but
preliminary ballistics and forensic analyses indicated that small
caliber bullets of the type used by the ambushers had caused their
wounds. Military and civilian authorities were still investigating the
incident at year's end.
On March 30, disgruntled miner Eustaquio Picachuri, who had entered
the National Congress with dynamite strapped to his body, blew himself
up, killing policemen Marvel Flores and Rene Amurrio and injuring 11
bystanders.
Investigations continued into the numerous booby trap and sniping
incidents in the Chapare in 2003 that killed or injured security
personnel eradicating illegal coca plants.
There was no significant progress and none was in the 2002 case of
the deaths of four men at Sindicato Los Yukis. The Attorney General's
investigation continued at year's end.
There were several reported cases of alleged criminals beaten,
lynched, or burned by civilians, sometimes resulting in death. For
example, on June 15, the townspeople of Ayo Ayo lynched and burned
mayor Benjamin Altamirano. Several arrests were made, and the Public
Ministry was investigating the incident 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 the
Government generally respected these provisions; however, there were a
number of allegations of beatings and abuse by members of the security
forces.
For example, during the year, the Chimore Center for Justice and
Human Rights (CCJHR), which was converted into an Integrated Justice
Center, received 8 complaints from a total of 15 civilians that
security forces either had abused them or stolen their property. Cases
were not formally filed with the Public Ministry but instead were
referred for action to the Police Office of Professional
Responsibility.
Spanish citizen Francisco Javier Villanueva alleged that he was
tortured by Santa Cruz police following his April arrest in connection
with the February car bombing and murder of State Prosecutor Monica Von
Borries (see Section 1.a.). Villanueva, who remained under arrest in
Palmasola prison, claimed that he had been abducted by plainclothes
policemen and subjected to beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, near
drowning, and death threats at an undisclosed location. Amnesty
International and other NGOs claimed that medical evidence supported
his assertion and protested the case. However, eyewitnesses stated that
Villanueva had aggressively resisted police when he was arrested with a
warrant and that he was injured while being forcibly restrained. A
Public Ministry investigation was pending at year's end.
No significant progress was made in the January 2003 injuring of
two coca growers, during a protest at Cruce Vueltadero or in the
January 2003 beating cases of Gabina Contreras and her husband
Crecencio Espinosa near Santa Rosa, allegedly by army soldiers. The
latter case remained under investigation at year's end.
Security forces clashed with demonstrators on several occasions
during the year, resulting in the deaths of three to five demonstrators
and dozens of injuries (see Section 2.b.). At least some of the
injuries were attributed to tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, and
live ammunition used by the security forces. Investigations into these
incidents were pending at year's end.
The Public Ministry continued its investigation into allegations
that security officials beat cocalero leaders whom they detained in
Sacaba during the disturbances in 2002 and that they beat other
civilians to try to learn the names of those responsible for security
officers' deaths.
There also were credible allegations that military commissioned
officers and NCOs beat and otherwise mistreated military conscripts.
Indigenous communities in areas with little or no central
government presence imposed punishment that reportedly included the
death penalty for members who violated traditional laws or rules,
although the Constitution prohibits the death penalty (see Section 5).
Prison conditions were harsh. Prisons were overcrowded and in poor
condition. Escapes were frequent, including that of Marco Marino
Diodato, a dangerous criminal charged with murder and narcotics crimes,
who fled while receiving medical treatment. 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 between prisoners and, in some cases, the involvement of
prison officials in violence against prisoners were problems.
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 provisions in the new CCP.
According to the Director General of the Penal System in the
Ministry of Government, as of October, there were 6,768 prisoners (821
women and 5,947 men) in facilities designed to hold 4,700 prisoners.
A prisoner's wealth may determine cell size, visiting privileges,
day-pass eligibility, and place or length of confinement. Cell prices
reportedly were paid to prior occupants or to prisoners who controlled
cellblocks. Although only children up to 6 years old were supposed to
live with an incarcerated parent, children as old as 12 lived with
their fathers in San Pedro prison. In October, there were approximately
730 children living with a parent in prison, as an alternative to being
left homeless. The standard prison diet could cause anemia. The
government's daily budget for a prisoner's food was $0.41 (3.3
bolivianos), and prisoners who could afford to do so supplemented the
standard prison diet by buying food. Food and conditions at the almost
empty Chimore detention facility were better than elsewhere. There was
no adequate health care within the prisons, and it was difficult for
prisoners to get permission for outside medical treatment. However,
affluent prisoners could obtain transfers to preferred prisons or even
to outside private institutional care for ``medical'' reasons, as in
the case of Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) suspect Francisco
``Pacho'' Cortes who was moved from Chonchocoro to San Pedro Prison.
Inmates who could pay had access to drugs and alcohol.
There were no significant developments in the case of Mauricio
``Chichuriru'' Suarez who was found dead in his cell in Chonchocoro
prison under mysterious circumstances in 2003. Other inmates were
suspected in his death, but the case remained under investigation.
There are separate prisons for women, except for Morros Blancos
prison in Tarija, where both men and women were incarcerated.
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.
There were 706 convicted juvenile (under the age of 21) prisoners
who were not segregated from adult prisoners in jails. Rehabilitation
programs for juveniles or other prisoners were scarce to nonexistent.
Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers and news media representatives, and such visits took place
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
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. Several senior police
officers were fired and charged for off-duty crimes, and a number were
dismissed for corruption. However, prosecutors were reluctant to
prosecute security officials for alleged offenses committed while on
duty, in part because they rely on the PTJ to investigate their own
officers.
Arrests were carried out openly, but there were credible reports of
arbitrary arrest and detention. The CCP requires an arrest warrant, and
the police must inform the prosecutor of an arrest within 8 hours. The
Constitution requires that a detainee must be presented before a judge
within 24 hours. The CCP provides that within this 24-hour period a
prosecutor must obtain a judge's determination as to the
appropriateness of continued pre-trial detention or release on bail,
and the judge must order the detainee's release if the prosecutor fails
to show sufficient grounds for arrest; however, credible reports
indicated that in some cases detainees were held for more than 24 hours
without court approval.
Many prisoners still awaited either trial or sentencing, but the
courts provided release on bail for some prisoners. Judges have the
authority to order preventive detention for suspects under arrest
deemed to be a flight risk or for obstruction of justice. If a suspect
is not detained, a judge may order significant restrictions on the
suspect's travel.
Prisoners could see a lawyer, but approximately 70 percent could
not afford legal counsel, and public defenders were overburdened (see
Section 1.e.).
Approximately 2,090 people have been trained in the new CCP,
including judges, prosecutors, public defenders and police. Training
for police and prosecutors included safeguarding human rights during
criminal investigations.
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 (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 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).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, corruption and inefficiency in the
judicial system remained major problems. Poor pay and working
conditions made judges and prosecutors susceptible to bribes.
The judicial system has three levels of courts: Trial Court,
Superior Court, and the Supreme Court or Constitutional Tribunal. The
Supreme Court hears appeals in general, while the Constitutional
Tribunal only hears appeals on constitutional issues.
The CCP provides for a system of transparent oral trials in
criminal trials; 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 3-year maximum
duration for a trial.
The law provides that the prosecutor is in charge of the
investigative stage of a case. The prosecutor instructs the police what
witness statements and evidence are needed to prosecute the case.
Counternarcotics prosecutors lead the investigation of narcotics cases.
The prosecutor tries misdemeanor cases (with possible sentences of less
than 4 years) before a judge of instruction and felony cases (with
possible sentences of more than 4 years) before sentencing courts, each
of which features a five-member panel that includes three citizen
members and two professional judges.
Superior court review is restricted to a review of the application
of the law. Supreme Court review, the third stage, is restricted to
cases involving exceptional circumstances. During the Superior Court
and Supreme Court reviews, the courts may confirm, reduce, increase, or
annul sentences or provide alternatives not contemplated in lower
courts.
Defendants have constitutional rights to a presumption of
innocence, to remain silent, to have an attorney, to confront
witnesses, to present evidence on their own behalf, to due process, and
to appeal judicial decisions. In practice, almost none of these rights
were protected systematically, although the CCP facilitated more
efficient investigations, transparent oral trials, and credible
verdicts.
The National Public Defense Service has been established to provide
indigent defendants with a defense attorney at public expense. However,
budget shortages led to reducing the Service's staff to 54 public
defenders and 9 legal assistants, and there was a particular shortage
of public defenders in rural areas.
The CCP also recognizes the conflict resolution (community justice)
traditions of indigenous communities, provided that the resolution does
not conflict with the rights and guarantees established under the
Constitution.
The Judicial Council oversees the disciplinary aspects of the
judicial process and provides an impartial body to review the actions
of judges. Its powers include the authority to conduct administrative
investigations and to censure for malpractice judges at all levels
found culpable of malfeasance; however, the dismissal of a superior
court or higher level judge requires a final judgment and sentence of
conviction in a criminal case tried before the Supreme Court. The
Council may suspend without pay, for up to 13 months, judges against
whom a criminal charge has been filed or against whom a disciplinary
process has been initiated.
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 of the findings. The results
of the findings are forwarded to a judicial advisor, usually at the
division level, who then recommends a finding of either 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. On May 7, the
Constitutional Court overturned an earlier decision by the La Paz
District Court in favor of re-trying in civil courts four military
officers accused in deaths of two civilians and injuring another in
February 2003. This decision set a precedent for trying military
personnel in civilian courts in human rights cases involving the
military and civilians. During the year, the armed forces benefited
from international training on human rights and worked to reform its
Military Code.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice; however,
there were credible allegations of security forces involved in thefts
of property. 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 Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom; however, there were limitations on freedom of speech.
Newspapers were privately owned and frequently adopted antigovernment
positions. State-owned and private radio and television stations
generally operated freely; however, there were instances when
journalists were threatened, injured, or held hostage by private
individuals or groups critical of their reports.
La Patria journalist Carmen Torres received death threats from
members of the Inti Wara Wassi community, near Oruro, for having
exposed the trafficking of wild animals. Police on occasion forcibly
expelled reporters covering the news.
The Penal Code provides that persons found guilty of insulting,
defaming, or slandering public officials for carrying out their duties
may be jailed from 1 month to 2 years. If the insults are directed
against the President, Vice President, or a minister, the sentence may
be increased by one-half. Allegations that journalists have violated
the Constitution or citizens' rights are referred to the 40-person
Press Tribunal, an independent body authorized to evaluate journalists'
practices. On January 21, in the first judgment rendered since its
creation in 1929, the Tribunal found a reporter not guilty of charges
that he caused injuries and defamation.
The Government prohibited the importation of pornographic books,
magazines, and artwork.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for the right of peaceful assembly, and the authorities generally
respected this right in practice; however, security forces killed at
least two persons and injured dozens of others during episodes of
violent social unrest (see Section 1.a. and 1.c.).
The law provides for freedom of association, and the authorities
generally respected this right in practice. The Government requires
NGOs to register with the appropriate departmental government, but
compliance was lax and authorities granted such registration easily.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Roman Catholicism predominates, 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.
Non-Catholic religious organizations, including missionary groups,
must register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship and
receive authorization for legal religious representation. The Ministry
is not allowed to deny registration based on an organization's articles
of faith, but the legal 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. No overt acts of
societal violence were reported against Jewish people; however, one
Jewish group voiced its concern over ``skin head'' groups who were
disseminating anti-Semitic hate mail on the Internet.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
However, protesters blocked major highways at various times at
different locations throughout the country. Blockades in Desaguadero
and permanent check points by coca growers in La Asunta caused
considerable economic damage. Although the Government did not revoke
citizenship for political or other reasons, many Bolivian citizens
lacked basic identity documents, which prevented them from obtaining
international travel documents.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile of citizens, and the
Government did not employ it.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers;
however, at year's end, the Government had not accepted any of the 22
persons who applied for refugee status, in part, because of red tape
and delays associated with the process.
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. However, many citizens lacked identity documents
necessary to vote. Political parties ranging from far left to moderate
right functioned openly. Elections for national offices and municipal
governments are held every 5 years.
In August 2002, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of the centrist
Nationalist Revolutionary Movement assumed the presidency after he was
elected in a joint session of the Congress following the June 2002
national election. Although there were some allegations of vote-
counting irregularities, most observers, including a mission from the
Organization of American States, concluded that the elections were free
and fair. On October 17, 2003, opposition protesters, including radical
union and other dissidents and indigenous peasants (some of them
coerced into protesting), forced President Sanchez de Lozada to resign
from office. After a vote in Congress, Vice President Carlos Mesa
Gisbert assumed office and restored order.
The National Electoral Court (CNE) and its lower departmental
courts oversee the electoral process, including voter registration,
tabulation, and certification of ballots. The CNE selects departmental
electoral court members, and Congress chooses head departmental
electoral members. On July 4, Congress enacted a law to permit small
citizen and indigenous groups that meet certain criteria to participate
in the municipal elections. On July 18, a majority of eligible voters
participated in a peaceful and orderly national referendum on gas.
In addition to frequent complaints of corruption in the justice
system, there was a high profile case of corruption involving former
Minister of Government, Yerko Kukoc, who received a 2-year suspended
prison sentence for wrongful use of government funds. There also were
nepotism scandals in Congress and corruption cases involving senior
police officials, most of whom were fired. NGOs involved in land
takeovers and disputes were also suspected of illegal gain.
There was no specific information available on laws providing
access to government information or whether the Government provided
such access in practice.
There are no legal impediments to women or indigenous people
voting, holding political office, or rising to political leadership.
The law requires that every third candidate on party candidate lists be
female. In addition, every other candidate on municipal election
ballots, beginning with the second candidate, must be a woman--a
requirement that increased female representation to approximately 30
percent of municipal council positions. There were 31 women among the
157 deputies and senators, 4 women among the 45 vice ministers, and 2
women in the 18-member Cabinet. There were no indigenous members of the
Cabinet, and the number of indigenous members of the Chamber of
Deputies was estimated at 25 percent--a figure difficult to confirm,
since designation as indigenous is self-declared.
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 occasionally government security
forces and ministries refused to cooperate with investigations
conducted by the NGOs or the Ombudsman. Security forces continued to
provide credible evidence that radical groups used some NGOs as a cover
for subversive activities. For example, in April 2003, police in El
Alto arrested Colombian ELN suspect Francisco ``Pacho'' Cortes, who was
posing as a human rights worker. Cortes and two companions possessed
narcotics, seditious material, weapons, and bomb-making equipment.
The Human Rights Ombudsman is a position with a 5-year term
established in the Constitution. Congress chooses the Ombudsman, who is
charged with providing oversight for the defense, promotion, and spread
of human rights, specifically to defend citizens against abuses by the
Government. Indigenous persons filed most of the complaints received by
the Ombudsman. The congressional Human Rights Committee investigated
alleged human rights abuses committed in 2003, including those in the
Chapare and those related to the events of the February 12-13 and the
September-October gas war. On October 14, the Congress voted to allow
the Supreme Court to try former President Sanchez de Lozada and his
former 15 cabinet members for the events of October 2003. The Public
Ministry was also investigating the October and February 2003 events.
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. It reported its findings to the Vice Ministry of Justice in
the Ministry of the Presidency, disseminated human rights information,
accepted complaints of abuses committed, kept records, and referred
complaints to the Public Ministry. The CCJHR also housed a medical
forensic expert and an investigative staff to review complaints.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex,
language, political or other opinion, origin, or economic or social
condition; however, there was significant discrimination against women,
indigenous people, and the small Afro-Bolivian minority.
Women.--Violence against women was a pervasive and underreported
problem. According to the Center for the Information and Development of
the Woman (CIDEM), women made 86 percent of the 22,039 complaints of
physical, psychological, and sexual abuse reported to the Family
Protection Brigades or municipal legal services in the major cities of
La Paz, Santa Cruz, Tarija, Sucre, Oruro, Potosi, Trinidad, Cochabamba,
and El Alto between January and August. 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 family laws prohibiting mental, physical, and sexual violence
provided penalties of fines or up to 4 days in jail, uncless 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.
Rape also was a serious but underreported problem. The Law on
Domestic and Family Violence makes the rape of an adult a public crime;
however, the victim must press charges. The law criminalizes statutory
rape, with penalties of 10 to 20 years for the rape of a child under
the age of 14, 2 to 6 years for the statutory rape of a person from 14
to 18 years of age, and 5 to 20 years for forcible rape of a child.
Forcible rape of an adult is punished by sentences ranging from 4 to 10
years' imprisonment. The CCP provides that crimes against adults
included in previous laws on sex crimes may be made public crimes;
however, the victim still must testify. Sexual crimes against minors
automatically are considered public crimes in which the state presses
charges.
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, focused on maternal and
infant health, to women of reproductive age and to children under the
age of 5.
Women enjoyed the same legal rights as men; however, many women
were unaware of their legal rights, although the Government sponsored
seminars on women's legal rights. The Vice Ministry of Women in the
Ministry of Sustainable Development has responsibility to ensure the
legal rights of women. 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, for instance,
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 did 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. 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 vast majority of
economically active women worked in agriculture. Young girls often left
school early to work at home or in the informal economy. For the first
time, a woman, Lieutenant Colonel Gina Reque Teran, assumed command of
a major army unit.
Leading women's rights groups included the Campesinas of Bolivia
Bartolina Sisa, which focuses on rural indigenous women, and CIDEM.
Children.--The Government did not give the situation of children
sufficient political priority to improve conditions appreciably. The
Code for Boys, Girls, and Adolescents establishes the rights of
children and adolescents, regulates adoptions, and protects against
exploitative child labor and violence against children; however,
resource constraints impeded full implementation of this law. There are
seven Defender of Children and Adolescents offices to protect
children's rights and interests.
Public schooling was provided up to age 17 or grade eight; the law
requires all children to complete at least 5 years of primary school;
and primary education was free and universal. However, enforcement of
the education law was lax, particularly in rural areas, where more than
half of the 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. 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
the rural areas.
Medical care is free up to age 5, and was no apparent difference in
such access based on gender. After age 5, ``pilot centers'' offered
subsidized health care, although, in rural areas, clinics often were
not available. In rural settings, when required to pay medical costs,
families often gave preference to treating boys. Many children,
particularly from rural areas, lacked birth certificates and the
identity documents they needed to secure social benefits and
protection. The Government made some progress in implementing its plan
to provide these documents free of charge.
Physical and psychological abuse in the home was a serious problem.
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. 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 against brothels.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for sexual exploitation; however, there were credible reports that
persons were trafficked within, from, and through the country.
The Law for the Protection of the Victims of Crimes Against Sexual
Freedom specifically criminalizes trafficking in persons for the
purpose of prostitution and provides for terms of imprisonment
beginning at 4 years and ranging up to 12 years when the victim is less
than 14 years of age. There were some arrests under this statute. While
there was no complete information available on convictions of
traffickers, the National Police reported 18 convictions in 2003 under
the Corruption of Youth Law, which covers trafficking of minors for
prostitution.
The Ministry of Government, including the National Police and
Immigration, as well as the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Labor,
Defense, and the Vice Ministry for Youth, the Child, and the Elderly,
were responsible for anti-trafficking efforts.
The country is a source for men, women, and children trafficked for
forced labor and sexual exploitation to neighboring countries such as
Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Spain, and the United States; however, there
were no reliable estimates on the extent of the trafficking. Faced with
extreme poverty, many citizens were 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
victimized. Children were trafficked within the country to work in
prostitution, mines, domestic servitude, and agriculture, particularly
harvesting sugar cane. Weak controls along its extensive five borders
made the country an easier transit point for illegal migrants, some of
whom may have been trafficked. Commercial sexual exploitation of
children was 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.
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 removed at least 19
immigration officials on suspicion of corruption. It was not known
whether any of those dismissed were accused of involvement with
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 age 18.
The Government promoted some educational measures to address
trafficking, and Vice Ministry for Youth, the Child, and the Elderly
conducted informational campaigns on the rights of children and women.
The Government, in conjunction with UNICEF, provided free birth and
identity documents to thousands of undocumented citizens, to reduce
their vulnerability to being trafficked.
The Defenders of Children offices in municipalities, sometimes in
cooperation with NGOs, managed scattered assistance programs for
victims.
The NGO Terre des Hommes conducted public awareness campaigns on
trafficking of children.
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. A National Committee for Incapacitated Persons
was mandated to oversee the law's enforcement and to channel and
supervise programs and donations for persons with disabilities;
however, there was little information on its effectiveness. The
electoral law requires accommodation for blind voters; however, in
general, there were no special services or infrastructure to
accommodate persons with disabilities. On May 6, the President issued a
Supreme Decree that requires that 4 percent of the government's new
hires be persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There was societal
discrimination against the small Afro Bolivian minority, who 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 25,000 Afro-Bolivians
live 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. Indigenous
protesters were major protagonists in the events leading up to the
October 2003 resignation of President Sanchez de Lozada. 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. The Government and indigenous leaders jointly developed
provisions of this law. However, the issue of land, specifically the
Agrarian Reform Law, was a continuing source of complaints and protests
by indigenous people. Indigenous people complained that some of their
territories were not defined legally or protected and that outsiders
exploited their resources. Indigenous peasants illegally occupied
several private properties belonging mostly to former government
officials, often with the backing of the NGO Landless Movement.
Indigenous groups availed of the Popular Participation Law to form
municipalities that offered them greater opportunities for self
determination. Two political parties and a number of NGOs were active
in promoting the rights of indigenous peoples. The CCP recognizes the
conflict resolution traditions of indigenous communities (see Section
1.e.). On June 15, mayor Benjamin Altamirano was lynched and burned by
the indigenous townspeople of Ayo Ayo in an incident that some claimed
was tribal justice (see Section 1.a.).
Section 6. Workers Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the Labor Code
provide that workers have the right to form trade unions; however,
inefficient labor courts and inadequate government regulation at times
limited the exercise of this right by workers. Approximately 25 percent
of the 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
micro or small enterprises with fewer than 20 employees. Public sector
workers also have the right to form a union. The Labor Code 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.
Labor laws intended to protect workers' rights to freedom of
association and to form and join trade unions were inadequate. They did
not deter employers from retaliating against workers and do not protect
workers against interference by employers with the workers' right of
association. Complaints of anti-union discrimination go to the National
Labor Court, which 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 said that problems were often moot by the time the court
ruled.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution and the Labor Code provide workers with 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 and excluded other
conditions.
The Labor Code provides for the right to strike but requires unions
to revert to government mediation before beginning a strike and
employers to do likewise before initiating a lockout. The practice of
direct employee-management negotiations in individual enterprises
expanded.
There were numerous strikes organized by a variety of different
sectors. In June, the COB called for an indefinite strike to pressure
the Government, but most groups did not participate.
The Labor Code bans strikes in public services, including banks and
public markets; however, workers in the public sector frequently did
strike, with strikes by teachers, and transportation and health care
workers the most common. Public sector employees have not been
penalized for strike activities in recent years. Solidarity strikes are
illegal, but the Government neither prosecuted nor imposed penalties in
such cases.
Labor law and practice in the seven special duty-free zones are the
same as in the rest of the country.
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
ections 5 and 6.d.). Three reports issued during the year by the
International Labor Organization (ILO) and UNICEF on the worst forms of
child labor and violence against children and adolescents implied that
the abuses and lack of payment of wages constituted forced labor in the
agriculture, mining, and other sectors, because entire families worked
in these activities and children usually were unaware of their wages.
Trafficking of women and children was a problem (see Section 5).
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.). In June 2003, the country ratified ILO Convention 182 on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
Approximately one in every four children between the ages of 7 and
14 was employed in some way, usually in uncontrolled and sometimes
unhealthy conditions. UNICEF estimated that 800,000 children were
engaged in some type of work. Although the Code of Childhood and
Adolescence bars persons under 18 years of age from work in the
sugarcane fields, approximately 10,000 rural migrant children worked in
this activity. The 2004 ILO/UNICEF study of the sugarcane harvest
entitled ``Sweet Cane, Bitter Life'' characterized it as one of the
worst forms of child labor, in part, because 90 percent of the children
engaged in this activity did not attend school and worked up to 12
hours per day, often under unhealthy or dangerous conditions. Despite
government and company efforts to dissuade child labor, extreme poverty
underlay the need of many families to have their children work.
The Labor Ministry is responsible for enforcing child labor
provisions but did not enforce them throughout the country. The
Government reported that approximately 800,000 children and adolescents
between the ages of 7 and 19 were engaged in some type of work. 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 years old, 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 Labor Ministry is responsible for enforcing child labor
provisions but did not enforce them throughout the country. 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, in particular, 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 in 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 COB. The wage of $ 55 (440
bolivianos) per month plus bonuses and fringe benefits did not increase
from the previous year. The minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family, and most formal sector
workers earned more, although many informal sector workers earned less.
Although 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.
The law, which was not effectively enforced, establishes an 8-hour
workday and a maximum workweek of 48 hours, limits women to a workday 1
hour shorter than that of men, prohibits women from working at night,
mandates rest periods, and requires premium pay for work above a
standard workweek. The Labor Ministry's Bureau of Occupational Safety
has responsibility for protection of workers' health and safety, but
relevant standards were enforced poorly. Many workers died due to
unsafe conditions. A national tripartite committee of business, labor,
and government representatives was responsible for monitoring and
improving occupational safety and health standards. The Labor Ministry
maintained a hotline for worker inquiries, complaints, and reports of
unfair labor practices and unsafe working conditions.
Working conditions in the mining sector particularly were poor.
Although the State Mining Corporation has an office responsible for
safety, many mines, often old and using antiquated equipment, were
dangerous and unhealthy. In some mines operated as cooperatives, miners
earned less than $ 2.75 (22 bolivianos) per 12-hour day. Miners in such
cooperatives worked in dangerous, unhealthy conditions with no
scheduled rest periods for long periods. The law does not specify when
workers may remove themselves from dangerous situations.
__________
BRAZIL
Brazil is a constitutional federal republic composed of 26 states
and the Federal District. The federal legislative branch exercises
authority independent of the executive branch. In October 2002, voters
elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (``Lula'') of the Workers'
Party (PT) to a 4-year term in a free and fair election. The
Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, it was
inefficient and, particularly at the state level, subject to political
and economic influences.
The military is responsible for national defense and generally
played little role in internal security. The federal police force is
very small and primarily investigative; most police forces fall under
the control of the states. The ``civil police'' are plainclothes
officers with an investigative role, and the ``military police'' are
uniformed police responsible for maintaining public order, with a
separate judicial system. 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 country has a diversified market-based economy and a population
of approximately 182 million. Industrial production (including mining
operations and the capital goods sector) accounted for 39 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP). The agriculture sector contributed 10
percent and services the remainder. High government net debt
(approximately 55 percent of GDP) complicated fiscal and monetary
policymaking. GDP grew approximately 5 percent during the year, and
average wages kept pace with inflation after several years of sharp
decline. Income distribution remained highly skewed.
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. State police forces
(both civil and military) committed many unlawful killings and killings
due to excessive force. Police also were implicated in killings for
hire and death squad executions of suspected criminals, persons
considered undesirable, indigenous people, and labor activists. Police
tortured and beat suspects and arbitrarily arrested and detained
persons. Despite its powers to do so, the federal police failed to act
in the numerous human rights violations by state authorities, and
failure to punish perpetrators perpetuated a climate of impunity.
Prison conditions often were poor or extremely harsh and life-
threatening. Prison officials frequently tortured and beat inmates,
including in juvenile detention centers. The judiciary had a large case
backlog and often was unable to ensure the right to a fair and speedy
trial. Justice remained slow and unreliable. Victims, particularly
suspected criminals, had difficulty in being heard by oversight bodies.
Investigations of human rights abuses by police officials normally were
limited to internal police reviews and seldom were subject to
independent review. Military police tribunals remained overloaded,
rarely investigated cases thoroughly, seldom convicted abusers, and
allowed many military and civil police officers involved in unlawful
killings or the abuse of prisoners to go unpunished.
Violence and discrimination against women; child abuse and
prostitution; and trafficking in persons, particularly women and
children for the purpose of prostitution and slavery, remained
problems. Government authorities often failed adequately to protect
indigenous people from outsiders who encroached on their lands or to
provide them with adequate health care and other basic services in many
areas. Afro-Brazilians and homosexuals continued to face societal
discrimination and, on occasion, violence. Intimidation and killings of
rural labor union organizers and their agents continued to be a
problem. Rural violence, including the killings of land reform and
rural labor activists, persisted. Forced labor was a widespread
problem, and violators enjoyed virtual impunity. Child labor was a
widespread problem.
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
reported politically motivated killings by the Government or its
agents; however, unlawful killings by state police (military and civil)
remained a serious problem throughout the country.
In January, the U.N. released the report of its Special Rapporteur
on Summary Executions, Asma Jahangir, which was based on her 22-day
visit to the country in September and October 2003. Although the
Rapporteur found no comprehensive official disaggregated data on police
killings, she noted that the ``use of deadly police violence against
civilians was rife'' and that available information ``indicated an
alarmingly high rate of police killings.'' Historical information
indicated that on-duty officers were responsible for less than half of
the homicides by police (the great majority of the killings being
committed by military police), while off-duty police were responsible
for more than half of such homicides. Government officials (including
President Lula) acknowledged the continued problem of unlawful killings
by law enforcement officials.
Death squads with links to law enforcement officials carried out
many of the killings, in some cases with police participation.
According to U.N. Special Rapporteur Jahangir, ``many high-ranking
officials'' acknowledged that ``many death squads had ties with state
police.'' The National Human Rights Secretary stated that death squads
operated in 15 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
``undesirable''--such as street children--in almost every state.
The Sao Paulo State Secretariat for Public Security reported that
Sao Paulo police (civil and military) killed 322 civilians in the first
8 months of the year compared with 868 civilians during 2003; off-duty
policemen were responsible for 54 of the killings. The Ombudsman's
Office of the state police of Sao Paulo received 165 complaints of
killings committed by police between January and September.
There were numerous allegations of police abuses in the city of Sao
Paulo, particularly in the northern district (Parque Novo Mundo
neighborhood) and in the eastern district (Sapopemba neighborhood).
Some of the alleged abuses included the killing of civilians. Parque
Novo Mundo residents allegedly suffered arbitrary abuse committed by
members of the Military Police 5th Battalion and the 6th Company,
including death threats, home invasions, attempts to extract
incriminating evidence against members of the community, extortion, and
killings of community youth. In many of the cases, victims reported
that the police removed their name badges and called each other by
nicknames. Human rights activists suspected police involvement with
organized crime in the region. Members of the community met repeatedly
with the police ombudsman and human rights activists to complain about
the abuse. Following the meetings, police abuse reportedly continued,
and several community leaders received death threats.
Rio de Janeiro's Security Secretariat reported that state police
killed 593 persons during the first 8 months of the year, a 25 percent
decline from last year's figure; however, unofficial reports estimated
that approximately 3,000 police killings occurred during the year.
In May, the Sao Paulo State Secretary for Public Security reported
that internal affairs for both the civil and military police were
investigating cases of death squad activity in Guarulhos and Riberao
Preto, both large cities in Sao Paulo State. The National Secretary for
Human Rights had established a commission in 2003 to investigate these
cases.
The 2003 military police internal affairs investigation into the
existence of a police death squad that allegedly targeted and killed
troublemaking youths in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo, continued. Two military
policemen and two private security guards were charged in the April
2003 killing of three adolescents and remained in jail at year's end.
The State Public Prosecutor's Office indicted 11 policemen for
participation in the death squad and investigated 27 others. The office
also requested special protection for the targeted youths and their
families.
In November 2003, the Ribeirao Preto Public Prosecutor's office
indicted civil policemen Thiago Ferreira da Silva Moreira and Ricardo
Jose Guimares for the May 2003 death of Thiago Xavier Stefani and
participation in a Ribeirao Preto death squad linked to 30 other
deaths. Moreira, who was already in prison for trafficking stolen
cargo, was released on May 13. Guimares, charged with the death of
Tatiana Assuzena, escaped from prison on June 10. The Sao Paulo Civil
Police internal affairs office continued to investigate Moreira and
Guimares' involvement in the death squad. Internal Affairs was also
investigating the participation of civil policemen Pedro Moretti,
Sergio Siqueira, Fernando Serrano, and the former director of the
forensics unit in Ribeirao Preto, Carlos Sampaio. On June 15, the Civil
Police commander of Ribeirao Preto, Jose Manoel de Oliveira, was
replaced.
Two witnesses who reportedly had information about death squads,
Flavio Manoel da Silva and Gerson de Jesus Bispo, were killed in
October 2003 in Bahia and Pariaba States after separate meetings in
September 2003 with the visiting U.N. Special Rapporteur on Summary
Executions. Authorities arrested two persons in the da Silva killing
and two military police officers for Bispo's killing, but neither case
had gone to trial by year's end.
In many cases, police officers employed indiscriminate lethal force
during apprehensions, killing civilians despite the lack of any real
danger to themselves. U.N. Rapporteur Jahangir's analysis concluded
that such ``police killings are often poorly disguised extrajudicial
executions.'' In some of these cases, the civilian's death followed
severe harassment and even torture by law enforcement officials (see
Section 1.c.).
In January, military police officer Ivan Cesar Salvador of Sao Jose
dos Campos in Sao Paulo State shot and killed Ednilson da Silva. The
officers reportedly were searching for youths who had robbed a nearby
gas station when they stopped the car in which da Silva and his friends
were riding. Da Silva, a student who stuttered and was deaf in one ear,
reportedly did not quickly answer the policeman's questions. Salvador
was arrested for homicide, and the military police initiated an
internal affairs investigation; however, on January 13, Salvador was
released under the military penal code. The Sao Paulo Police Ombudsman
criticized the release, noting that Salvador had been investigated in
2002 for another homicide.
On February 3, police shot and killed Flavio Sant'Ana, an Afro-
Brazilian dentist, as he walked down the street in the city of Sao
Paulo. Police Lieutenant Carlos Alberto de Souza and four officers
reportedly were searching for an Afro-Brazilian male who had robbed
storeowner Antonio Alves dos Anjos when they encountered Sant'Ana.
Anjos told police investigators that that officers opened fire as soon
as they saw Sant'Ana. All five officers were arrested; Souza and two
others were charged with the killing, possession of an illegal weapon,
and coercion. The trial was pending at year's end. Press and human
rights activists alleged that the killing was racially motivated.
On July 31, in Brasilia, military policeman Marcos Aurelio Epifanio
shot and killed Fernando Santos Maia da Conceicao, a university
student. The policeman alleged that he had been informed about a
robbery at a gas station and the suspects reportedly were driving a car
identical to Maia da Conceicao's. Local television stations filmed
police officials removing the car from the scene and alleged that the
police did not properly investigate the incident.
On May 15, in Sao Paulo city, four military policemen shot Parque
Novo Mundo housewife Raimunda Furtado while she was purchasing bread at
a supermarket. According to witnesses, the police first mistook her for
a robber and subsequently refused to provide first aid. Furtado died at
the scene. Military policeman Fabio Trevisoli, who claimed that it was
an accidental shooting, was arrested later that evening for the
killing. On June 19, the Military Police internal affairs office
announced that 15 of the policemen suspected of making threats and
committing abuse against the community had been placed under
administrative arrest. The majority of the policemen arrested belonged
to the 5th Battalion. In September, the military public prosecutor
requested that the case be brought before the public judicial system.
On December 17, Trevisoli was formally indicted for murder before the
public courts. Three other military policemen, Alberto Massahiko
Suganuma, Helio Correia de Lima, and Joanito Queiroz Pereira, were
formally accused of prevarication and failure to administer first aid.
U.N. Rapporteur Jahangir noted that some members of the police
exploited an overall climate of violence to deliver ``rough'' justice
to those whom they consider ``socially `undesirable.' '' In August, 16
homeless persons were attacked in a series of incidents during early
morning in downtown Sao Paulo; 7 died as a result of the attacks. On
September 14 and 16, police arrested military police officers Jayner
Aurelio Porfirio and Marcos Martins Garcia and private security guard
Manoel Alves Tenorio for the killings. The State Secretary for Public
Security announced that he believed the suspects were involved in a
clandestine security scheme involving the trafficking of drugs. In
November, the state attorney's office requested that the investigation
be reopened after arguing that there was not enough evidence for
indictments; charges were then dropped against all three, although
Porfirio and Garcia remained in prison on drug trafficking and treason
charges. An investigation by the state attorney's office revealed that,
during the past 3 years, 58 similar attacks against homeless persons
resulted in 24 deaths.
At the end of August, off-duty policeman Clecio Barbosa Ayres shot
and killed journalism student Thomas Schwarzenberg Vicente on the
Imigrantes Highway between Sao Paulo and Santos. Vicente was returning
with friends from the beach when he hit Ayres's bumper. Military
highway police arrested Ayres and charged him with first-degree murder.
He was in prison awaiting trial at year's end.
A police internal affairs investigation into the involvement of 13
military police arrested for the May 2003 killing of William Douglas
Santos and Farbricio da Conceicao in Campinas, Sao Paulo, progressed to
the police inquiry stage at the Campinas court.
In August, Rio Grande do Sul military policemen Ronaldo de Freitas
Garcia and Fabio Rosa Dorneles were convicted of killing Gustavo
Fernando Burchardt during a high speed chase in July 2003. At year's
end, the two were awaiting sentencing.
No new information was available regarding highway patrolman Jose
Vargas de Oliveira, accused of killing a truck driver who refused to
pay a bribe in Campos, Sao Paulo State, in 2002. He was tried by jury
in Campos in May 2003.
Numerous credible reports indicated the 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.).
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.).
No further information was released on the 2002 case involving a
military police organization called Group for Repression of Crimes of
Intolerance (GRADI). Police internal affairs and state prosecutors were
investigating GRADI's connection to the 2002 highway killings of 12
members of the criminal faction and prison gang, First Command of the
Capital (known as the PCC). In December 2003, the Sao Paulo State
prosecutor brought charges of homicide against the police involved,
including a colonel, his deputy commander, and the lieutenant colonel
in charge of GRADI. GRADI officers were accused of 27 other killings,
although no homicide charges were brought against them, and all of the
officers continued on active duty, with the exception of the former
GRADI coordinator, who retired. GRADI was officially dissolved in April
2003, but human rights groups believed that police from this group
still operated in a similar, although unofficial, manner. The Police
Ombudsman's office was unable to obtain information on developments in
the investigations. Credible locally-based human rights activists
claimed that the case has been placed under ``secret seal'' due to the
organization's connections to the state secretary of public security.
There were no new developments in the investigation of Sao Paulo
military policemen who allegedly burst into a bar in 2002 in the
Baixada Santista region of Sao Paulo State and killed five adolescents
and the bar owner while searching for a youth who stole a sergeant's
weapon.
The Campinas lower instance jury court agreed to hear the case of
the anti-kidnapping police investigator accused of killing Jorge Jose
Martins in his Campinas, Sao Paulo home in 2002. The judge has summoned
witnesses for oral testimony in June 2005.
On October 17, 2003, a jury in Itanhaem convicted military police
officers Mauricio Miranda and Silvio Ricardo Monteiro Batista for the
2002 killings of Anderson do Carmo and Celso Gioielli Magalheas Junior
in Guaruja, Sao Paulo State, and expelled both officers from military
police service.
An investigation continued in the 2001 case in which five civil
police killed four individuals suspected of involvement in the killing
of the mayor of Caraguatatuba, Sao Paulo. In April, upon court orders,
forensics investigators reconstructed the killings. In May, the mayor's
widow, Roseana Garcia, met with President Lula to request that the
federal police become involved in the investigation.
Rapporteur Jahangir stated that 75 percent of those she interviewed
at the juvenile detention center in the Bras neighborhood in Sao Paulo
city reported ``having been eyewitnesses of extrajudicial killings by
the police.''
No further information was available on the criminal trial of
Carlos Alberto Xavier do Nascimento, former director of security and
discipline of the Andradina Penitentiary in Sao Paulo State. He was
charged with three homicides in the 2001 asphyxiation deaths of three
prison gang members reportedly involved in prison rebellions.
There were no developments in the case of 85 police officers
awaiting trial for their participation in the 1992 Carandiru prison
massacre in which 111 prisoners were killed. The murder conviction of
retired Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes for his part in the massacre
remained under appeal, and he remained free and continued to serve as
an elected state deputy.
The use of torture by police sometimes led to the death of the
victims (see Section 1.c.).
There were reliable reports of killings of government officials by
those who had vested interests in the officials' professional
activities.
On January 28, four Labor Ministry inspectors were killed in the
town of Unai in Minas Gerais State. On the day before the killing, the
four officials had found irregularities on a farm belonging to Norberto
Manica. Manica was detained along with nine other suspects, including
his brother, Anterio, who was elected mayor of Unai in October. At
year's end, all suspects were in jail, excluding Anterio, who as an
elected official is entitled to certain immunities. The federal
Congress created a parliamentary commission in April to investigate the
deaths. The commission last met in June but had not issued a report by
year's end.
In September, two police officers were convicted and sentenced to
25 years in prison for the March 2003 murder of Judge Alexandre Martins
de Castro Filho in Vitoria, Espirito Santo State.
There were numerous killings of indigenous people, mostly related
to land disputes (see Section 5) and of rural labor union organizers
(see Section 6.a.).
The Ombudsman's Office of the Ministry of Agrarian Development
reported 31 rural killings for the period between January 1 and
November 30.
Many persons were killed in recent years in conflicts involving
land ownership and usage. The organization Landless Rural Workers'
Movement (MST) continued its campaign of invasion and occupation of
private and public lands to spur agrarian reform. The MST also
continued its occupation of public buildings. MST activists sometimes
used confrontational and violent tactics and destroyed private property
during some occupations.
On July 31, in Parana State, an MST activist was killed and six
others injured, allegedly by private security guards, during an
attempted land invasion at the Santa Filomena ranch. Police isolated
the area after the conflict, and the state government appointed a
special investigator to conduct an inquiry into the murder. No further
information was available at year's end.
The March 2003 killing in Tamandare, Pernambuco State, of the
president of Rural Workers from Mascatinho Settlement Association, Jose
Candido da Silva, remained under investigation at year's end.
No further information was available on the September 2003 killing
of MST leader Paulo Sergio Brasil and 3 other MST members by security
guards as they were moving with 100 others to invade the Coquerio Ranch
in Foz do Jordao, Parana State. Authorities charged eight guards with
homicide and one MST member with attempted homicide and placed them
under investigative detention. The Parana State secretary for public
security announced that the guards had been imprisoned and the crime
was likely planned beforehand.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Police were implicated in kidnappings for ransom. Uniformed and
civil police involvement in criminal activity, including kidnapping and
extortion, was widespread.
In June, three adolescents were chased, kidnapped, and killed in
the Parque Novo Mundo neighborhood in Sao Paulo city by officers of a
special military police mobile unit. According to the victims'
families, military policemen searched men attending the victims'
funerals to intimidate attendees. In lieu of punishment, the policemen
were transferred to the administrative section of the police department
and received a psychological evaluation, which is normal for police
officers who are present during the death of a suspect.
On November 29, police arrested military policeman Anderson
Goncalves Viana and his brother-in-law as suspects in a building
invasion, which occurred the previous day. Fifteen masked men invaded a
condominium building in northern Sao Paulo city and held occupants
hostage for hours while they ransacked the apartments. Both Viana and
his brother in law were found with weapons, ammunition, money, and
stolen goods.
An internal investigation resulted in the recommendation to dismiss
Sao Paulo civil police narcotics investigators Arnaldo Barbosa Filho
and Ricardo Kochi, who were charged in May 2003 with the kidnapping of
Jonathan Wink Soligo and Jefferson Santana de Souza. No further
information was available on the result of actions taken on the
recommendation.
The internal affairs departments of the civil and military police
initiated administrative disciplinary procedures in the case of two Sao
Paulo civil policemen from the Anti-Kidnapping Division and a military
policeman who were charged with a June 2003 kidnapping. The
investigations continued at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution and the law prohibit torture and provide
severe legal penalties for its use; however, torture by police and
prison guards remained a serious and widespread problem.
The NGO National Movement for Human Rights, which administered the
Ministry of Justice's torture hotline, Torture SOS, reported receiving
2,532 calls alleging torture or inhuman or degrading treatment from
November 2001 to the end of January. The NGO also reported that most
allegations of institutional torture took place in rural areas. Actual
incidents of torture may have been significantly higher than use of the
hotline indicated because of underreporting and because ombudsmen,
police stations, and state commissions also received complaints. The
Sao Paulo State Police Ombudsman's Office received 38 complaints of
torture from January through September. In July, the Torture SOS
hotline ceased functioning, as the Federal Government withdrew from its
commitment to assume the hotline's operations.
The National Movement for Human Rights 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. For the period October 2001 to June
2003, it reported an average of 150 cases per month, a rate that
reportedly did not change significantly during the year. Most reports
came from remote cities in the interior where low-ranking police were
in charge.
The NGO Christian Association for the Abolition of Torture
estimated that it had received complaints of 600 new cases of torture
in the Sao Paulo State prison system from the end of 2002 until mid-
year.
According to a state public prosecutor for children and youth
(responsible for defending the rights of incarcerated youth), as of
July, there were 14 ongoing cases of torture claims in Sao Paulo's
juvenile detention system (FEBEM). Over 170 prison officials had been
accused of practicing torture, but approximately 70 of them were still
working within FEBEM facilities. In May 2003, FEBEM created an internal
investigations office, which, according to officials, has improved the
process of verifying accusations.
The police often, but not always, appeared to have impunity in
cases of torture, as in other cases of abuse. Often the police
themselves were 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.).
In February, in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo military policeman
Wilson Rossi Schilive arrested five persons for stealing his car. The
five suspects, between the ages of 21 and 24, were kept in jail for 112
days and subjected regularly to torture, including the use of pliers on
a woman's breasts and fingers. The suspects, who were never charged,
attested that 20 military police officers participated in the torture
sessions. The Sao Bernardo judiciary and military police internal
affairs units began investigating the accusations. On August 13,
Schilive along with 3 other military policemen, Adenislon Ramos,
Ademilson Viana, and Sandro da Silva Serra, were charged with torture,
temporarily imprisoned, and were awaiting trial. Two of the policemen
also had been accused of torturing two other youths in February. On
October 1, the four policemen had their first hearing before the Sao
Bernardo do Campo 4th Criminal Court. On October 26, the five victims
gave their testimony to the court.
On August 11, the public prosecutor for children and youth accused
FEBEM's Raposo Tavares unit 27 of torturing youth in July by burning
them with fireworks. On September 13, that office released a report on
the maltreatment of unit 27 inmates with medical records confirming the
use of explosives on inmates' skin. On September 16, the unit
administrator, Jose Christiano Viana, was removed provisionally from
his position for the maltreatment of inmates and the lack of hygiene
and socio-educational activities in the facility.
There was no further information on the March 2003 case of
Adenilson Felinto dos Santos, a truck driver who alleged that he was
tortured by military police.
On January 19, the Sao Paulo State public prosecutor charged five
civil Anti-Kidnapping Unit policemen, including Antonio Assuncao de
Olim, chief of the Anti-Kidnapping Operations unit, and one police
clerk with torturing Jandira de Oliveira Azevedo and Leoclecio Zubem
Azevedo, a married couple, and Wagner Mauricio Moreira Belens in April
2003 in the Sapopemba neighborhood of Sao Paulo city. At the time of
the couple's arrest, police physically abused them in front of their
young children and then subjected the three victims to further beatings
and pepper gas while in custody. On January 20, Judge Eduardo Crescenti
Abdalla denied the prosecutors' request for preventive imprisonment and
placed the case under judicial seal. Former Ministers of Justice Jose
Carlos Dias and Miguel Reale Junior, and criminal lawyers from the
Institute for the Defense of the Right to Defense (IDDD) represented
the couple. On March 30, the state Public Prosecutor resubmitted
charges against Olin and three of the civil policemen and requested
temporary imprisonment. On June 24, Judge Abdalla rejected the
prosecutor's charges and dismissed the case for insufficient evidence.
The civil police internal affairs office was conducting a concurrent
investigation of the case.
There was no further information available regarding the case
opened by a Sao Paulo court in July 2003 against 13 military police
accused of torturing two prisoners recruited by GRADI to infiltrate a
criminal organization (see Section 1.a.).
No information was available on whether disciplinary action was
taken against the civil police involved in the August 2003 Parana State
case in which mechanic Carlos Ribeiro Morais was tortured for 5 hours
and ordered to confess to a series of robberies.
In August 2003, Chan Kim Chang, a naturalized Brazilian citizen,
was arrested at Rio de Janeiro's international airport for failing to
declare the $30,550 in his possession. While in police custody, Chang
was beaten severely and later died. Six police officers were arrested
but freed pending trial. In December, 9 of the 11 persons accused of
torturing and killing Chang were convicted; sentences ranged from 13 to
18 years in prison. Everson Azevedo Motta, the penitentiary police
officer who beat Chang, received the highest sentence of 18 years. Ex-
penitentiary director Luiz Gustavo Matias Silva and penitentiary police
officer Denis Goncalves were acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
There were no reported developments and none were expected in the
investigation of the 11 police officers accused of the 2002 torture of
Osmarilton Meneses dos Santos in Bahia.
In some cases, sexual orientation or gender identity may have
played a role in cases of torture and cruel treatment (see Section 5).
NGOs confirmed that police committed abuse and extortion directed
against transvestite prostitutes in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Belo
Horizonte, and Salvador.
Prison conditions throughout the country often were poor or
extremely harsh and life threatening. Penal authorities in those states
with the largest prison populations frequently did not separate
juveniles from adults or hold petty offenders separately from violent
criminals. Prison riots were frequent and often violent. Discipline was
difficult to maintain under such conditions, and 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.). The poor working
conditions and low pay for prison guards also encouraged corruption.
Severe overcrowding in prisons and police detention centers was
prevalent and was worst in the states with the largest prison
populations. According to the Ministry of Justice, between January and
June, there were 331,547 prisoners in a system designed to hold
108,953. Construction of new penitentiaries continued but was
inadequate to alleviate overcrowding.
Prisons generally did not provide adequate protection against
violence inflicted by other inmates. Although there was no official
count, numerous prison riots and rebellions occurred during the year,
many of which left inmates injured or dead. The Sao Paulo secretary of
prison administration reported that there were 29 deaths in his system
during the year, compared with 27 for all of 2003.
CAJE, a juvenile detention center in Brasilia, Federal District,
held 376 youths in a facility designed to hold 196 and employed 15
guards. The staff included a doctor, a nurse, a psychiatrist, 12
psychologists, 22 social assistants, and some teachers. Of the total
number of detainees, 26 were females held in separate living quarters.
CAJE was constructing additional facilities to accommodate detainees.
Local critics reported that CAJE suffered from inadequate space,
understaffing, violence, and unsatisfactory treatment of inmates with
mental disabilities.
Prisoners were subjected to unhealthy conditions. Scabies and
tuberculosis diseases uncommon in the general population--were
widespread in Sao Paulo prisons, as were HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and even
leprosy. According to local NGOs, infectious diseases, such as AIDS and
tuberculosis, have reached endemic levels among prisoners. The HIV/AIDS
infection rate among prisoners was between 20 and 30 percent; infected
prisoners were eligible to receive antiretroviral cocktails. Early in
the year, the Ministry of Health reported that skin infections,
respiratory problems, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and
tuberculosis were commonly found among prisoners. The Catholic Church's
Ministry for the Incarcerated in Sao Paulo reported that, in several of
the city's police jails, almost 90 percent of the detainees suffered
from skin or respiratory illnesses, and prison administration officials
reported that many prisoners who transferred into the Sao Paulo
penitentiary system were infected in police jails. Denial of first aid
and other medical care sometimes was used as a form of punishment.
Overcrowding was an even greater problem in police jails than in
penitentiaries. Due to pretrial delays and overcrowding in state
penitentiaries, some 72,301 prisoners were held in local lockups,
awaiting either trial or transfer to state penitentiaries. The
situation was critical in Sao Paulo city's 52 police jails, which had a
capacity for 1,332 prisoners but, as of October, held 9,575. The Sao
Paulo State secretary for public security continued a 10-year program
to close all of the city's jails by 2005; thereafter, all detainees
would be transferred to the state penitentiary system.
On January 27, 21-year-old student Romulo Batista de Mello died
while in police custody for driving a stolen car. Claiming that Mello's
behavior was violent, the police sedated him before taking him to a
holding area, where he died 6 days later. The police maintained that
Batista de Mello caused his own death by hitting his head against his
cell wall. However, the Rio de Janeiro State secretary for public
security acknowledged that Mello had been beaten. In April, the Rio de
Janeiro state prosecutor brought charges of torture against three
police officers and a charge of negligence against a doctor involved in
the case, and the case remained pending at year's end.
In April, rioting prisoners at the Urso Branco prison in Rondonia
State killed 14 inmates. Urso Branco, with a capacity of 350 prisoners,
held approximately 1,300 at the time of the riot. In 2002, the Inter-
American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had authorized
precautionary measures to protect detainees at Urso Branco and resolved
that the Government act to assure respect for the lives and physical
integrity of the detainees. On April 22, the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights ordered the Government to bring conditions in the prison
to international standards, investigate past incidents, and submit a
report to the Court by May 3. No information on the Government's
response was available.
In June, a prisoner riot in the Casa de Custodia de Benfica prison
in the city of Rio de Janeiro left 18 prisoners dead. The prison, with
a capacity of 1,400 prisoners, held 6,000 at the time.
An August riot in the Julio de Castilhas Prison in the interior of
Rio Grande do Sul State left six dead and an unknown number injured,
including the prison's administrator. The prison had a holding capacity
of 40 inmates but held 90 when the incident occurred.
Overcrowding, poor conditions, prisoner riots, drug abuse, and
accusations of sexual abuse and torture continued to pervade Sao
Paulo's FEBEM juvenile detention centers. Between January and November,
four adolescents died from violence at FEBEM facilities. The Sao Paulo
FEBEM system had more than 6,000 inmates and accounted for more than
half of the country's youth prison population. FEBEM detention center
employees went on strike from July 2 until September 15, leaving
facilities unsecured.
The Franco da Rocha units 30 and 31, which a state judge ordered
closed in 2002, were closed on December 30, 2003, and their 250
prisoners were transferred to the Tatuape unit of FEBEM. The
transferees reported being tortured upon arrival in Tatuape. They told
visiting human rights activists and community custodians of spending
days sitting still and facing a wall without being allowed to speak.
Human rights activists claimed that the same FEBEM authorities accused
of torture in the Franco da Rocha facility also were transferred to
Tatuape. The Association of Mothers of Prisoners reported difficulty in
gaining access to the Tatuape facility. In January, the Public
Prosecutor for Children and Youth started an investigation of the
accusations.
In July, the human rights NGO Conectas won a suit against the
Tatuape facility for not complying with municipal building codes, and
the court ordered Sao Paulo State to bring the unit up to municipal
fire and construction codes within 90 days. Conectas brought the case
to court after the death of an inmate in July 2003. FEBEM filed for a
suspension of the court order until a judgment was made based on the
action, Conectas counter-sued, and both cases were pending at year's
end.
On January 22, two inmates of FEBEM's Vila Maria unit were shot and
killed while trying to escape. The killings remained under
investigation. Escapes from FEBEM facilities increased significantly,
with several episodes of more than 100 inmates escaping at a time. The
Sao Paulo Department for the Execution of Justice for Children and
Youth started administrative procedures to determine the involvement of
public employees. The Sao Paulo State Treasury Forum began a civil
action to determine the indemnity and responsibility of the state in
the case.
In June, 28 inmates of the Ribeirao Preto FEBEM unit were
transferred to a state penitentiary for causing revolts, arson, and
conspiracy. The Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar
Association and the state public prosecutor's office immediately
requested that the youth be transferred back to the FEBEM system due to
their age and the failure to follow proper procedures for such a
transfer. A state judge granted the request, and the inmates returned
to FEBEM within 3 days.
On August 13, a Raposo Tavares Unit 37 inmate was found dead.
Although the FEBEM office of internal investigations reported the death
as suicide, the NGO Conectas and the Association of Mothers of
Prisoners accused Raposo Tavares officials of torture leading to death.
The public prosecutor's office started an investigation, but no
information regarding the outcome was available at year's end.
Sao Paulo State took some remedial measures. Governor Alckmin
replaced FEBEM presidents twice during the year and, in August, moved
FEBEM from the state's Secretariat of Education to the Secretariat of
Justice. On September 16, the FEBEM administration mandated medical
evaluations for inmates every 15 days and daily reports by unit
administrators of any disciplinary actions taken. On October 19, the
new FEBEM president, Alexandre de Moraes, announced a new internal
system of unannounced inspections in all units. Previously, 5 days'
notice was required before an inspection. Unrestricted access was
granted to the Brazilian Bar Association's Commission on Human Rights,
the president of the NGO Association of Mothers and Friends of at-Risk
Children and Youth, the president of the employees' union, community
administrators, and the state councils on human rights and on children
and adolescents. Other human rights organizations can either petition
the FEBEM president to be added to the unrestricted access list or
request authorization to visit a facility 5 days in advance.
On September 23, the directors of 10 of the most ``critical''
units, where maltreatment or aggression reportedly was common, were
replaced. On October 14, the FEBEM president dismissed the director of
unit 29 of the Franco da Rocha facility. On December 14, he dismissed
the director of unit 2 and four team coordinators at the Tatuape
facility for mishandling a rebellion earlier in the month. FEBEM
reported that 11 employees were dismissed and 32 were suspended for
using violence.
In December, a court sentenced 10 employees from the now-
deactivated FEBEM Parelheiros unit for torturing 19 inmates in 2002.
The employees' leader was sentenced to 15 years and 5 months in prison.
This was the first sentencing of FEBEM employees for torture in Sao
Paulo city.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo States provided separate prison
facilities for women; elsewhere, women were held with men in some
facilities. Male officers served in women's prisons, and abuse and
extortion of sexual favors occurred. In Rio de Janeiro State, there
were only two police districts in which women were held in gender-
segregated, short-term jail facilities.
In March, the Association of Judges for Democracy reported that
incarcerated women had fewer rights in Sao Paulo prisons than men.
Women's institutions tended to be more overcrowded than men's and
received less attention from prison administrators. Approximately 65
percent of female prisoners were held in severely overcrowded
conditions and did not have jobs, education, and health care as
required by law.
In May, female prisoners in Santos rebelled against poor
conditions. The Santos prison was designed to hold 60 inmates but held
116. An August uprising to protest overcrowding at the women's
penitentiary in Carandiru left one inmate dead. The penitentiary, which
had an official capacity for 450 prisoners, held 681.
Authorities attempted to hold pretrial detainees separately from
convicted prisoners; however, due to prison overcrowding, pretrial
detention facilities often also held convicted criminals.
It is government policy to permit prison visits by independent
human rights observers, and state prison authorities generally followed
this policy in practice. Federal officials in the Ministry of Justice
responsible for penal matters offered full cooperation to Amnesty
International, which reported no significant problems in gaining access
to state-run prison facilities. Global Justice reported that the level
of access to prison facilities varied from state to state. In Sao Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro, Global Justice found it difficult to gain access.
Sao Paulo also employed committees of community leaders to monitor
prison conditions. Sao Paulo, like Parana and Rio Grande do Sul states,
also had a prison ombudsman program.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions; however, police continued, at times, to arrest and detain
persons arbitrarily. The Constitution limits arrests to those caught in
the act of committing a crime or those arrested by order of a judicial
authority.
The federal police force is very 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. U.N. Special Rapporteur
Jahangir found that, although each state police force was monitored by
its own internal affairs division, the units--subordinated to the chain
of command and bound by ties of esprit de corps--often delayed applying
administrative sanctions. This situation undermined efforts to address
police abuses and contributed to a climate of impunity. 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.).
A November report by the human rights NGO Centro Santo Dias and the
Sao Paulo State Council in Defense of Human Rights (CONDEPE) stated
that one in every four reported cases of police abuse involved
extortion or flagrant scheming, in particular, to procure the release
of a detainee. According to victims, police generally requested between
$1,500 (4,200 reais) and $3,000 (8,400 reais) to release a prisoner.
Other cases mentioned in the report include physical abuse, threats,
and intimidation by the police when giving testimony. On November 28,
the head of the Sao Paulo military police internal affairs unit,
Colonel Paulo Maximo, announced that his office had opened preliminary
investigations of the cases contained in the report.
With the exception of arrests of suspects caught in the act,
arrests may be made only 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.
In general, warrants were based on sufficient evidence and issued
by a judge; however, the NGOs National Movement for Human Rights and
Global Justice reported that, at times, warrants were issued
arbitrarily, depending on the judge and the region of the country.
Global Justice also reported that, in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo
States, many judges issued ``collective'' search and arrest warrants
that permitted the police to search entire neighborhoods in poor areas.
Human rights observers alleged that civil and uniformed police
regularly detained persons illegally to extort money or favors. In May,
two military police officers from Itaquaquecetuba outside of Sao Paulo
city were arrested for kidnapping an 86-year-old woman and keeping her
in captivity for more than 20 days. Police believed that officers
Alexandre Fonseca and Jose Aparecido da Conceicao led a kidnapping ring
and were involved in other kidnappings in the metropolitan area.
The authorities generally respected the constitutional provision
for a judicial determination of the legality of detention, although
poor record keeping resulted in the detention of many inmates beyond
their sentences. The law permits provisional detention for up to 5 days
under specified conditions during a police investigation, but a judge
may extend this 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 may 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
family members or a lawyer, but there were cases when detainees--
typically poor and uneducated--were held longer than the provisional
period.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution 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. Judicial
officials sometimes were poorly trained and subject to corruption. In
many instances, poorer, less educated citizens made only limited use of
the appeals process.
Low pay and exacting competitive examinations that could eliminate
as many as 90 percent of the applicants made it difficult to fill
judicial vacancies. The law requires that trials be held within a set
period of time from the date of the crime; however, due to the
nationwide backlog in state and federal cases, courts frequently
dismissed old cases unheard. This practice reportedly encouraged
corrupt judges to delay certain cases purposely so that they could
eventually be dismissed.
Federal judge Joao Carlos da Rocha Mattos, arrested in November
2003 in Sao Paulo, remained in a federal police jail at year's end for
his alleged involvement in corruption that involved the selling of
judicial sentences; two other federal judges, brothers Casem Mazloum
and Ali Mazloum, were removed from the bench in December 2003. On
December 17, Rocha Mattos and Cassem Mazloum were convicted of
conspiracy in connection with the charges. Eight additional suspects,
including six active and retired Federal Police officials and two
businessmen, were also convicted of conspiracy; they received sentences
ranging from community service to 3 years' imprisonment. Conspiracy
charges were dropped against Ali Mazloum, but, at year's end, he and
the other defendants still faced trial on corruption, abuse of power,
identity fraud, and embezzlement charges.
At year's end, 115 senior judges were under investigation
nationwide on a variety of charges.
The judicial system ranges from courts of first instance and
appeals to its apex, the Federal Supreme Court. States organize their
own judicial systems within the federal system and must adhere to the
basic principles laid out in the Constitution. Specialized courts dealt
with police, military, labor, election, juvenile, and family matters.
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 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 generally 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. A constitutional amendment passed in December seeks to remedy
this shortcoming by granting federal prosecutors authority to take over
human rights cases from state prosecutors (see Section 1.a.).
The Constitution recognizes the competence of a jury to hear cases
involving capital crimes. Judges try those accused of lesser crimes.
The Constitution provides for the right to counsel; however, the
Ministry of Justice estimated that 85 percent of prisoners could not
afford an attorney. In such cases, the court must provide one at public
expense. The law requires courts to appoint private attorneys to
represent poor defendants when public defenders are unavailable;
however, appointed private attorneys often did not provide adequate
representation.
There is no presumption of innocence. Defendants have the right to
appeal all convictions to state superior courts. They also have the
right to appeal state court decisions to both the Federal Supreme Court
on constitutional grounds and to the federal Superior Justice Court.
Any defendant sentenced to 20 or more years in prison has the right to
an automatic retrial.
The law provides civilian courts with jurisdiction over cases in
which uniformed police officers stand accused of ``willful crimes
against life,'' primarily murder (see Section 1.a.). However, 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 average case took 8
years to reach a definitive decision. At the appellate court level, a
large backlog of cases hindered the courts' ability to ensure fair and
expeditious trials.
In December, a constitutional amendment came into force with a wide
array of judicial reforms. It streamlines procedures in the Supreme
Federal Court and some lower courts, strengthens human rights
protections, introduces structural and professional court reforms, and
creates oversight councils to hear complaints and issues sanctions
against judges and public prosecutors at the state and federal levels.
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 National Movement for Human Rights noted that courts convicted
a much higher percentage of Afro-Brazilian defendants than they did
whites (see Section 5).
The Constitution mandates that special police courts exercise
jurisdiction over state uniformed (military) police (except those
charged with homicide). Most police officers accused of crimes appeared
before these courts (which are separate from the courts-martial of the
armed forces, except for the final appeals court). There were few
convictions in these courts. Human rights groups noted that police were
reluctant to investigate fellow officers and exploited statutes of
limitation by stalling.
There were no reports of political prisoners, although the MST
claimed that its members jailed in connection with land disputes were
political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however,
there were reports that the police conducted searches without a warrant
(see Section 1.c.). Wiretaps authorized by judicial authority were
permitted. The inviolability of private correspondence generally was
respected.
In April, the Federal Supreme Court halted proceedings in the
illegal wiretapping case of Senator Antonio Carlos Magalhaes. In the
same decision, the court sent the cases of three alleged accomplices to
be heard before a federal judge in Bahia State. Magalhaes allegedly had
ordered the illegal wiretapping of hundreds of individuals and
political opponents in his home state of Bahia.
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 authorities generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
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.
The independent print and broadcast media were active and expressed
a wide variety of views without restriction. Main media outlets
included approximately 79 newspapers, 75 radio stations, 71 news
websites, 40 magazines, 20 national television stations, and 16 news
agencies. A minimal portion of the media was government-owned,
including Agencia Brasil, Televisao Educativa, Agencia Camara, and
Agencia Senado; however, local and state level politicians, or their
families or proxies, often owned local media outlets.
Foreign publications were distributed widely; prior review of
films, plays, and radio and television programming only was used to
determine a suitable viewing age.
In May, President Lula attempted to revoke the visa of New York
Times journalist William Larry Rohter, Jr., whose reporting had
personally offended the President. After substantial media coverage,
strong public criticism, and a judicial order delaying deportation,
President Lula withdrew his request for visa revocation, and Rohter
continued to report from the country.
Journalists enjoyed no protection from violence, some of which may
have been specifically motivated by their professional activities.
According to the NGO Journalists Without Borders, two local journalists
were killed during the year. On April 20, four gunmen on motorcycles
shot radio host Samuel Roma outside his home in Coronel Sapucaia, in
the State of Mato Grosso do Sul on the border with Paraguay. Roma, a
well-known journalist who had frequently denounced drug trafficking and
crime in the area, had called for police to investigate recent killings
and claimed to possess information proving government officials'
involvement in organized crime. Paraguayan police arrested three men
suspected of killing Roma and handed them over to Brazilian police.
On April 24, in Timbaiba, Pernambuco State, two unidentified gunmen
ambushed, shot, and killed journalist Jose Carlos Araujo of Radio
Timbauba FM. Four days later police captured Elton Jonas Goncalves de
Oliveira, who confessed to the killing. Araujo hosted a local radio
talk show and had exposed the involvement of several well-known local
figures suspected of murder in the region.
In June, a court sentenced Renato Santos Lira to 32 years in prison
for the July 2003 killing of photographer Luis Antonio da Costa. The
trial of Lira's alleged accomplice in the killing remained pending at
year's end.
On July 11, in Santana do Ipanema, Alagoas State, a man shot and
killed radio owner and host Jorge Lourenco dos Santos in front of his
home. Santos owned a radio station in Criativa FM, frequently
criticized local politicians and businessmen on his show, and was
active in local politics. Local press and police reported that he had
received death threats and was the target of two previous attempted
killings. A police investigation remained pending at year's end.
Four of the seven persons, including alleged ringleader Elias
Maluco, who were accused of killing prominent Rio de Janeiro television
journalist Tim Lopes in 2002, lost their preliminary appeal and
remained in jail awaiting trial. Indictments were issued for the three
who did not appeal.
The trial of police officers Hercules Araujo Agostinho and Celio de
Souza for the 2002 killing of Savio Brandao, owner of the Folha do
Estado newspaper, was held in December 2003 in Cuiaba, Matto Grosso
State. Former military police corporal Agostinho was sentenced to 18
years in prison for the shooting. Souza, whose case was delayed due to
complications associated with a defense witness located overseas,
remained in jail at year's end.
In December 2003, a judge from the Second Criminal Court of
Salvador, Bahia issued an order of habeas corpus, freeing former police
officer Mozart Costga Brasil, who had been sentenced in September 2003
to 18 years in prison for the 1998 killing of Manoel Leal de Oliveira,
publisher and editor of the Itabuna weekly A Regiao. A judgment on the
legality of the order has not been issued.
The Government did not impose restrictions on the use of the
Internet; however, federal and state police monitored the Internet to
detect online recruitment by sex traffickers and the activities of hate
groups.
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.
In May, students from the Sao Paulo Technical College clashed with
military police during student demonstrations in downtown Sao Paulo.
Police injured 15 students with rubber bullets and clubs while
attempting to maintain public order and reopen a blocked roadway.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Approximately three-quarters of the population identified
themselves as Roman Catholic, and the Government maintained a Concordat
with the Vatican. There is no official state religion. There were no
registration requirements for religions or religious groups, and all
faiths were free to establish places of worship, train clergy, and
proselytize. The Government controlled entry into indigenous lands and
required missionary groups to seek permission from the National Indian
Foundation (FUNAI).
There were reports of anti-Semitic graffiti, harassment, vandalism,
and threats via e-mail and telephone. Six students at Rio de Janeiro
Catholic University were charged with anti-Semitism for spraying anti-
Semitic graffiti in the university's restroom.
On October 11, the Congregation Beth Jacob synagogue in Campinas,
Sao Paulo, was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas
and the phrase, in English, ``kill all jewish.'' The Regional Special
Action Group for the Prevention and Repression of Organized Crime, the
Sao Paulo Civil Police, and the Civil Police Office for Crimes of
Intolerance were investigating the crime at year's end, and the
Campinas city council passed a motion denouncing the act.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice,
although there were restrictions on entry into protected indigenous
areas, and a parent is not allowed to leave the country with children
under the age of 18 without the permission of the other parent.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile as punishment, and it was
not practiced.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees 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.
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. Voting is secret and mandatory for all literate
citizens aged 18 to 70, except for military conscripts, who may not
vote.
In the October 2002 national elections, PT candidate Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva won election to a 4-year-term with more than 61 percent
of the vote in the second-round runoff. In October, nationwide
municipal elections, held without any serious incidents, chose mayors
and city councils in each of the country's 5,563 municipalities.
There were 7 major political parties with 25 or more seats in the
national congress. At year's end, the ruling PT had 91 of the 513 seats
in the Chamber of Deputies and 13 of the 81 Senate seats, but there
were approximately 381 Deputies in the PT coalition that supported
Lula's government.
Ethics and ethical behavior among public figures received
heightened attention during both the Cardoso and Lula administrations.
While corruption in the public sector has not been eliminated,
implementation of new legislation provided greater public spotlight and
scrutiny. Soon after a Code of Conduct for Senior Public Administration
was promulgated in 2000, the Commission for Public Ethics was created
to promote high standards of public behavior among both elected and
appointed officials. Upon appointment or election, officials submit a
confidential information declaration to the Commission listing assets,
other sources of income, and possible activities or areas of conflict
of interest.
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.
Women enjoyed full political rights and increasingly were active in
politics and government. There were 9 women in the 81-member Senate and
44 women in the 513-seat Chamber of Deputies. There were four women in
the cabinet and one woman on the Supreme Court.
There were three members of minorities in the cabinet and one on
the Supreme Court. There were 27 Afro-Brazilians in Congress.
Diverse ethnic and racial groups, including indigenous people, were
free to participate politically.
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
usually were cooperative and responsive to their views. Federal and
state officials in many cases sought the aid and cooperation of NGOs in
addressing human rights problems; however, human rights monitors
occasionally were threatened and harassed for their efforts to identify
and take action against human rights abusers, particularly members of
the state police forces.
After the IACHR's August 2003 request for the Government to provide
police protection for three human rights activists in Parana State who
had received death threats in 2003, two of the activists were given
minimal protection, and one left Parana State for several months.
Representatives from the human rights NGO Centro Santo Dias had
reported continuing military police involvement in torture Parana's
prisons. The death threats succeeded in discouraging additional human
rights activists in Parana from reporting such abuses.
Eight states had police ombudsmen (see Section 1.c.); however, some
NGOs and human rights observers questioned their independence and
effectiveness. U.N. Special Rapporteur Jahangir noted that ombudsmen's
accomplishments varied dramatically, depending on such factors as
funding and outside political pressure.
The Justice Ministry's Special Secretariat for Human Rights
administered programs to reduce violence among the poor, train police
officials in human rights practices, and combat discrimination against
homosexuals, blacks, women, children, indigenous people, the elderly,
and persons with disabilities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, age,
religion, or nationality; however, discrimination against women, Afro-
Brazilians, homosexuals, and indigenous people continued. The law
provides prison penalties and fines for racist acts, including use of
pejorative terms for ethnic or racial groups, use of the swastika, and
acts of discrimination based on sex, religion, age, or ethnic origin.
Women.--The most pervasive violations of women's rights involved
sexual and domestic violence, which remained both widespread and
underreported. According to a survey conducted by the World Society for
Victims and used by the Senate in its 2004 Report on the Condition of
Women, 23 percent of women were subjected to domestic violence; in
about 70 percent of the occurrences, the aggressor was the victim's
husband or companion; 40 percent of the cases resulted in serious
injuries, but in only 2 percent of the complaints was the aggressor
actually punished.
The Government acted to combat violence against women. Each state
secretariat for public security operated women's stations (``delegacias
da mulher'') to address crimes against women; however, the quality of
services provided varied widely, and availability was particularly
limited in isolated areas.
The stations were intended to provide the following services for
victims of domestic violence: Psychological counseling, temporary
shelter, hospital treatment for rape victims (including treatment for
HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases), and initiation of
criminal cases by investigating and forwarding evidence to the courts.
According to the Ministry of Justice, many of the women's stations fell
far short of standards. There were approximately 307 stations for 5,563
municipalities; 40 percent were in Sao Paulo State and 13 percent in
Minas Gerais State. The States of Acre, Alagoas, Ceara, Roraima, and
the Federal District each had only one such office.
The 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. A law enacted in June
added domestic violence to the Penal Code and made it a crime
punishable by 6 to 12 months' imprisonment. According to government
officials and NGO workers, the majority of criminal complaints
regarding domestic violence were suspended without a conclusion.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by 8 to 10
years' imprisonment; however, men who killed, sexually assaulted, or
committed other crimes against women were unlikely to be brought to
trial. The Penal Code allows a convicted rapist to escape punishment if
he marries his victim or if the victim marries a third person and does
not request or require an investigation or criminal proceedings.
Adult prostitution is legal; however, various associated
activities, such as operating a prostitution establishment, are
illegal. Local authorities in Rio de Janeiro launched campaigns against
sex tourism and arrested several persons involved in promoting
prostitution during the year. Rio de Janeiro State passed a law
requiring certain businesses to display signs listing the penalties for
having intercourse with a minor. 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 1 to 2 years
in jail. The law encompasses sexual advances in the workplace or in
educational institutions, between family members, 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.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men. A cabinet-level office,
the Secretary for Women's Affairs, who oversees the Special Secretariat
for Women's Affairs, has responsibility to ensure the legal rights of
women. The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on gender in
employment and wages; however, there were significant wage disparities
between men and women. In June, the Chamber of Deputies' Commission on
the Feminization of Poverty reported that women generally earned 30
percent less than men and that, in households headed by single woman,
the woman worker earned less than half the minimum wage. According to
the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), white
Brazilian women earned on average 40 percent less than white men, and
Afro-Brazilian women received 60 percent less earnings than white men.
A federal government quota system requires that at least 20 percent of
new federal government hires be women.
The Maternity Leave Law provides 120 days of paid maternity leave
to women and 7 days to men. The law also prohibits employers from
requiring applicants or employees to take pregnancy tests or present
sterilization certificates; however, 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 1 to 2 years, while the company may be
fined 10 times the salary of its highest-paid employee.
Active women's rights groups included: The NGO Feminist Center for
Studies and Assistance, which focused on combating gender and racial
discrimination by conducting studies and promoting advocacy activities
to influence public policy affecting women, and the Institute Patricia
Galvao, a separate NGO, which informed the public about women's rights
and violence against women.
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 6 and under receive free day-
care and preschool. Schooling was free and compulsory between the ages
of 7 and 14 and free, but not compulsory, for adolescents between the
ages of 15 and 17 who did not attend primary school. Schooling was
available in all parts of the country, although not every school had
space for every child that wanted to attend. In 2002, IBGE reported a
97 percent school enrollment rate for children ages 7 to 14. Girls and
boys attended school in comparable numbers.
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.
The law prohibits subjecting any child or adolescent to any form of
negligence, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty, or
oppression. Allegations of abuse of minors and prosecution of crimes
against children were not pursued adequately or aggressively.
In April, six councilmen and a municipal employee in Porto Ferreira
in Sao Paulo State were found guilty and sentenced to prison for rape,
corruption of minors, and conspiracy. All had been arrested in August
2003 on charges of participating in group sexual activities at
barbecues involving elected officials, municipal employees,
businessmen, and local girls between the ages of 11 and 16. Although
serving a 42-year prison sentence, convicted city councilman Luiz Cesar
Lanzoni was reelected to the city council in the October municipal
elections.
In July, the military prosecutor's office of Rio Grande do Sul
accused a military policeman of rape of a minor and 13 other military
policemen of sexual abuse committed against minors. The acts allegedly
were committed in police cars in 2001 and 2003 in the town of Triunfro.
The inquiry began on February 11, and, after receiving threats, the
minor entered the Rio Grande do Sul State protection program. The head
of the military police internal affairs office reported that the
policemen are expected to be tried and dismissed.
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.).
In 2003, the University of Sao Paulo Research Institute Foundation
(FIPE) estimated that 10,400 homeless persons lived in Sao Paulo city,
of whom 2 percent were under the age of 17. The city of Rio de Janeiro,
in cooperation with NGOs, operated 57 shelters and group homes for
street children and has created an entity dedicated to street children
called FUNDO RIO. 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.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits the transport of persons
for illicit reasons within and outside the country; however, persons
were trafficked from, within, and, to a lesser extent, to the country.
The Penal Code establishes a prison sentence of 3 to 8 years for
transporting women in or out of the country for the purposes of
prostitution. The Statute on Children and Adolescents 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. However, laws on
trafficking for sexual exploitation were difficult to enforce,
particularly in relation to domestic trafficking.
The law does not specifically prohibit trafficking of men or the
internal trafficking of women, although Congress was considering
legislation to criminalize all forms of trafficking.
The Penal Code provides that traffickers of women may be fined and
sentenced to prison terms of 1 to 3 years, which may be increased if
the victim is under 18, a senior citizen, pregnant, a person with
disabilities, or a member of an indigenous group.
Anti-trafficking laws generally were enforced, but violators rarely
received criminal penalties because of the limitations of the statutes.
Although complete data was not available, officials estimated that 50
to 100 labor trafficking defendants were prosecuted in 2003, however,
many of those proceedings had not reached conclusion by year's end.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), only 68 cases
of trafficking of women for prostitution have been brought to the
attention of federal authorities over the past 3 years. During the last
quarter of the year, however, the country had its first three cases
(one in Goiania and two in Fortaleza) of prison sentences for persons
convicted of trafficking women abroad. Prison sentences ranged from 8
to 30 years. These cases received widespread media attention.
In October, police broke up a German-based sex trafficking ring in
Fortaleza, Ceara, that offered European tourists sex with minors and
sent women to Europe for prostitution through an on-line prostitution
ordering service. The website, which federal police believed was hosted
overseas, allowed men to select Brazilian women with desired
characteristics in sex package tours priced from $2,540 to $3,810. The
woman selected would meet the tourist in the country or would fly to
Europe. The Federal Police arrested three Germans, including the owner
and a recruiter, four Italian tourists, and five Brazilian employees.
Police confiscated approximately 300 explicit photos of women and girls
under the age of 19 and closed down the service. Those arrested were
awaiting prosecution at year's end.
In October, the Secretariat for Human Rights in the Ministry of
Justice launched a nationwide anti-trafficking in persons publicity
campaign in Goiania, Goias, to prevent the trafficking of women for
sexual exploitation abroad. Approximately 60 percent of women
trafficked abroad came from Goias State. The program was co-sponsored
by the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Government of
Portugal. Female passport recipients receive a brochure that states
``first they take your passport, then your freedom.'' The campaign
includes radio advertisements and large warning signs in airports in
Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Recife, Fortaleza, and Goiania.
Police officers, judges, and foreign consulates in the country received
training under this program.
In May, the Sao Paulo State Secretary of Justice inaugurated the
Sao Paulo Office for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons. This
office conducted public education campaigns, assisted victims of human
trafficking and sexual exploitation, and referred individual
trafficking cases to the federal police and state attorneys. The
office, the first of its kind in the country, was expected to open a
center at the Sao Paulo international airport to assist victims who
return to the country after being trafficked abroad.
On October 28, the Brasilia Federal District Prosecutor charged
Benicio Tavares, then-Speaker of the Federal District's Legislative
Chamber and president of the NGO Handicapped Association of Brasilia,
with forced prostitution and the sexual exploitation of four minors.
The Prosecutor charged that, on September 17, Tavares took part in a
sex tourism boat trip on the Amazon River. Victims claimed that Tavares
paid them approximately $179 (500 reais). The case was still being
investigated by the prosecutor's office at year's end, although Tavares
enjoys legislative immunity and cannot be tried in a common court.
Separately, the District Assembly's Ethics Committee chose not to open
an inquiry into the case that could have resulted in Tavares' expulsion
from the assembly. At year's end, the highest criminal court in the
Federal District was considering whether to hear the case against
Tavares.
Government authorities responsible for combating trafficking
included various agencies of the Ministry of Justice (including the
Federal Police), the National 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. In
a limited number of cases, they were involved in apprehending suspected
traffickers. Federal and state police monitored the Internet to detect
on-line recruitment by sex traffickers.
Police officers reported difficulty in arresting traffickers
because of the need to apprehend them in the act of traveling with the
victims. In addition, most 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. As a
result, few trials involving traffickers resulted in convictions.
The country assisted with investigations of trafficking in Italy,
Spain, Portugal, Japan, and the United States. A joint investigation
between authorities in Goias State and Spain resulted in several
arrests in Goias and the liberation of 24 women (including 4 from
Goias) held as sex slaves in Valencia.
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 some 75,000 women
and girls were engaged in prostitution in neighboring South American
countries, the United States, and Western Europe, many of them
trafficked.
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. 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.
According to the 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
even trafficked them outside the country.
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.
In July, Congress approved a report recommending that more than 200
persons, including politicians, judges, business leaders, and priests,
should be investigated for crimes against minors, but no action had
been taken on the report by year's end. The Parliamentary Investigation
Commission reported 800 complaints of child sexual abuse from January
to June.
CECRIA's 2003 report on trafficking in persons for commercial
sexual exploitation, which drew on police, media, and other sources,
identified 241 sex trafficking routes. Internationally, Spain was the
destination of most identified routes (32), followed by the Netherlands
(11), Venezuela (10), Italy (9), Portugal (8), and Paraguay (7). The
study also named France, Switzerland, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Japan,
Israel, and Iraq as destinations for trafficking victims. The report
identified the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belem, Forteleza,
Salvador, and Recife as exit points for persons trafficked to Europe.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo were exit points for the United States,
while victims destined for Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay passed
through the city of Foz do Iguacu. Domestic routes included: From Goias
State to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro; from rural areas in the north
and northeast to coastal cities for sexual tourism; and from small
towns in the north to outposts in the Amazon region, which itinerant
workers often transited. CECRIA's report also identified trafficking
routes of children for sexual exploitation from the southern region of
the country into Argentina and Paraguay. Domestically, trafficked
agricultural workers were most often used in isolated areas of the
Amazon region in the northern part of the country; many of the most
serious cases occurred in the State of Para. The report also called
attention to sex trafficking in areas with major development projects.
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 who fell prey to 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 most 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.
Internal trafficking supplied forced labor primarily from urban to
rural areas for agricultural work and for sex tourism. 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.
Trafficking in persons was linked to international networks of
crime, including drugs and arms trafficking and money laundering.
There was no evidence of any institutional government complicity in
the trafficking, nor was there any known evidence of individual state-
level law enforcement officers engaging in, encouraging, or abetting
trafficking.
Several government programs assisted victims of trafficking,
although efforts often were inconsistent and underfunded. The Ministry
of Social Assistance operated more than 400 centers to assist victims
of sexual abuse and exploitation and domestic violence. There were no
special facilities or assistance for victims abroad. NGOs in
trafficking source states provided victim assistance in job training,
counseling, and other community reintegration assistance. The Office of
the Comprehensive Program for the Prevention of and the Fight Against
Trafficking in Persons operated seven centers to provide assistance to
victims of both internal and international trafficking. A wide variety
of locally based NGOs worked with trafficking victims, assisting in
retraining and counseling activities.
Trafficking victims were not treated as criminals; however, access
to support services was limited due to a lack of government resources.
No statistics were available concerning the number of victims in
shelters. Police usually referred victims to centers for treatment and
counseling.
No official programs encouraged victims to file civil suits or seek
legal action or restitution against traffickers. The Government
maintained a witness protection program, which was overseen by the NGO,
Office of Legal Assistance for Grassroots Organizations, 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 anti-trafficking
information campaigns. The Government continued a campaign begun in
2003 to deter international traffickers and sensitize their potential
victims to the dangers. The National Secretary for Justice led the
campaign, which included opening offices in four states, education and
training for officials, and public awareness campaigns. In addition,
the Government undertook a government-wide initiative to combat the
sexual exploitation of children, which included distributing
information against sex tourism and underage prostitution.
Labor organizations and NGOs continued to conduct prevention
campaigns. The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) 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.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Constitution contains several
provisions regarding persons with disabilities, stipulating a minimum
wage, educational opportunities, and access to public buildings and
public transportation for them; however, groups that worked with
persons with disabilities reported that state governments failed to
meet the legally mandated targets for educational opportunities and
work placement. The law stipulates percentages of vacancies that
businesses must reserve for persons with disabilities: 2 percent in
firms with more than 100 employees; 3 percent in firms with more than
300 employees; and 5 percent in firms with more than 500 employees.
Firms that achieved these percentages could gain an advantage in
competing for government contracts. A federal government quota system
requires that at least 5 percent of new federal government hires be
persons with disabilities.
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.
Several laws were enacted during the year to protect the rights of
persons with disabilities. A March law provides persons with
disabilities the right to education and free instruction for those
otherwise unable to attend classes. An August law requires that public
and private parking lots reserve 2 percent of parking spaces for
persons with disabilities and the elderly.
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, bathrooms, ramps, elevators, and signs for
persons with disabilities. Nonetheless, persons with disabilities in
Sao Paulo State had difficulty in securing necessary accommodations.
In April, the governor of Sao Paulo State requested that the
Secretary for Justice and the Protection of Citizens enforce the state
law permitting seeing-eye dogs access to all public transportation
after a passenger was denied access to the Sao Paulo city Metro because
of her seeing-eye dog.
In August, the press reported that only 496 of the Sao Paulo city's
977 bus lines provided wheelchair-accessible buses; the mayor's office
revised the previous goal of providing at least one wheelchair
accessible bus on each bus line to providing such service only on major
bus routes.
There were 237 psychiatric hospitals with more than 48,000 patients
in the country. From March through July, the Federal Council of
Psychiatry and the Brazilian Bar Association conducted an inspection of
the country's psychiatric hospitals in 14 states and the Federal
District to investigate cases of violence, imprisonment, torture, and
death. Their report, released on August 22, concluded that psychiatric
patients received inadequate medical care and that the lack of
inspection procedures created a major problem. In late August, Federal
Minister of Health Humberto Costa announced that he would initiate
judicial action against psychiatric hospitals with inadequate health
care. According to the Ministry of Health, seven hospitals provided
``appalling'' health care.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the law prohibits
racial discrimination, darker-skinned citizens, particularly Afro-
Brazilians, frequently encountered discrimination. The government
statistics agency, IBGE, relied on self-identification to determine the
population's racial composition, using five categories: Black, brown
(or mixed race), white, yellow (or Asian), and indigenous. In a 2002
IBGE national survey, approximately 6 percent of citizens declared
themselves as black, and another 40 percent declared themselves as
brown.
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.
The National Movement for Human Rights reported that victims of
torture were disproportionately of African ancestry and that blacks
were more likely to be convicted when brought to trial (see Sections
1.c. and 1.e.). Research by the Institute of Applied Economic Research
noted that persons of color were five times more likely to be shot or
killed in the course of a law enforcement action than were persons
perceived to be white.
On January 13, members of human rights organizations in Sao Paulo
held a demonstration to denounce the actions of groups who promote
racial superiority and discrimination against Afro-Brazilians,
Northeasterners, homosexuals, Jews, punks, and other minorities.
Demonstrators also called on authorities to investigate further known
racist groups such as Carecas (``Skinheads'') do ABC, Carecas do
Suburbio, Poder Branco (``White Power''), and Imperial Klans do Brasil.
The demonstration was held where skinheads from Carecas do ABC attacked
Edson Neris da Silva and Dario Pereira Neto for holding hands in 2000.
Silva died from the injuries sustained during the attack.
The predominance of whites in government, business, and academia
indicated that Afro-Brazilians had not attained social and economic
equality and were significantly underrepresented in professional
positions and in the middle and upper classes. Sao Paulo State Deputy
Sebastiao Arcanjo noted that Afro-Brazilians constituted a majority in
demographic terms but a minority in terms of power. Afro-Brazilians
accounted for approximately 2 percent of the executive and management
positions in businesses, and the country's diplomatic corps included
only six Afro-Brazilians. In June, IBGE reported that Afro-Brazilians
suffered a higher rate of unemployment and earned a lower average wage
than non-blacks. According to IBGE, the average monthly wage of a white
wage earner was nearly double the average earned by black wage earners,
a disparity that widened considerably in the upper income classes.
There was a sizeable racial education gap. According to the
Ministry of Education, white Brazilians received an average of 7.1
years of schooling versus 5.3 years for Afro-Brazilians; in the
Northeast region, the gap was even larger, since Afro-Brazilians
received an average of 4.5 years of schooling. According to the
Education Ministry, Afro-Brazilians constituted 16 percent of the
university population and filled between 3 and 7 percent of the
openings in the country's prestigious public universities. During the
year, major public universities in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de
Janeiro, Mato Grosso, Bahia, and the Federal District of Brasilia
started or continued affirmative action programs. The University of
Brasilia set aside 25 percent of its first-year vacancies for self-
declared students of color.
Indigenous People.--The Constitution grants the indigenous
population broad rights, including the protection of their cultural
patrimony and the exclusive use of their traditional lands; however, in
practice, the Government did not secure these rights.
The country had an indigenous population of approximately 400,000
persons belonging to 215 ``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.
The National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the Government's agency
responsible for carrying out indigenous policies, reported that
indigenous people faced many problems, including disease and poor
health care, loss of native culture, and recurring incursions and
illegal mining and extraction activities on indigenous lands. Road
construction and deforestation were also threats.
Indigenous leaders and activists complained that indigenous people
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.
The 1988 Constitution charged the Federal Government with
demarcating indigenous areas within 5 years. By year's end, at least
459 of the 616 recognized indigenous areas had reached the final
registration stage, 75 were in the process of demarcation, and 133 had
yet to be processed. Identified indigenous territory constituted 11
percent of the national territory. A specific congressional committee
had oversight responsibility for Indian Affairs.
The Constitution 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 people, 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 depended on the Federal Police--itself an understaffed
and poorly equipped agency--for law enforcement on indigenous lands.
Disputes between indigenous and non-indigenous people created
tension that occasionally erupted into violence. Most conflicts
concerned land ownership or resource exploitation rights in which some
indigenous people resorted to forceful occupation, hostage taking, and
killing.
From the end of 2003 through the beginning of the year, members of
the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul used
invasion tactics to claim demarcated land. In December 2003, tribe
members occupied 14 farms near Japora and Iguatemi on the Paraguayan
border to expand the Aldeia Porto Lindo reserve from 4,000 to 23,500
acres. Indigenous people took 22 hostages, including a state attorney
general, during the occupation. On January 30, the Guarani-Kaiowa
people reached an agreement with FUNAI and the federal Public
Prosecutor to vacate 11 of the 14 invaded farms for the return of
19,500 acres to the tribes. The indigenous people were allowed to
remain provisionally on three of the farms so long as they did not
hinder production. Landowners took the case to the Federal Regional
Tribunal in Sao Paulo, requesting the immediate and complete return of
their land. On February 3, the judge upheld the decision to limit the
eviction of the occupiers and return of the land to the previous
occupants and to resolve the dispute with the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe
members through negotiations. Two days later, the indigenous people
left most of the invaded farms, except for three that they continued to
control, while allowing owners to re-enter the properties.
In early April, members of the Cinta-Larga tribe killed 29 diamond
prospectors who were working illegally on an indigenous reservation. In
late April, Federal Police identified 12 members of the Cinta-Larga
tribe as having been involved in the killings. However, others reported
that the killings were the result of a disagreement between indigenous
leaders who were involved in diamond smuggling and charged the illegal
prospectors ``fees'' for access to the reservation. FUNAI and local
indigenous leaders claimed that the Indians were protecting their land
against illegal invasion and that previous incursions onto their
territory had gone unpunished. The Government undertook to increase
monitoring of the reservation.
On the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation in Roraima State, the long-
running land dispute between Indians and rice planters continued after
the Supreme Court refused to overturn a lower court's order that
stopped demarcation of the disputed territory. On June 30, Indians
occupied a riverbank region occupied by rice cultivators. In November,
FUNAI reported that area landowners used violence to intimidate
indigenous supporters of demarcation, attacking members of the Macuxi
tribe and demolishing several of their villages. The tension between
rice farmers and Indians continued at year's end as both sides awaited
a final ruling from the Supreme Court on demarcation.
No new information was available regarding the January 2003 killing
of Marcos Veron, a prominent leader of a Guarani-Kaiowa indigenous
nation in Mato Grosso do Sul State involved in a dispute over territory
in Dourados. His nephew also was killed and many others were beaten in
the same incident. Authorities indicted 27 persons and arrested 14 in
connection with the killing, and the Federal Justice Minister undertook
to analyze the case and make a decision on resolving the land dispute.
No new information was available and none was expected on the June
2003 killing of Caingangue leader Adilson Cardoso in Faxinalzinho, Rio
Grande do Sul State.
Some universities, such as the University of Brasilia, began or
maintained affirmative action programs for indigenous people.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a history of
societal violence against homosexuals. Although the Constitution does
not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, state and
federal laws do prohibit such discrimination, and the federal and state
governments remained committed to combating it.
According to the Ministry of Health, there were approximately 180
killings of homosexuals during the year.
No further information was available, and none was expected, in the
August 2003 trial of military police officers accused of the 2000
beating death of transvestite Henrique de Souza Lima in Curitiba,
Parana.
In December 2003, state prosecutors charged Mayor Elcio Berti of
Bocaiuva do Sul, Parana State, with violating state and federal
antidiscrimination laws and abuse of administrative power for issuing a
decree in December 2003 prohibiting homosexuals from living in the
town. The town's public prosecutor convinced Berti to revoke the decree
to avoid a public investigation and filing of the case. In a hearing on
June 16 for a civil case against the mayor, filed by the human rights
NGO Grupo Dignidade, Berti claimed that the decree was an internal joke
that was mistakenly released to the press. Grupo Dignidade filed a
further case against the mayor with the National Council to Combat
Racism. The case remained pending at year's end.
During the year, four gang members convicted in the 2000 killing in
Sao Paulo of Edson Neris da Silva received sentences ranging from 2 to
19 years in prison.
The Secretariat of State Security in Rio de Janeiro, in partnership
with NGOs, operated a hotline and offered professional counseling
services to victims of anti-homosexual crimes.
In November, Rio de Janeiro state lawmakers reversed the governor's
veto on a bill that gives same-sex partner benefits to government
employees. The state's 70-member assembly voted 37 to 21 to override
the veto and the law went into effect. In July, a Sao Paulo state court
ordered 15 health insurance companies to recognize same-sex couples in
their coverage.
In April, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights launched the
``Brazil Without Homophobia'' program, which sought to stop violence
against homosexuals, provide legal counsel to victims of violence, and
prevent anti-homosexual sentiment by providing tolerance training for
school-aged children. According to the National Secretariat for Human
Rights, the program aims to strengthen public institutions and NGOs
that promote homosexual rights and combat homophobia; offers training
to professionals and representatives in the homosexual community;
creates publicity campaigns to raise awareness and disseminate
information about homosexual rights and to promote homosexual self-
esteem; and encourages reporting of violence against homosexuals.
There was some societal discrimination against the elderly. The
cities of Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre had police stations that
specifically attended to the rights of the elderly. The Sao Paulo
police station reported that the number of senior citizens served
increased 99 percent (to 4,453) during the year. The station advised
senior citizens on their rights and accepted complaints of
maltreatment, abandonment, threats, and confiscation of property.
Station officials attributed the increase in service to the Statute of
the Elderly, which entered into effect on January 1. The Statute
criminalizes discrimination against, abandonment of, or failure to
provide emergency assistance to the elderly, and provides penalties of
up to 6 months in jail. According to the police, close family members,
in particular, the victim's children, committed 90 percent of the
offenses registered, the most common of which was the confiscation of
the senior citizen's pension.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the Labor Code
provide for union representation of all workers (except members of the
military, the uniformed police, and firefighters) but impose 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 (MLE), which accepts the registration if no 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 MLE's Secretariat for Labor Relations has 15 days to
consider the validity of the objection. If the objection is found to be
valid, the MLE does not register the union. Union organizers may
challenge this decision in the labor courts.
The Constitution 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, as well as the International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU), criticized the retention of unicidade. In practice, a
number of competing unions were allowed to exist among the thousands of
local unions; however, the MLE and the courts enforced the principle of
unicidade in decisions regarding the registration of new unions.
Approximately 16 percent of the work force was unionized. Most
informal sector workers, including self-employed workers and those not
formally registered with the Ministry of Labor, fell outside the
official union structure and thus did not enjoy union representation
and were usually 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 labor leaders
were victimized by a campaign of violence in rural areas, with the
perpetrators enjoying relative impunity (see Section 1.a.). The CPT
reported that seven rural labor leaders were killed during the year.
Violence against labor leaders continued to be most intense in Para
State, where--according to leaders of the National Confederation of
Agricultural Workers--there was an organized campaign to kill rural
labor leaders. Catholic Church sources reported that 33 activists and
rural workers were killed in Para State in 2003, including union leader
Osvaldo Pereira Santos. CPT leaders in Para State continued to claim
that gunmen hired by estate owners committed most of these killings.
They noted that those who hire gunmen had become more adept at hiding
their participation and increasingly targeted labor leaders with
significant experience in organizing and leading land appropriations.
No new information was available and none was expected regarding
the 2002 killings of MST leader Ivo Lindo do Carmo and union official
Bartolomeu Morais de Silva.
The Constitution prohibits the dismissal of employees who are
candidates for or holders of union leadership positions. The law
requires employers to reinstate workers fired for union activity;
however, at times, the authorities 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. According to the Supreme Labor Court, more than 2 million
complaints were registered annually in labor courts; when ultimately
resolved, most parties agreed that cases were decided fairly and on
their merits. Although most complaints were resolved in the first
hearing, the appeals process introduced many delays, and some cases
remained unresolved for 5 to 10 years; however, the trial backlog was
reduced during the year. Courts have resolved more than the number of
new suits filed each year for the period 2000-2003.
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 Constitution provides workers (except for the military, police,
and firefighters) with the right to strike, and workers exercised this
right in practice. The Government seldom interfered with the right of
government workers to strike. While the civil police were allowed to
form unions and conduct strikes, the military (uniformed) police were
prohibited from organizing.
The law stipulates that a strike may be ruled ``abusive'' by labor
courts and be punishable by law if a number of conditions are not met,
such as maintaining essential services during a strike and notifying
employers at least 48 hours before the beginning of a walkout. Failure
to end a strike after a labor court decision is punishable by law.
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. However, in practice, employers did fire strike
organizers for reasons ostensibly unrelated to strikes, and legal
recourse related to retaliatory discharge was often a protracted
process (see Section 6.a.).
Labor law applies equally in the country's four free trade zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
forced labor and trafficking of workers were reported in many states
(see Section 5). The practices occurred most commonly in the rural
north and central west of the country, in activities such as forest
clearing, logging, charcoal production, raising of livestock, and
agriculture. Forced labor typically involved young men drawn from the
impoverished northeast, but women and children also were engaged in
activities such as charcoal production. Children involved in forced
labor typically worked alongside their parents.
Labor inspectors also found immigrants working in conditions of
forced labor in Sao Paulo. According to government officials, Bolivian,
Korean, and Chinese laborers were exploited in urban sweatshops under
conditions that possibly involved fraud or coercion.
In a March report to the U.N., the Government acknowledged that an
estimated 25,000 workers were trapped in forced labor schemes
throughout the country. The Pastoral Land Commission, an NGO linked to
the Catholic Church, made a similar estimate. A November ICFTU report
estimated that 40,000 persons worked in conditions of slavery.
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.
The CPT reported that fleeing workers were killed or beaten to
intimidate others at the worksite. Workers were vulnerable to forced
labor schemes largely due to dire poverty, low levels of education, and
a lack of awareness about their rights.
The Penal Code provides that violators of forced or compulsory
labor laws may be sentenced up to 8 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.
The law also allows the Government to expropriate lands on which
forced labor has been found and to distribute the property in the
Government's land reform program; however, this provision was narrowly
focused. The Senate approved a constitutional amendment, which the
Chamber of Deputies had under consideration at year's end, to
facilitate the process of expropriating land where forced labor has
been found and to permit distribution of the land to workers who had
been in the condition of forced labor. On October 19, the Government
announced the expropriation of ``Cabaceiras,'' a farm located in
Maraba, Para State. A February inspection found that 18 workers,
including a 16-year-old, lived at the farm and worked under slave-like
conditions.
Because of the limitations of the Penal Code concerning forced
labor and the slow workings of the criminal justice system, violators
of forced labor laws enjoyed virtual impunity from criminal
prosecution. As a result, the Government used fines and other
disincentives to penalize those who utilized forced labor. The Public
Labor Ministry closed more than 50 cases involving fines and other
penalties for landowners who used forced labor. In addition, the
Government developed a blacklist to stop all forms of government-
assisted credit to farms using forced labor. Other factors contributing
to the lack of criminal prosecutions included: Disputes over legal
jurisdiction; the lack of a clear definition of forced labor in the
Penal Code; 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.
The Executive Group to Combat Forced Labor 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 workers trapped in forced labor. The mobile unit
worked in conjunction with federal police officers, who sometimes
accompanied labor inspectors on raids to provide protection. When
mobile teams found workers in conditions of forced labor, they levied
fines on estate owners and required employers to provide back pay and
benefits to workers before returning the workers to their
municipalities of origin.
During 2003, the mobile group located 5,010 forced laborers, nearly
double the figure from the previous year. Forced laborers were found in
activities including deforestation, logging, mining, raising livestock,
and harvesting sugarcane, coffee, cotton, papayas, pepper, and
soybeans.
In February, the mobile team freed 38 forced laborers from a farm
owned by Senator Joao Ribeiro in Picarra, Para State. On June 17, the
Senator was charged in Federal Court for having workers in conditions
of forced labor on his plantation, and the case remained pending at
year's end.
The case involving 53 workers found working in conditions of forced
labor in 2002 on a ranch owned by Inocencio Oliveira, a leading member
of the federal Chamber of Deputies, was resolved with a heavy series of
fines, amounting to more than $200,000 (560,000 reais), plus damages to
the workers.
Although mobile units enjoyed some success in freeing those
operating in slave-like conditions, inspectors sometimes faced
resistance. On January 28, three team members and their driver were
killed while conducting inspections in Unai in Minas Gerais State (see
Section 1.a.).
The Government conducted programs to prevent workers from
repeatedly falling prey to trafficking and forced labor schemes. Freed
workers may receive three installments of unemployment insurance equal
to the minimum wage, approximately $93 (260 reais) per month, and were
eligible for job training. The CPT ran an informational campaign to
educate rural workers, particularly in rural areas targeted by
traffickers, about the dangers of forced labor (see Section 5). In some
states, local unions registered and tracked workers who left the
municipality to work on remote ranches. The National Confederation of
Agricultural Workers' radio programs also educated rural workers about
forced labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law restricts work that may be performed by children; however, 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.
In 2003, 6.7 percent of children age 14 and under worked.
Approximately half of child laborers received no income, and 90 percent
worked in the unregistered informal sector. The highest incidence of
child labor was found in the Northeast, where half of all child workers
in the country were employed. Slightly more than half of child laborers
worked in rural areas, and two-thirds were boys.
The Ministry of Labor reported that children worked in
approximately 100 rural and urban activities. Common rural activities
included fishing, mining, raising livestock, producing charcoal, and
harvesting sugarcane and other crops. In urban areas, children worked
in shoe shining, 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 pesticides with inadequate protection.
The MLE was responsible for inspecting worksites to enforce child
labor laws. Special Groups for the Eradication of Child Labor guided
regional efforts to enforce child labor laws, principally by gathering
data and developing plans for child labor inspection. Still, 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
to reduce the number of unregistered workers, 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 $143 (400 reais) per violation. As a result,
few employers were fined for employing children.
MLE inspectors often worked closely with labor prosecutors from the
Public Ministry of Labor (MPT), who had broader powers and were able to
impose larger fines. The MPT--an independent agency responsible for
prosecuting labor infractions--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 Ministry of Social Assistance coordinated the Government's
Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI), 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 4 hours, PETI
emphasized complementary educational activities for children during
non-school hours as an alternative to working. PETI assisted more than
1 million children in all 26 states and the federal capital during the
year, focusing on removing children from work activities considered to
be among the most hazardous by the Government. Although the program
concentrated on rural areas, it also grew rapidly in urban areas.
To prevent child labor and promote education, the Federal
Government also continued to expand Bolsa Escola, its school stipend
program. The program provided stipends of approximately $9 to $14 (25
to 40 reais) to low-income rural and urban families for each child (up
to a total of three children per family) between the ages of 6 and 15
whose school attendance rate was 85 percent. Municipal governments had
primary responsibility for day-to-day management of the program. At
year's end, the program provided stipends to the mothers of
approximately 810,000 children in more than 2,500 municipalities. In
addition to the federal program, an estimated 100 municipal governments
operated stipend programs.
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 ILO's Program on the Elimination of Child Labor focused on
capacity building, awareness raising, research promotion, incorporation
of income generating schemes, and monitoring systems in child labor
prevention programs. The ILO also coordinated a program to reduce
sexual exploitation of children and child labor in domestic services
(see Section 5).
UNICEF supported more than 200 programs to improve the lives of
children, remove them from exploitative work situations, and place them
in schools, in part by providing scholarships to families and helping
adults in those families find other forms of income generation.
The private sector also played a role in fighting child labor. The
Toy Industry's ABRINQ 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; in April, it was raised
from approximately $86 to $93 (from 240 to 260 reais) a month. In
December, the Government announced plans to raise the minimum wage to
$107 (300 reais) a month in 2005. The IBGE estimated that approximately
one in three workers earned the minimum wage or less.
The Constitution limits the workweek to 44 hours and specifies a
weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours, preferably on Sundays. The
law also includes a prohibition on excessive 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. The law allows employers to compensate workers with time off
rather than with overtime pay, provided that the local union agrees.
The Ministry of Labor sets occupational, health, and safety
standards, which are consistent with internationally recognized norms;
however, the Ministry devoted insufficient resources for adequate
inspection and enforcement of these standards. Unsafe working
conditions were prevalent throughout the country. During 2003,
workplace accidents dropped slightly from 393,071, to 390,180, and
deaths from accidents dropped from 2,898 in 2002 to 2,582 in 2003.
Employees or their unions may file claims related to worker safety with
regional labor courts, although this was frequently a protracted
process.
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.
However, such firings did occur, and legal recourse usually required
years for a resolution. The MPT reported that numerous firms used
computerized records to compile ``blacklists'' 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; however, workers could express such
concerns to a company committee for an immediate investigation.
__________
CANADA
Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a federal parliamentary
form of government. Citizens periodically choose their representatives
in free and fair multiparty elections. Elections were held on June 28,
and the ruling Liberal Party, under Prime Minister Paul Martin,
retained power, albeit in a minority government. The judiciary is
independent.
Federal, provincial, and municipal police forces have
responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of order. The newly
organized Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness is the
cabinet ministry responsible for providing direction to the federal law
enforcement and police agencies. The civilian authorities maintained
effective control of the security forces. There were no reports that
security forces committed human rights abuses.
The country has a highly developed, market-based economy and a
population of approximately 32.5 million. Real gross domestic product
growth was estimated at 3.3 percent in 2003, and wages and benefits
generally kept pace with inflation.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. However, there were problems
in some areas, including sporadic incidents of excessive force by
police, increased reports of anti-Semitic acts, and trafficking in
persons. Incidents of violence against women declined during the year.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
The media reported on several cases involving individuals who died
after police used Taser guns while making the arrest. Although media
reports initially speculated that Taser guns caused these deaths,
subsequent reporting indicated that the cause of death in each of these
cases was from drug overdoses, and police authorities were cleared of
any wrongdoing.
On January 23, a youth, in the custody of two court guards, died
after he fell down a courthouse elevator shaft. A police spokesman
stated the elevator car was not in place when the doors opened and the
handcuffed boy stepped into the shaft, a claim the elevator
manufacturer disputed. On July 21, police announced there was
insufficient evidence to proceed with charges against the guards.
On September 30, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) was convicted of manslaughter for the 1999 killing of a prisoner
that he had earlier arrested.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally observed these prohibitions in practice; however, there were
isolated incidents of police mistreating suspects.
During the year, police in Edmonton were accused of using excessive
force when responding to minor infractions in the city's tourist
district. Among other incidents, police allegedly knocked a man to the
ground for jaywalking; repeatedly kicked a person for swearing at
officers; and repeatedly hit a handcuffed person in the face.
On September 24, an inquiry concluded that the Saskatoon Police had
conducted an inadequate investigation into the circumstances of the
death of an aboriginal teenager who was found frozen on the outskirts
of Saskatoon in 1990. In November, the Saskatoon Police fired the two
police offices who were involved in the case.
In January, six Vancouver police officers who pleaded guilty in
November 2003 to common assault were sentenced: Two officers were fired
and given house arrest sentences of 60 and 30 days, two officers were
given suspended sentences, and the charges against the remaining two
officers were dropped.
Prison conditions generally met international standards, and the
Government permitted visits by independent human rights observers.
Unlike in 2003, there were no reports of riots at prisons within the
country.
Prisons, both at the federal and local level, generally held men
and women separately. In addition, juveniles were not incarcerated with
adults, and pre-trial detainees were held separately from convicted
prisoners.
In January, the Canadian Human Rights Commission found that
systemic flaws routinely eroded the human rights of women in prison and
made 19 recommendations on how to fix discrimination on the basis of
sex, race, and disability. Complaints from human rights activists
focused on several problems: Women who were assigned to maximum
security prisons often had mental health problems, did not have access
to the services they needed, and often were segregated for months.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
The RCMP is a national, federal, provincial, and municipal policing
body. It provides complete federal policing service throughout the
country and also provides policing services under contract to the 3
territories, 8 provinces (Quebec and Ontario have their own provincial
police), and approximately 198 municipalities.
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 remain silent, to be informed as to the reason
for the arrest, to engage a lawyer, and to have prompt access to family
members. Bail generally was available.
In December, a federal appeals court ruled that it is
constitutional for the Government to imprison, without public trial,
any non-citizen who poses a security threat. Cases are presented in
secret to two cabinet ministers by intelligence or police agencies and
then reviewed by a federal judge. The evidence is not shown to the
detained individual. If the judge approves the ministers'
recommendation, the individual may be imprisoned indefinitely, pending
deportation proceedings. Since 1991, this procedure has been used 27
times. At year's end, pursuant to this procedure, six individuals were
incarcerated awaiting deportation.
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 constitutional matters.
The judicial system is based on English common law at the federal
level as well as in most provinces; in Quebec Province, it is derived
from the Napoleonic Code. Throughout the country, judges are appointed.
In criminal trials, the law provides for a presumption of innocence and
the right to a public trial, to counsel (which is free for indigents),
and to appeal. The prosecution also may appeal in certain limited
circumstances.
Under the provisions of Ontario Province's 1991 Arbitration Act,
the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice gained the right in 2003 to hold
tribunals in which marriage, family, and business disputes can be
settled according to Shari'a law. The tribunals are voluntary, and
decisions must comply with the Charter of Rights and can be appealed to
the court system.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
In June, the Supreme Court issued two rulings in response to
several court challenges to the 2001 antiterrorism Security of
Information Act that expanded police investigative and wiretapping
powers. The Court ruled that witnesses must answer questions in special
investigative hearings, while limiting the Government's ability to
cloak these procedures in secrecy.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice and did not restrict academic freedom. An
independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic
political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and the press.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views
without restriction.
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. The Court 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.
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 imposed some restrictions
on the media.
The Human Rights Act prohibits repeated telephone communications
that expose a person or group to hatred or contempt.
On January 21, police officers searched the home of an Ottawa
newspaper reporter and the offices of the newspaper itself in search of
documents related to a Syrian-born Canadian citizen arrested abroad as
a suspected terrorist. The reporter faced possible criminal charges
under the anti-terrorism Security of Information Act. Although a court
authorized the search, some members of the media and human rights
groups raised concerns that it infringed on the Charter of Rights,
which guarantees the freedom of the press.
On August 26, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) agreed to allow a Quebec City radio station to
continue broadcasting, pending a court decision on whether the station
can renew its license to broadcast. Since 1996, the general public has
filed numerous complaints with the CRTC, alleging that announcers on
the station used offensive comments, personal attacks, and harassment
as part of their programming. The station portrayed the CRTC action as
an attempt to curb the station's freedom of expression. The case
prompted extensive media coverage in Quebec Province, and there were
public demonstrations in support of the radio station in Quebec City
and Ottawa.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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.
There is no official state religion, and religious groups are not
required to register with the Government. Public funding for Roman
Catholic schools is constitutionally protected in the country's
original four provinces.
In March, the Quebec Human Rights Commission ruled that a private
school could not expel a Muslim student for wearing a hijab (head
scarf) after a September 2003 incident in which a 16-year-old girl
refused to remove her hijab. In August, the Government issued a
statement assuring Muslims that their religious right to wear a hijab
would be respected and protected when photographs are taken for the
Canadian Permanent Resident card. The statement responded to complaints
made by Muslim women who were told to remove their hijab at the Pierre
Trudeau International Airport in Montreal.
There were a number of reports of harassment of religious
minorities.
In the first 8 months of the year, the League for Human Rights of
B'nai Brith received nearly 600 reports of anti-Semitism, compared with
584 such reports in all of 2003. Incidents included harassment (66
percent of incidents), vandalism of property (31 percent), and violence
(3 percent). For example: On April 4, the library of a Jewish
elementary school in Montreal was firebombed; the perpetrator was
awaiting sentencing at year's end. On June 2, vandals overturned 20
gravestones in the Beth Israel Cemetery in Quebec City. In December,
the major windows of a synagogue in the Greater Toronto area were
smashed. All levels of government reacted strongly to the incidents.
There were 17 incidents of harassment of Muslim institutions and
mosques, according to the Council of American-Islamic Relations Canada.
The Government urged the population to refrain from prejudice against
Muslims or other persons on the basis of their religious beliefs,
ethnic heritage, or cultural differences. Police forces investigated
and discouraged anti-Muslim actions.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees 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.
The Government offered resettlement, and, at year's end, 27,290 refugee
and asylum cases were pending.
On March 16, the Government announced changes to the appointment
process to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to eliminate
political patronage, strengthen the criteria for appointment to the
IRB, and increase parliamentary review. This action responded to public
criticism that the acceptance rate of refugee claims varied widely
between individuals members of the IRB and that some IRB members were
unqualified to decide refugee claims.
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that refugees facing torture in
their home countries generally cannot be deported there, unless
evidence shows that their continued presence poses a serious threat to
national security. On March 4, the Office of the Public Safety
Minister, reversing an IRB decision, ruled that a North Korean defector
could remain in the country, reasoning that the individual would likely
be tortured or killed if deported to North Korea.
The case of a Sri Lankan suspected of being a fundraiser for the
Tamil Tigers, who claimed that he would be tortured upon return to Sri
Lanka, remained pending after he appealed his deportation order to a
Federal court in May.
A safe country of transit agreement to return asylum applicants
previously resident in the United States to that country for
adjudication came into force on December 29.
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.
On June 28, a general election was held, and the ruling Liberal
Party maintained control of Parliament for the fourth consecutive
election; however, the party did not win a majority of seats, and the
country will have its first minority Government since 1979. The Liberal
Party won 135 seats, the Conservative Party 99 seats, the Bloc
Quebecois 54 seats, the New Democratic Party 19 seats, and Independent
(non-party affiliated) 1 seat.
Corruption in government was not considered a significant problem,
as reflected in an independent assessment prepared by Transparency
International. In February, a report by the Auditor General revealed
that up to $80 million (Cdn 100 million) of the $200 million (Cdn 250
million) authorized for government advertising in Quebec from 1996 to
2001 was allocated to advertising firms that were allies of the Quebec
branch of the ruling Liberal Party. The case prompted extensive media
coverage throughout the country and tarnished the reputation of the
Government. A government investigation continued at year's end.
The Government has an access to information law that permits public
access to government information by citizens and non-citizens,
including foreign media. In January, the Government announced
initiatives to improve transparency in government that included
releasing on a quarterly basis the public expenditures of senior
government officials.
No laws limit the participation of women or minorities in political
life. There were 65 women and 5 aboriginal (Inuit, North American
Indian, or Metis) members in the 308-member House of Commons. There
were 33 women and 5 aboriginal members in the 93-seat Senate (whose
members are appointed by the Government, and not elected). Women held 8
seats in the 39-person Cabinet. The Governor General and four of the
nine members of the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice, were
women.
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 very cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal benefits and protection of the law
regardless of race, national or ethnic origin, color, sex, age, or
mental or physical disability; these rights generally were respected in
practice.
Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, including spousal
abuse; however, it remained a concern. Statistics Canada reported that
there were 74.1 sexual assaults per 100,000 population in 2003, down
from 78.1 in 2002. The direct medical costs of violence against women
were estimated at $1.2 billion (Cdn $1.5 billion).
The courts consider sexual abuse cases seriously, and those
convicted face up to 10 years in prison. Sexual assaults involving
weapons, threats, wounding, or endangerment of life carry longer
sentences, up to life imprisonment.
There were more than 500 shelters for abused women, providing both
emergency care and long-term assistance. The Government has a Family
Violence initiative that involves 12 departments, and a cabinet
ministry, Status of Women Canada, that was charged with eliminating
systemic violence against women and advancing women's human rights.
In October, Amnesty International issued a report that charged that
the Government failed to provide aboriginal women with adequate
protection. The report stated that more than 500 aboriginal women had
disappeared over the past 20 years, and the precarious social and
economic status of aboriginal women pushed them into dangerous
situations including poverty, homelessness, and prostitution.
Prostitution is legal, but pimping (benefiting from the earnings of
prostitution of another) and operating, being found in, or working in a
brothel are not.
Women were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
The Criminal Code prohibits criminal harassment (stalking) and
makes it punishable by imprisonment for up to 5 years. The law
prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government generally enforced this
provision. Women continued to complain of sexual abuse, harassment, and
discrimination in the armed forces, and the Government established
mechanisms to resolve complaints. An independent armed forces grievance
board addressed such complaints.
Women were well represented in the labor force, including business
and the professions. 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 strong commitment to
children's rights and welfare through its 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.
UNICEF reported that 100 percent of elementary-age children attended
school, and most children graduated from high school. Federal and
provincial regulations protect children from abuse, overwork, and
discrimination and penalize perpetrators of such offenses.
There was no societal pattern of abuse of children. Cases of past
institutional abuses of children (mostly orphans and aboriginal
children) in residential homes remained the subject of continuing class
action litigation and settlements. Approximately 1,000 cases have been
settled; however, an estimated 12,000 remained outstanding.
Children were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking remained a problem. The law establishes criminal
penalties of up to life in prison and fines of up to $800,000 (Cdn $1
million) for convicted traffickers; however, no prosecutions have yet
resulted from the legislation. On February 11, a Montreal court
sentenced a man charged in 2002 (prior to passage of the new law) of
being part of a prostitution ring, which involved girls as young as 14,
to 3 years in jail.
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. The RCMP was establishing a task force to investigate offenses
related to trafficking in persons.
On December 15, the Government revised immigration regulations that
permitted the adult entertainment industry to utilize a blanket
authorization to recruit foreign women to enter the country on
temporary work visas to be employed as exotic dancers. Requests must
now be considered individually. The Government acknowledged the
possibility that some women hired under the earlier rules may have been
suborned into the sex trade.
The country was a destination and a transit point to the United
States for women, children, and men trafficked for purposes of sexual
exploitation, labor, and the drug trade. In February, the RCMP
conservatively estimated that annually 800 persons were trafficked into
the country and 1,500 to 2,200 persons were trafficked into the United
States.
Thousands of persons entered the country illegally over the last
decade. These persons came primarily from East Asia (particularly China
and Korea, but also Malaysia), Central and South Asia, Eastern Europe,
Russia, Latin America and the Caribbean (including Mexico, Honduras,
and Haiti), and South Africa. Many of these illegal immigrants paid
large sums to be smuggled to the country, were indentured to their
traffickers upon arrival, worked at lower than minimum wage, and used
most of their salaries to pay down their debt at usurious interest
rates. The traffickers used violence to ensure that their clients paid
and that they did not inform the police. Asian women and girls who were
smuggled into the country often were forced into prostitution.
Traffickers used intimidation and violence, as well as the illegal
immigrants' inability to speak English, to keep victims from running
away or informing the police.
Vancouver and Toronto served as hubs for organized crime groups
that traffic in persons, including trafficking 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. Police stated that the number of South
Koreans involved in smuggling or trafficking activity had ``grown
exponentially'' since the country removed its visa requirement for
South Korea in 1994. On February 22, police and border officials
arrested 10 South Koreans trying to cross the border into Montana; the
individuals, who were apparently trafficking victims, had entered the
country in Vancouver.
Although the Government does not specifically provide funding for
trafficking victims, such victims could access a number of programs and
services, ranging from health care to legal assistance. Victims of
trafficking also were eligible to apply for assistance from victims'
assistance funds maintained by the provincial governments. Trafficking
victims may apply for permanent residence under the ``humanitarian and
compassionate'' provisions of the Immigration Act; however, some
victims of trafficking were arrested and deported.
The Government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in
Persons trained officials to increase awareness about trafficking. The
Group also produced and distributed an anti-trafficking pamphlet to the
country's diplomatic missions and to nongovernmental organizations
(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.--There was no legal discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services. Sexual
exploitation of persons with disabilities in situations of dependency
is a criminal offense. The law mandates access to buildings for persons
with disabilities, and the Government generally enforced these
provisions in practice.
Persons with disabilities were underrepresented in the workforce.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Charter of Rights and
Freedoms protects the linguistic and cultural rights of minorities and
established English and French as the country's two official languages.
Despite the federal policy of bilingualism, English speakers in Quebec
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 English-speaking minority of Quebec, representing 9 percent of
the population of the province and 16 percent of the population of the
city of Montreal, continued to protest restrictions placed on English-
language use. English speakers also expressed concern over health
services and public schooling in their language.
The Charter of the French Language restricts access to publicly
funded English education only to those students who did most of their
elementary or secondary studies in English in the country. The law also
limits English language education to those students with a brother or a
sister who did most of their elementary or secondary studies in English
in the country or in cases in which the father or the mother did most
of his or her studies in English in the country.
Provinces other than Quebec often lacked adequate French-language
schooling and health services.
Indigenous People.--The law recognizes three different groups of
aboriginals: Indians (generally called First Nations), Inuit (formerly
called Eskimos), and Metis (persons of mixed Indian-European ancestry).
A September 2003 Supreme Court decision gave the Metis the same hunting
rights as other aboriginal groups and marked the first time that Metis
rights had been constitutionally defined. Aboriginals constituted
approximately 2.8 percent of the national population and higher
percentages in the country's three territories: Yukon, 20 percent;
Northwest Territories, 62 percent; and Nunavut, 84 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. Aboriginals
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 Constitution recognizes aboriginal rights, and the law
specifically protects such rights, including those established by
historical land claims settlements. Historical treaties with aboriginal
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. Aboriginal 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
aboriginal rights, particularly land claims, has been linked closely to
legal challenges, including 45 Supreme Court decisions.
On April 19, the Government announced a series of steps designed to
strengthen the relationship with the aboriginal leadership, including
the creation of a report card to measure progress in key socioeconomic
areas. On September 13, the Government undertook to provide $560
million (Cdn $700 million) to encourage greater aboriginal
participation in the health professions, to address chronic diseases
such as diabetes, and to create an Aboriginal Health Transition Fund to
adapt existing health care services to aboriginal needs.
The Government continued the process of claim settlements. The
Government also continued self-government negotiations with more than
350 First Nations.
In July, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear a case on
the question of whether the Government violated aboriginal treaty
rights in authorizing a road through the country's largest national
park. The case, which was pending at year's end, raised the issue of
whether treaty rights negotiated with aboriginal groups by the
Government take precedent over environmental law and the regulatory
power of the Government to manage a national park.
A 2002 case brought by the Gitanyow, an indigenous group located
near the Nisga'a people in northwestern British Columbia, who contended
that a 2000 treaty awarded more than 85 percent of their traditional
tribal lands to the Nisga'a, remained pending in the courts. However,
the Gitanyow were negotiating their own treaty settlement and agreed
not to pursue litigation while negotiations continued.
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, 29.5
percent of the civilian labor force was unionized.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--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.
Labor action, including strikes, occurred throughout the country
during the year, including strikes against the Government by
approximately 120,000 federal employees.
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
Government does not employ youths under 17 years of age 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. Inspections conducted by the federal and provincial labor
ministries enforced these prohibitions effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Each province and territory set
minimum wage rates, which ranged from $4.72 to $6.40 (Cdn $5.90 to Cdn
$8.00) 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, and a family whose only employed member earns the minimum
wage would fall 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.
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 to remove themselves
from hazardous work conditions.
__________
CHILE
Chile is a multiparty democracy with a constitution that provides
for a strong executive, a bicameral legislature, and a separate
judiciary. The Constitution written under the former military
government retains certain institutional limits on popular rule. Some
amendments to remove these limits were under review by the Congress at
year's end. In January 2000, voters elected Ricardo Lagos of the
Socialist Party as president in a free and fair runoff election. The
judiciary is independent.
The armed forces are constitutionally subordinate to the President
through an appointed civilian Minister of Defense but enjoy a large
degree of legal autonomy. The President must have the concurrence of
the National Security Council, which consists of military and civilian
officials, to remove service chiefs. The Carabineros (the uniformed
national police) and the civilian Investigations Police are under the
operational control of the Ministry of Interior and were responsible
for law enforcement and maintenance of order. A National Intelligence
Agency was formed, also under the Ministry of the Interior, to
coordinate intelligence-gathering and analysis functions. Civilian
authorities maintained effective control of the security forces. Some
members of security forces committed human rights abuses.
The economy was export-led and market-based; services and resource-
based industry were the major sectors. The population was approximately
15.2 million, and real economic growth was estimated at 5.8 percent.
Wages and benefits slightly outpaced inflation, but unemployment
remained above 9 percent. Copper remained the most important export;
salmon, forest products, fresh fruit, wine, fishmeal, other minerals,
and manufactured goods also were significant sources of foreign
exchange.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems remained in some areas. There were isolated
reports of excessive use of force and mistreatment by police forces,
and physical abuse in jails and prisons. Prisons often were overcrowded
and antiquated. Detainees often were not advised promptly of charges
against them nor granted a timely hearing before a judge. Anti-
defamation laws were applied against journalists and authors. Domestic
violence against women and violence against children continued to be
serious problems. Some trafficking of persons to, from, and within the
country reportedly occurred. Indigenous people remained marginalized,
and human rights observers questioned the Government's application of
the anti-terrorist law to indigenous activists. Child labor was a
problem in the informal economy.
The Government, primarily the judiciary, continued to investigate
human rights abuses committed during the former military government
and, in several cases, passed sentence on those found guilty. In
August, the Supreme Court upheld an Appeals Court decision to lift
former President Pinochet's judicial immunity, and, on December 13, a
judge indicted Pinochet for crimes committed as part of ``Operation
Condor'' in the 1970s. Pinochet's defense immediately filed motions to
dismiss on health, mental capacity, and technical grounds. The case
remained pending at year's end. Constitutional reforms removing certain
constitutional limits on popular rule passed the Senate and were being
considered in the Chamber of Deputies at year's end.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the
Government or its agents.
A number of cases from previous years, in which the police were
accused of unlawful killings due to excessive use of force or
mistreatment of prisoners while in custody, remained under
investigation or pending resolution of appeals.
In January, Judge Raul Mera began questioning active and retired
police officials in the 1988 deaths of Raul Pellegrini and Cecilia
Magni, members of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front. The case had
been declared closed twice due to lack of evidence.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed its position that the Amnesty Law
(covering human rights violations from 1973 to 1978) and the statute of
limitations should be applied only after the circumstances of the crime
had been clarified and the guilty party identified. Courts prosecuted a
number of 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 State Defense
Council (CDE) stated that this interpretation undermines the Amnesty
Law, that kidnapping cannot be classified as a permanent or ongoing
crime indefinitely, and that judges should end this legal subterfuge
and establish a presumption of homicide by other reasonable means. The
CDE opinion was not binding, and the Supreme Court has subsequently
upheld convictions based on indefinite kidnapping.
The judiciary continued to investigate human rights abuses
committed during the former military government and, in several cases,
passed sentence on those found guilty. According to the Vicariate of
Solidarity (a foundation linked to the Archdiocese of Santiago), at
year's end, there were 373 former officials (mostly military officials
but including some civilians) charged and under investigation for human
rights violations against 642 victims; press reports indicated that, at
year's end, 46 former security forces and 19 civilians had been
convicted of human rights violations and sentenced.
On August 26, the Supreme Court upheld a May decision by the Court
of Appeals to lift former President Pinochet's judicial immunity. On
December 13, investigating judge Juan Guzman charged President Pinochet
with nine kidnappings and one homicide committed as part of ``Operation
Condor'' in the 1970s. Pinochet's defense immediately appealed, and the
case remained pending at year's end.
The Foundation for Social Help of Christian Churches (FASIC), the
Corporation for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights of the People
(CODEPU), and other human rights organizations have several denial of
justice cases pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights regarding previously closed disappearance and execution cases.
Denial of justice cases based on application of the Amnesty Law also
remained pending with the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
The case of Spanish citizen Carmelo Soria, killed in Santiago in
1976, remained under investigation by a judge in the Sixth Criminal
Court of Santiago.
Judge Alejandro Solis continued an investigation of the case of
four retired generals and a civilian indicted in 2003 for the 1974 car
bombing in Buenos Aires of former Chilean Army commander Carlos Prats.
On March 15 and 24, the Court of Appeals reversed a January 29 Court of
Appeals decision denying parole to two retired Army officials indicted
in the Prats case and set the former officers free on bail. A request
from Judge Solis to lift former President Pinochet's immunity in the
Prats case was pending with the Santiago Court of Appeals at year's
end.
The investigation into the case of retired security officer Rafael
Gonzales, charged with the 1973 killing of U.S. citizen Charles Horman,
remained open. Gonzales was free on bail at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In 2002, the Ministry of Justice authorized 20 judges to dedicate
their time exclusively to historic cases of disappearances and another
51 judges to give preference to the investigation of such cases. At
year's end, 373 former officials (mostly military officials but
including some civilians) were charged and under investigation for
human rights violations against 642 victims, and 14 officials had been
sentenced by mid-July.
There were no further developments in the investigations of
military-era detentions and disappearances of persons at Colonia
Dignidad, a German-speaking settlement 240 miles south of Santiago.
Paul Schaefer, founder of the settlement and wanted on charges
including the 1994 kidnapping and disappearance of Alvaro Vallejos,
remained a fugitive. Schaefer's deputy Gerhard Muecke, arrested in 2000
in connection with Vallejos' disappearance, was reportedly free on bail
pending trial.
The investigation into the 1985 disappearance of American citizen
Boris Weisfeiler near Colonia Dignidad remained open at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, CODEPU
still received isolated reports of abuse and mistreatment by the
Carabineros, the Investigations Police, and prison guards.
Few reports of abuse or mistreatment led to convictions. Cases of
military and police abuse typically were processed in military, rather
than civilian courts, a situation which was denounced by human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) (see Section 1.e.). CODEPU was
unaware of any case in which a member of the military or police had
been convicted on abuse charges.
Unlike in the previous year, there was no report of the
mistreatment of military conscripts. The Military Justice investigation
of the June 2003 death of conscript Raul Aedo Campos was closed.
During the year, there were instances of violent confrontations
between Mapuche groups and local landowners, logging companies, and
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. Several
Mapuches were arrested in connection with acts of violence, and, in
March, 16 Mapuches were charged with ``illicit terrorist association''
based upon the Government's invocation of the Anti-terrorist Law (see
Section 5). On November 4, eight individuals were acquitted; four were
released, the other four were remanded to police custody to continue
serving sentences for prior convictions. Eight others refused to appear
for trial and remained at-large and sought by authorities at year's
end.
Prison conditions generally were poor. Prisons often were
overcrowded and antiquated, with sub-standard sanitary conditions.
According to the Ministry of Justice, there were approximately 37,000
prisoners in prisons designed to hold 23,025 inmates. Criminal and
administrative investigations of the September 2003 fire in El Manzano
prison facility in Concepcion, which caused 9 deaths and injured 18,
continued at year's end. Another non-fatal fire occurred at the same
facility in March. In its September report on the fire to the Chamber
of Deputies Committee on Human Rights, the Gendarmeria stated that it
had invested more than $2.1 million (1.25 billion pesos) to equip
national prison system facilities with fire fighting equipment. The
Gendarmaria instituted fire-fighting training for prison guards and
emergency response plans that it claimed have cut response time to fire
and medical emergencies in half.
Food in prisons 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.
Although most analysts stated that guards generally behaved
responsibly and did not mistreat prisoners, prisoners registered
complaints with CODEPU and the courts about beatings and mistreatment
of prisoners. An Amnesty International (AI) April 2003 prison visit
report recorded similar complaints and noted that overcrowding in
prison facilities led to torture and ill-treatment. Prisoners accused
guards of using excessive force to stop attempted prison breaks.
The Minister of Interior asked the courts to conduct independent
investigations of credible complaints of police abuse, but such
investigations often did not result in arrests due in part to the
reluctance of judges to pursue the issue vigorously. CODEPU was
investigating eight such complaints at year's end. Statistics on
complaints of mistreatment and reliable reporting of such instances
during the year were not available.
When requested by other human rights organizations or family
members, CODEPU lawyers visited detainees during interrogations and
represented some persons charged with terrorist acts in court. CODEPU
continued to investigate alleged use of excessive force against
detainees and particularly was concerned with the treatment of
prisoners in maximum-security prisons and prisoners with HIV/AIDS and
mental disabilities who allegedly failed to receive adequate medical
attention.
In isolated instances, prisoners died due to lack of clear prison
procedures and insufficient resources in the prisons. In March, in San
Miguel Prison, Hernan Zuleta Sanchez experienced abdominal pains but
did not receive timely or appropriate treatment, was placed in solitary
confinement, and died early the following day from a burst hernia.
Women generally were held in separate facilities, which tended to
be less crowded and with comparatively better conditions than prisons
for men.
The law requires that juvenile offenders (those under the age of
18) be held separately from adult prisoners. A Diego Portales
University study reported that, in May, the Gendarmeria moved juvenile
offenders from the South Santiago prison for men to a reserved section
of the Santiago women's prison, and two new juvenile detention centers
were opened.
Pretrial detainees generally were not held with convicted
prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits took place, including regular visits by
Catholic and Protestant clerics and Paternitas, a family-assistance
NGO. AI and the International Committee of the Red Cross were also
granted access to facilities and prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these provisions. Only public officials expressly authorized by law can
arrest or detain citizens. The courts must be advised within 48 hours
of the arrest and the detainee placed at a judge's disposition. No one
can be held or detained except in their home or a public facility
designed for that purpose.
The 27,000-member Carabinero force has primary responsibility for
public order, safety, traffic control, and border security. The
civilian Investigations Police, composed of approximately 3,600
detectives, is responsible for criminal investigations and immigration
control. The Investigations Police, while under the operational
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior, receive guidance from the
prosecutor or judge responsible in a criminal investigation. The police
force had an extremely low incidence of corruption. Police, prison
guards, and officials take courses in human rights, which are part of
the core curriculum in the police and military academies.
The authorities generally respected constitutional provisions for
arrest and detention; however, detainees often were not advised
promptly of charges against them nor granted a timely hearing before a
judge. The Constitution allows civilian and military courts to order
detention for up to 5 days without arraignment and to extend the
detention of alleged terrorists for up to 10 days. The Constitution
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; it also
prohibits police from demanding identification from or stopping persons
based solely on suspicion and prohibits physical abuse by police
against detained persons (see Section 1.c.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary has civil, criminal, juvenile, and labor courts of
first instance throughout the country. There are 16 courts of appeal,
at least 1 in every region. The Santiago and Valparaiso courts of
appeal have several chambers that tend to specialize in a specific area
of the law. 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 is also a Court Martial and
Naval Court Martial.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right. An office of
Public Defender provides professional legal counsel to anyone seeking
such assistance. The judicial reform law, which was applied everywhere
except in the Santiago greater metropolitan region, provides that
national and regional prosecutors investigate crimes and formulate
charges, leaving judges the narrower function of weighing the merits of
evidence presented to them. Under the new system, three judge panels
form the court of first instance. In the Santiago metropolitan region,
which was expected to adopt the reform law in June 2005, criminal
proceedings remained inquisitorial rather than adversarial. Under the
inquisitorial system, a single judge investigates, formulates charges,
takes written testimony, and issues rulings. Five-judge panels hear
appeals. Under judicial reform, trials are public; under the
inquisitorial system, criminal proceedings and most other proceedings
were not public due to the written nature of the procedure. However,
court records, rulings, and findings were generally accessible to the
public.
The Constitution provides for the right to legal counsel, but
indigent defendants, who account for the majority of the cases in the
Santiago region, did not always receive effective legal representation.
They usually were represented by someone from the Government's legal
assistance corporation, who was sometimes a law student finishing
studies under the supervision of one of the corporation's lawyers.
Defendants have a right of appeal. The judicial reform law establishes
a presumption of innocence, which the old system does not explicitly
provide.
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 sometimes has granted.
This was of particular consequence in human rights cases from the
period covered by the Amnesty Law, since military courts were more
inclined 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. Rulings by military
tribunals may be appealed to the Supreme Court. Persons accused of
terrorist acts and persons arrested during demonstrations for
assaulting a police officer also were 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. The primary difference in the military
court system is that a military prosecutor brings the initial charges
and conducts the investigation, and the first instance of appeal is in
a Court Martial, composed of two civilian and three military judges.
There were no reports of political prisoners, although 57 inmates
in Santiago's maximum-security prison, all charged with terrorist acts
following the return to democracy, claimed to be political prisoners.
In August, the Senate passed a law granting amnesty to 32 of these
individuals, freeing those convicted on arms infractions or for illicit
terrorist association after 1990.
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, subject to significant legal
restrictions. The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
Human rights groups and press associations criticized the existence
and application of laws that prohibit insulting state institutions,
including the presidency and legislative and judicial bodies, and 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
and individuals can also be sued for libel. In July, a Senator filed a
civil suit for damages against the Channel 13 television station and
several individuals for airing a television interview naming him in the
sexual abuse of a minor. The case was pending at year's end.
The Penal Code prohibits the surreptitious taping or recording of
private conversations. A 2003 case involving the first application of
the law remained pending at year's end.
Two major media groups controlled most of the print media, which
largely were independent of the Government. The Government was the
majority owner of La Nacion newspaper, but its editorial content was
not under direct government control.
The broadcast media generally were independent of direct government
influence. The Television Nacional network is state-owned but not under
direct government control. It received no government subsidy and 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 assuring 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 have
sexually explicit scenes may be shown only after 10 p.m. when ``family
viewing hours'' end. In practice, the ever-increasing volume of
programming made the CNT's job difficult. The CNT occasionally levied
fines.
The courts may prohibit media coverage of investigations in
progress but did so rarely.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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. Church and State officially are separate; however, the Roman
Catholic Church continued to receive some preferential treatment. All
denominations practiced their faiths without restriction.
The law allows, but does not require, religious entities to
register as not-for-profit corporations, with attendant tax benefits.
The law grants non-Catholic religions the right to have chaplains in
public hospitals, prisons, and military units; however, some leaders of
the country's Protestant churches (accounting for more than 15 percent
of the population) cited the absence of Protestant armed forces
chaplains, difficulties for pastors to visit military hospitals, and
the predominantly Catholic religious education in public schools as
examples of discrimination.
Schools were required to offer religious education twice a week
through middle school; however, enrollment in religious classes was
optional. The creed requested by parents was supposed to be taught,
although enforcement was sometimes lax. Instruction was predominantly
in the Roman Catholic faith.
A government challenge to the registration of the Unification
Church under new regulations remained pending in the Santiago Court of
Appeals at year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
The law includes provisions for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or 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. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. By
year's end, 568 persons residing the country had recognized refugee
status. The Government also provided temporary protection to 85
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/
1967 Protocol. These individuals were eligible for government-funded
health care and education while awaiting adjudication, and were
supported by the UNHCR and other organizations.
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. In 2000, voters elected Ricardo Lagos of the
Socialist Party as president in a free and fair runoff election. Lagos
is a member of the center-left Concertacion coalition, which includes
his Socialist Party, the Christian Democratic Party, the Party for
Democracy (of which Lagos is also a member), and the Radical Social
Democrat Party.
The 1980 Constitution, as amended in 1989, includes provisions
designed to protect the interests of the military and places limits on
majority rule. It provides that various national institutions--
including the President, the Supreme Court, and the National Security
Council (the latter acting on nominations by the armed forces)--may
appoint an additional nine senators (beyond those elected) to 8-year
terms and that former presidents have an option to become senators for
life, a position that former President Frei occupied. Former President
Pinochet resigned his Senate seat in 2002.
In October, the Senate passed constitutional reforms striking
provisions that limited the President's right to remove the commanders
in chief of the three armed services and the Carabineros, removing all
non-elected senators as of 2006, reducing the Presidential term of
office from 6 to 4 years, and making the National Security Council a
purely advisory body. At year's end, these provisions were pending
approval in the Chamber of Deputies.
Transparency International's annual corruption index recorded that
the public perceived the country as relatively free of corruption,
although such perceptions were somewhat affected by lingering reports
of government financial scandals and the revelation of former President
Pinochet's secret bank accounts abroad. In May, almost 20 months after
bribery charges first were brought, the judge in charge of the
investigation convicted President Lagos' former Undersecretary of
Transportation, 3 deputies from the government coalition, a former
Chief of Cabinet from the Ministry of Public Works, and 3 businessmen
from Rancagua and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 21 days
(suspended) to 3 years and 1 day and levied fines ranging from
approximately $1,750 to $63,250 (1 million to 36 million pesos) for the
crimes of bribery and subornation. Appeals to the Supreme Court
remained pending at year's end. A judicial investigation into
allegations of Ministry of Public Works involvement in a broader
kickback scheme continued at year's end.
The country's Freedom of Information Act requires the Government
and its agencies to make all non-classified information about their
activities available to the public. The Controller General has noted an
increasing tendency for agencies to classify information and has issued
guidelines limiting what information should be restricted. All
government ministries and most public agencies have web pages, although
the amount of information available online varied widely.
There were no impediments to women's participation in government
and politics. There were 15 women in the 120-seat Chamber of Deputies,
2 women in the 48-seat Senate, and 3 women in the 16-member cabinet.
Indigenous people have the legal right to participate freely in the
political process, although relatively few were active politically.
There were no members of Congress who acknowledged indigenous descent.
There was one cabinet minister of indigenous origin who resigned to run
in the municipal elections.
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.
Several human rights NGOs faced difficulties, due to limited
sources of funding. The Chilean Human Rights Commission, an NGO, is
affiliated with the International League of Human Rights. FASIC
continued to be active on a range of human rights issues and tracked
the status of many human rights cases, particularly those involving the
military. CODEPU again operated at greatly reduced levels of activity
during the year due to a lack of resources. Many international NGOs
also followed human rights issues closely.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equality before the law, and the
Government generally respected these provisions. The Labor Code
prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, age, nationality,
national origin, or social status; however, such discrimination
occurred in practice.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a serious problem. A
2001 University of Chile study, the most current available, indicated
that more than half the women in the country had experienced violence
in their relationship with their partner. The study estimated that 34
percent of women had been subjected to physical violence (of which 15
percent was sexual violence), and another 16 percent had suffered
psychological violence.
The courts may order counseling for those involved in intra-family
violence. At year's end, there were 17 government and 8 private centers
to attend to victims of intra-family violence. An awareness program to
prevent intra-family violence in the country's 13 regions reached 3,000
social workers, 2,000 families, and 2,500 young adults. During the
year, the National Women's Service (SERNAM) together with other NGOs
conducted courses on the legal, medical, and psychological aspects of
domestic violence for police officers and judicial and municipal
authorities.
Rape is a criminal offense. The age for statutory rape was raised
from 12 to 14. The law protects the privacy and safety of the person
making the charge. SERNAM's latest statistics indicated that 859 cases
of rape were reported to the police in the first half of 2003. This
number did not include other forms of sexual violence or abuse. Experts
believed that a majority of rape cases went unreported.
The Ministry of Justice and the Investigative Police 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 victims of rape.
Adult prostitution is legal; however, police often detained
prostitutes (usually as a result of complaints by residents of the
neighborhood) on charges of ``offenses against morality,'' which could
lead to a $70 (50,000 pesos) fine or 5 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 3 to 20 years in prison and a $1,000 (612,000
pesos) fine depending on the age of the minor.
Laws passed in December 2003 specifically targeted child
pornography and cyberporn, substantially increasing penalties for these
activities. The Investigations Police has a Sexual Crimes Brigade
charged with investigating and prosecuting pedophilia and child
pornography cases.
There were no laws against sexual harassment, although it generally
was recognized as a problem. A SERNAM study in the Greater Santiago
area estimated that 11.8 percent of female employees suffered some form
of sexual harassment. In industrial and service sectors, more than 20
percent of female employees reported some form of sexual harassment,
and a third of female office employees reported harassment. More than
half of those interviewed for the study, both male and female, said
that sexual harassment in the workplace was frequent or very frequent.
Legislation that would provide specific protections against sexual
harassment was pending in Congress at year's end.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men. In November, a Law on
Civil Marriage entered into force that allows for civil divorces,
although it still imposes lengthy waiting periods between filing for
divorce and issuance of a final decree.
A 2001 SERNAM study found that in 1999 the average earnings of
women were 77 percent of those of male heads of household. The minimum
wage for domestic helpers, probably the largest single category of
working women, was only 75 percent of the standard minimum wage (see
Section 6.e.). Women with university education earned 60 percent of
what their male counterparts did. A study during the year suggested
that the overall income gap remained at 24 percent in 2003. The Labor
Code provides specific benefits for pregnant workers and recent
mothers, including a prohibition against dismissal; these also apply to
domestic workers. Employers may not ask women to take pregnancy tests
prior to hiring them, although La Morada received reports that the
practice continued in some companies.
There were 25 registered NGOs working on women's issues. The top
five were La Morada, Study Center for Women's Development (CEDEM), the
Women's Institute (Instituto de la Mujer), Movement pro-Chilean Women
Emancipation (MEMCH), and Information and Communication among Women
Service (ISIS International). La Morada engaged in political activism
aimed at overcoming gender discrimination by modifying sexist political
and cultural patterns. CEDEM worked in rural areas and provided
training and consulting to different women's organizations to implement
social and economic development programs. The Women's Institute
advocated for women's rights and political participation. MEMCH
promoted personal development of women. ISIS International coordinated
a network of women's organizations devoted to defending and promoting
women's rights.
Children.--The Government is committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Education is universal, compulsory, and free from first through
twelfth grade. In 2002, the median level of education was 10 years but
varied regionally and across age groups. Three-quarters of the
population had completed primary education (8 years), 61 percent had
secondary education (12 years), and 17 percent had university or
advanced technical education.
The Government provided basic health care through a public system,
which includes regular checkups, vaccinations, and emergency health
care. Boys and girls had equal access to medical health care.
Violence against children was a serious problem. A 2003 study by
the Citizens' Peace Foundation indicated that 60 percent of 2,150
children between the ages of 7 and 10 surveyed had suffered some type
of aggression against them or their belongings either inside or outside
their homes.
The National Minors Service (SENAME) noted that, in the first 6
months of 2003, it had handled 28,642 cases of mistreated children;
4,158 of these cases involved sexual abuse or grave physical harm.
SENAME lawyers received specialized training in child abuse cases.
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 persons may have been trafficked to, from,
and within the country.
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 3 years in prison and a fine of $600 (430,000
pesos). Sanctions are increased in a number of circumstances, including
cases in which the victim is a minor; in which 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 Penal Code criminalizes
the prostitution of children and corruption of minors, and the age of
consent for sexual relations is 14 years. A 2003 law criminalizes
obtaining sexual services from a minor in exchange for money or other
considerations.
The Government was investigating several cases of commercial sexual
exploitation, most of which involved small local groups or individuals
acting alone; however, there were no convictions.
There were no statistics available on the extent of trafficking.
There are laws controlling migration, criminalizing sexual trafficking
and regulating working conditions, but no integrated legislation or
designated lead agency on trafficking in persons. A 2003 study
conducted by SENAME and Arcis University concluded that more than 3,700
children and adolescents had been the victims of commercial sexual
exploitation in 2002-03, but many knowledgeable observers considered
that number too low.
Within the country, victims reportedly were trafficked from rural
areas to such urban areas as Santiago, Iquique, and Valparaiso. Law
enforcement authorities stated that victims were trafficked to
neighboring countries (Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia), the United
States, Europe, and Asia. Victims reportedly entered the country from
Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia, although it was difficult to distinguish
trafficked persons 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, age 11 to 17, into the sex trade. Law enforcement agencies
indicated that traffickers looking for children also targeted
economically disadvantaged families, persuading the parents that they
were giving the child an opportunity for a better life.
The Government employed various measures to educate the general
population on trafficking. The SENAME, the ministries of Government and
Health, and other government agencies formed the Protect Network to
offer public awareness and education campaigns to prevent sexual
violence and abuse, although none was focused specifically on
trafficking. Nearly 80 percent of SENAME's budget supported NGO
programs, particularly those that work with street children.
Organizations such as Mother's Centers and SENAME also offered support
programs to prevent trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law promotes the integration of
persons with disabilities into society, and the Government's National
Fund for the Handicapped had a small budget to encourage such
integration; however, persons with disabilities still suffered some
forms of legal discrimination. Although the law mandates access to
buildings for persons with disabilities, by year's end, 74 percent of
the buildings in the country failed to meet that requirement (79
percent in the Santiago metropolitan area). The public transportation
system did not provide for wheelchair access, and subway lines in the
Santiago metropolitan area provided facilitated access for persons with
disabilities only in some areas.
Indigenous People.--The 2002 census recorded that there were
approximately 692,000 self-identified people of indigenous origin (4.6
percent of the total population). The Mapuches, from the south,
accounted for approximately 85 percent of this number. There were also
small Aymara, Atacameno, Rapa Nui, and Kawaskhar populations in other
parts of the country. Indigenous leaders contended that the census
underreported the number of indigenous people.
The law gives indigenous people a voice in decisions affecting
their lands, cultures, and traditions and provides for eventual
bilingual education in schools with indigenous populations.
Approximately one-half the population that identifies itself as
indigenous remained separated from the rest of society, largely due to
historical, cultural, educational, and geographical factors. In
practice, 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.
The National Corporation for Indigenous Development, which included
directly elected indigenous representatives, advised and directed
government programs to assist the economic development of indigenous
people. Congress did not act on recommendations made in October 2003 by
the Commission for Truth and New Treatment to recognize indigenous
people in the Constitution and mandate indigenous representation in the
Congress and local governing bodies.
Land occupations and other acts of violence by Mapuche groups
sharply decreased from previous years (see Section 1.c.). The
authorities tried many of those charged with attacks on property under
anti-terrorist legislation.
In October, Human Rights Watch issued a report that criticized the
Government for prejudice in applying the Anti-terrorist Law to Mapuche
activists, citing the law's restriction of due process and harsher
penalties for crimes already covered under the Civil Code. The report
also alleged excessive use of police force against Mapuche activists
and called for an end to the practice of trying civilian-related cases
(assault and police brutality) in military tribunals. In 2003, the U.N.
Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties of
Indigenous People reported on the economic and social marginalization
of indigenous communities and the criminalization of indigenous social
protest movements by means of the application of the Anti-terrorist
Law. The Rapporteur recommended the judicial review of cases affecting
Mapuche leaders. By year's end, the Government had taken no action
explicitly responding to the Report.
In March, the Government charged Aniceto Norin Catriman and Pascual
Pichon Paillalao, Mapuche community leaders, and Patricia Troncoso, a
supporter of the movement, with offenses under the Anti-terrorist Law.
The initial trial absolved all three defendants due to a lack of
evidence. In a September retrial ordered by the Supreme Court, the two
men again were found innocent of the charge of ``terrorist arson'' but
sentenced to 5 years and 1 day of prison for terrorist threats.
Patricia Troncoso was absolved of all charges.
A 2003 court martial dropped charges against a Carabinero major of
unnecessary violence in connection with the 2002 killing of a Mapuche
activist.
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.
Police and military personnel may not organize collectively. Members of
unions were free to withdraw from union membership. The law prohibits
closed union shops.
The law protects workers against employer anti-union discrimination
and sets fines for unfair labor practices (from roughly $500 (300,000
pesos) to $7,800 (4.5 million pesos). Employers must reinstate
employees fired for union activity. Fired workers can choose between
reinstatement or a court-determined severance package of up to 11
months' pay.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Temporary
workers--defined in the Labor Code as those in agriculture and
construction, as well as port workers and entertainers--may form
unions, but their right to collective bargaining is limited. The
modification of the Labor Code contains reforms aimed at facilitating
collective bargaining in the agricultural sector but it remained
dependent on employers agreeing to negotiate. Inter-company unions were
permitted to bargain collectively only if the individual employers
agreed to negotiate under such terms.
Employees in the private sector have the right to strike; however,
the Government regulated this right, and there were some restrictions.
The law permits replacement of striking workers, subject to the
payment of a penalty that is distributed among the strikers. Public
employees do not enjoy the right to strike, although government
teachers, municipal, and health workers have gone on strike in the
past. The law proscribes employees of some 30 companies--largely
providers of essential services (e.g., water and electricity)--from
striking; it stipulates compulsory arbitration to resolve disputes in
these companies. There was no provision for compulsory arbitration in
the public sector. Strikes by agricultural workers during the harvest
season were prohibited. Employers must show cause and pay severance
benefits to dismiss striking workers.
Labor laws applied in the duty free zones; there were no export
processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution and
the Labor Code prohibit 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 was a problem (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law restricts child labor; however, 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, and 15-year-olds only may perform light work
not requiring hard physical labor or constituting a threat to health
and childhood development. Additional provisions in the law protect
workers under 18 years of age 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 8 hours in 1
day). The minimum age to work in an underground mine is 21 years;
special regulations govern the ability of 18- to 21-year-olds to work
at other types of mining sites.
Labor inspectors enforced these regulations, and compliance was
good in the formal economy; however, many children were employed in the
informal economy. In April, the Ministry of Labor and the International
Labor Organization completed and released the first National Survey on
Children and Adolescent Activities. The Survey revealed that, as of
February 2003, approximately 200,000 children between the ages of 12
and 19 worked; that 3 percent of all children and adolescents (107,680)
worked under unacceptable conditions; that, among working children,
those between the ages of 5 and 14 worked an average of 18.5 hours a
week; and that adolescents worked an average of 39.5 hours. Children
sold chewing gum on the street, washed windshields, worked as street
performers, begged, or helped their parents to harvest crops. There
were 189 registered cases of the worst forms of labor, 70 percent of
which affected teenage boys between the ages of 15 and 18.
SENAME, in coordination with labor inspectors, has a system for
identifying and assisting children in abusive or dangerous situations.
The Ministry of Labor convenes regular meetings of a tripartite group
(business-labor-government) to monitor progress in eradicating child
labor. SENAME has 2 programs for exploited child workers in Santiago
and 1 in Valparaiso, serving roughly 200 children a year.
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. The minimum wage at year's end was approximately $196
(120,000 pesos), a 3.8 percent nominal increase from the previous year.
This wage, designed to serve as the starting wage for an unskilled
single worker entering the labor force, 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 law sets hours of work. The legal workweek is 6 days or 48
hours. Rule changes mandated reduction of the workweek to 45 hours
beginning January 1, 2005. The maximum workday length is 10 hours
(including 2 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 2 weeks.
The law establishes occupational safety and health standards, which
were administered by the ministries of Health and of Labor and
effectively enforced. Insurance mutual funds provide workers'
compensation and occupational safety training for the private and
public sectors. Workers who remove themselves from situations that
endanger their health and safety have their employment protected if a
real danger to their health or safety exists. Labor inspectors from the
Labor Directorate are responsible for determining whether such dangers
exist.
__________
COLOMBIA
Colombia is a constitutional, multiparty democracy. In 2002, voters
elected independent candidate Alvaro Uribe president and selected a
bicameral legislature with a mix of Liberal, Conservative, and
independent members. Internal armed conflict continued between the
Government and terrorist groups, particularly the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). The conflict caused the
deaths of between 3,000 and 4,000 persons during the year, including
combat casualties, political murders, and forced disappearances. The
civilian judiciary is largely independent of the executive and
legislative branches; however, it was overburdened, inefficient, and
subject to intimidation and corruption.
The civilian-led Ministry of Defense is responsible for internal
and external security and oversees both the police and the armed
forces, including the army, air force, and navy. The National Police
shared law enforcement duties with the Administrative Department of
Security (DAS) and the Prosecutor General's Corps of Technical
Investigators (CTI). The police are responsible for order and security
in urban areas. The armed forces are responsible for national defense
and security in rural areas, and support the police in urban areas when
called upon. Although civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, there were instances in which
members of the security forces committed human rights abuses. Police
and military forces continued to take steps to improve their human
rights record; however, some members of the security forces violated
human rights in defiance of government policy.
The country has a diverse market-based economy and a population of
approximately 44 million. Crude oil, coal, coffee, and cut flowers are
the country's principal legal exports. Drug trafficking has created a
large illicit economy. Economic growth for the year was estimated at
3.8 percent, while inflation measured 5.5 percent. Income distribution
was highly skewed, with 59 percent of the population living in poverty.
Unemployment fell to 11.7 percent and per capita gross domestic product
rose to $2,015.
Although serious problems remained, the Government's respect for
human rights improved in some areas. While nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) claimed that the security forces' share had
increased, the percentage of total human rights abuses reported
attributed to security forces was low; however, some members of the
security forces continued to commit serious abuses, including unlawful
and extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances. Some members of
the security forces continued to collaborate with the terrorist AUC,
which committed serious abuses. Police, prison guards, and military
forces mistreated detainees. Conditions in the overcrowded and
underfunded prisons were harsh, and prisoners frequently relied on
bribes for favorable treatment. There were allegations of arbitrary
arrests and detentions, and prolonged pretrial detention remained a
fundamental problem. Impunity remained at the core of the country's
human rights problems. The civilian judiciary was inefficient, severely
overburdened by a large case backlog, and undermined by corruption and
intimidation. Despite prosecutions and convictions of some members of
the security forces, no high-ranking officers were convicted of human
rights offenses.
The authorities sometimes infringed on citizens' privacy rights.
Three journalists were killed during the year, and journalists
continued to work in an atmosphere of threats and intimidation,
primarily from terrorist groups, but also in some instances from
corrupt local officials. Journalists practiced self-censorship to avoid
reprisals. There were some restrictions on freedom of movement within
narrowly defined geographic areas, generally because of security
concerns.
Violence and instability displaced at least 137,000 civilians
during the year, and the total number of internally displaced persons
(IDPs) may have exceeded 2 million, including 800,000 children. There
were reports that members of the security forces harassed members of
human rights groups. Violence and extensive societal discrimination
against women, child abuse, and child prostitution remained serious
problems. Trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of sexual
exploitation was a problem. Extensive societal discrimination against
indigenous persons and minorities continued. Child labor was a
widespread problem.
Despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by the AUC to facilitate
demobilization negotiations with the Government, paramilitaries
continued to commit numerous political killings--including of labor
leaders. Paramilitaries often kidnapped and tortured suspected
guerrilla sympathizers prior to executing them. Paramilitaries
interfered with personal privacy in areas where they exercised de facto
control, forcibly displaced thousands of innocent civilians, and
engaged in military operations that endangered civilian lives.
Paramilitaries also threatened and attacked human rights workers and
journalists who criticized their illegal activities and continued to
employ child soldiers. Despite paramilitary cease-fire violations
committed throughout the year, the overall level of paramilitary
violence continued to decline.
FARC and ELN terrorists were responsible for a large percentage of
civilian deaths attributable to the internal armed conflict.
Guerrillas, particularly the FARC, committed hundreds of intentional
illegal killings and killed and injured hundreds of civilians in random
terrorist bombings and landmine incidents. The FARC also continued to
kidnap, torture, and murder off-duty members of the public security
forces. The FARC engaged in a concerted campaign to destabilize
municipal governments by killing local officials and threatening to
execute others. The FARC and ELN kidnapped hundreds of civilians to
help finance subversion and put political pressure on the Government.
Guerrillas caused mass displacements both intentionally and as by-
products of military offensives and engaged in widespread recruitment
of child soldiers. The FARC and ELN announced a policy of strategic
cooperation to combat the security forces and declared that neither
group would enter peace negotiations with the Government. FARC and ELN
terrorists threatened and attacked human rights activists. They also
engaged in widespread recruitment of minors and used female conscripts
as sex slaves.
During the year, there were significant improvements in several
human rights indicators. Killings decreased by 16 percent, terrorist
massacres by nearly 50 percent, killings of trade union leaders by 25
percent, kidnappings by 42 percent, and according to government
figures, forced displacements by over 37 percent. In November and
December, government negotiators succeeded in demobilizing nearly 3,000
fighters from 5 separate AUC paramilitary blocs. Hundreds of municipal
officials returned to their municipalities after the Government
established a permanent police presence in every urban center in the
country.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary and 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 National Police registered 19,010 killings
during the year, a 16 percent decrease from 2003 and the lowest number
of killings in 18 years. The city of Medellin, once notorious for its
high murder rates, registered a 40 percent decline in killings to their
lowest level in 25 years.
The Jesuit-founded Center for Popular Research and Education
(CINEP), a prominent local human rights NGO, claimed there were at
least 382 political murders and extrajudicial killings, committed by
all actors, during the first 6 months of the year. The Government's
Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that 238 persons died in
43 massacres, committed by illegal armed groups, through November, a 49
percent decrease in the number of victims from 2003.
According to CINEP, state security forces were responsible for 124
extrajudicial killings during the first 6 months of the year. For
example, according to local NGO Reinciar, on July 26, army soldiers
killed Mauricio Tote, a member of the now-defunct leftist Patriotic
Union (UP) political party, in Popayan, Cauca Department. Most of the
incidents cited by CINEP were under investigation by military or
civilian authorities at year's end. Civilian courts tried an increasing
number of cases of military personnel accused of human rights
violations (see Section 1.e.). Investigations of past killings
proceeded slowly.
Through August, the Office of the Inspector General (Procuraduria)
had charged 19 members of the Armed Forces with human rights offenses.
As in the previous year, the Office continued to refer all cases
involving human rights violations to the Prosecutor General for
criminal investigation.
On May 16, the Inspector General's Office ordered the symbolic
dismissal from the Armed Forces of retired army Lieutenant Colonel
Jorge Plazas, who was ruled responsible for participating in forced
disappearances, kidnapping for ransom, and obstruction of justice. In
2002, Plazas was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a civilian criminal
court after being convicted for the 1998 kidnapping and murder of a
prominent businessman. In July 2003, he escaped from a military
detention facility in Bogota and was still at large at year's end.
As of September, the Human Rights Unit of the Prosecutor General's
Office (Fiscalia) had issued preventive detention orders for nine
members of the Armed Forces for human rights violations or paramilitary
collaboration. However, for various reasons, including lack of
resources for investigations, lack of protection for witnesses and
investigators, lack of coordination between government entities, and,
in some cases, obstruction of justice by individuals, impunity
continued to be widespread.
On March 19, a patrol from the army's Boyaca Battalion killed seven
policemen and four civilians in an ambush in the municipality of
Guaitarilla, Narino Department. The criminal investigation was assigned
to the military justice system, and the Inspector General's Office
opened a parallel disciplinary investigation. On August 30, the
Inspector General's Office charged five officials with negligence and
official misconduct. On December 15, the Superior Military Tribunal
reversed a September 10 decision by military investigators to close the
criminal case and ordered that the case be investigated further.
On April 10, members of the army's Sixth Brigade killed a family of
five in the municipality of Cajamarca, Tolima Department, during a
military operation against the FARC. The soldiers admitted to firing
mistakenly on the civilians. In November, the Supreme Council of the
Judiciary (CSJ) reversed an earlier decision taken in June and granted
the civil justice system jurisdiction over the case. The investigation
continued at year's end.
On August 5, soldiers from the army's 18th Brigade shot and killed
three trade union members outside a home near Saravena, Arauca
Department. In September, the Prosecutor General's Office ordered their
arrest and asked the Army to formally suspend the soldiers until the
case was resolved. The investigation continued at year's end.
On August 28, a small group of leftist legislators denounced an
alleged plot to assassinate leftist politicians and labor leaders known
as ``Operation Dragon.'' The plot allegedly involved members of the
military. An investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office was
ongoing at year's end.
On August 31, two policemen were killed in a ``friendly fire''
incident in Floridablanca, Santander Department when an elite
government antikidnapping unit (GAULA) of the Army mistakenly attacked
police during an antinarcotics operation. The Prosecutor General's
Office, with the support of the military justice system, opened an
investigation that continued at year's end.
The Procuraduria and the military penal justice system continued
separate investigations into the 2002 deaths of Florentino Castellanos
and his 9-year-old son during a military operation near the town of
Cantagallo, Bolivar Department.
The Office of the Prosecutor General continued to gather evidence
against eight members of the army's Ninth Brigade, including a colonel
and a captain, for the 2002 killing of a FARC deserter.
On January 30, a court sentenced army Sergeants Sandro Fernando
Barrerro and Humberto Blandon to 40 years in prison for the 2000
kidnapping and murder of Uberney Giraldo and Jose Evelio Gallo,
demobilized ELN guerrillas associated with the political Socialist
Renewal Movement.
On January 22, the Prosecutor General's Office ruled there was
insufficient evidence to charge Brigadier General Alvaro Velandia with
involvement in the 1987 murder of M-19 guerrilla Nydia Erika Bautista.
By year's end, there was no ruling on the Office of the Inspector
General's appeal of a decision by the Council of State to overturn the
Inspector General's order that the military dismiss the general.
There continued to be credible reports that some members of the
security forces cooperated with illegal paramilitaries in violation of
orders from civilian leaders, including 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. For example, according to Amnesty
International (AI), the May 19 paramilitary massacre of 11 peasant
farmers in the municipality of Tame, Arauca Department, took place
during large-scale military operations in the area.
Impunity for military personnel who collaborated with members of
paramilitary groups remained a problem. However, there was progress in
several cases related to military collusion with paramilitaries. For
example, on September 16, the Prosecutor General's Office arrested
Captain Ruben Blanco for ``lending counsel and security to individuals
linked to paramilitary groups,'' after paramilitary chief Elkin
Casarrubia was found hiding in Blanco's home in Medellin.
The criminal trial of former Brigadier General Jaime Uscategui
continued during the year. On October 6, the Criminal Chamber of the
Supreme Court, citing security concerns, agreed to transfer the case
from Villavicencio, Meta Department, to Bogota. The trial in absentia
of former army colonel Hernan Orozco, who testified against Uscategui
in an earlier military trial, also continued.
On September 14, the Inspector General's Office upheld
administrative sanctions against three military officers--retired Rear
Admiral Rodrigo Quinones, Captain Oscar Eduardo Saavedra, and Captain
Camilo Martinez--for failing to prevent the 2001 paramilitary massacre
of 27 persons in the village of Chengue, Sucre Department. The
Inspector General also upheld the dismissal of two noncommissioned
officers (NCOs), Rafael Euclides Bossa and Ruben Dario Rojas, for
providing weapons to the paramilitaries who committed the massacre.
On December 27, the Inspector General's Office absolved retired
Navy Rear Admiral Rodrigo Quinones of responsibility for the 2000
paramilitary massacre in the El Salado neighborhood of Las Ovejas,
Bolivar Department, in which 38 persons were killed. The Inspector
General's Office ordered the dismissal of Captain Hector Martin Pita
and a symbolic 50-day suspension of retired Colonel Carlos Alberto
Sanchez for their negligence in the case.
On April 12, the Office of the Inspector General ordered the 90-day
suspension of Colonel Rafael Alfonso Hani for his failure to protect
adequately the civilian population near Buga, Valle del Cauca
Department, from paramilitaries atrocities while he commanded the
army's Palace Battalion in the city during 1999.
On July 26, the Administrative Tribunal of Cundinamarca Department
ruled that the Government should pay approximately $20 million (50
billion pesos) to 120 families of victims of the 1999 paramilitary
massacre near La Gabarra, Norte de Santander Department, because both
the police and army failed to take measures to prevent it.
On March 4, the Prosecutor General's Office closed its case against
General Rito Alejo del Rio for lack of evidence. Del Rio had been
arrested by the Prosecutor General's Office in 2001 for his alleged
role in the formation of paramilitary groups in the Uraba region of
Antioquia Department in the mid-1990s.
On August 12, the Inspector General's Office recommended that 8
members of the Army be tried criminally and convicted for participation
in the deaths of 10 persons in Huila Department between 1993 and 1994.
Those under investigation included Colonel Jose Ancizar Hincapie and
Captain Enrique Bernardo Camacho.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights continued to broker a
settlement of the UP party's 1996 complaint that charged the Government
with ``action or omission'' in the murders of nearly 3,000 UP and
Communist Party members in the 1980s and 1990s. Negotiations between
the Government and UP representatives continued at year's end.
On July 21, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that the
Government shared responsibility for the murders of 19 merchants by
paramilitaries in Puerto Boyaca, Boyaca Department, in 1987. The ruling
obligated the Government to fulfill 23 conditions, including publicly
recognizing its responsibility for the murders, paying $6.5 million
(16.25 billion pesos) in compensation to the victims' relatives, and
reopening the criminal investigation.
Paramilitaries committed numerous political and unlawful killings,
primarily in areas they disputed with guerrillas and generally in the
absence of a strong government presence. According to CINEP,
paramilitaries were responsible for at least 304 such killings during
the first 6 months of the year. Paramilitaries targeted journalists
(see Section 2.a.), human rights activists (see Section 4), labor
leaders (see Section 6.a.), indigenous leaders (see Section 5), local
politicians, and others who threatened to interfere with their criminal
activities or showed leftist sympathies. For example, on August 3,
suspected paramilitaries in Valledupar, Cesar Department, killed Fredy
Arias, spokesman and human rights coordinator for the Kankuamo
indigenous tribe (see Section 4).
Continuing a trend that began in 2002, paramilitaries committed
fewer large-scale massacres than in previous years. According to the
Presidential Program for Human Rights, 13 persons died in paramilitary
massacres as of August, compared with 18 in 2003, 54 in 2002, and 281
in 2001. However, the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) blamed
paramilitaries for far more massacres, reporting that paramilitaries
killed at least 46 persons in massacres through August. For example, on
April 18, after several days of threats, paramilitaries reportedly
raided the community of Bahia Portete, La Guajira Department, where
they tortured and killed at least four members of the indigenous Wayuu
tribe, and abducted several others, including children. More than 600
Wayuu sought refuge across the border in Venezuela (see Section 2.d.).
Paramilitaries killed many persons they suspected of collaboration
with the FARC. For example, in March, paramilitaries killed seven
persons in Cravo Norte, Arauca Department and six persons in Tame,
Arauca, in May, because they believed they were FARC collaborators. On
October 2, suspected paramilitaries killed Yorbelis Restrepo, a member
of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado in the latest of many
incidents of paramilitary violence perpetrated against the San Jose
community. Paramilitaries, as well as some government officials,
claimed the community was a front organization for the FARC.
On September 17, presumed paramilitaries killed academic and
sociologist Alfredo Correa in Barranquilla, Atlantico Department. Three
months earlier, government authorities detained Correa on charges of
rebellion and collaboration with the FARC. The charges later were
dropped for lack of evidence, and Correa was released a few days before
his death. The investigation into this killing continued at year's end
(see Section 1.d.).
Paramilitaries also killed persons to protect criminal activities.
For example, paramilitaries were suspected of killing Carlos Javier
Sabogal, the former governor of Meta Department; Euser Rondon, the
former mayor of Meta's El Dorado municipality; and former member of
Congress Nubia Sanchez. On September 14, their bodies were discovered
in an abandoned car in Cundinamarca Department. Sabogal, Rondon, and
Sanchez had accused Meta Governor Edilberto Castro of corruption (see
Section 3).
There were reports that paramilitaries continued to commit ``social
cleansing'' killings of prostitutes, drug users, vagrants, and the
mentally ill in city neighborhoods they controlled.
Guerrillas, particularly the FARC, committed hundreds of unlawful
killings. According to CINEP, guerrillas were responsible for 135
unlawful killings during the first 6 months of the year. The
Presidential Program for Human Rights reported that, as of November,
the FARC killed at least 99 persons in massacres, although another 118
persons were killed in massacres in which the perpetrators remained
unidentified.
Among those primarily targeted by guerrillas were local elected
officials, candidates for public office (see Section 3), religious
leaders (see Section 2.c.), alleged paramilitary collaborators, and
members of the security forces. The FARC also continued its attempts to
assassinate President Uribe.
Many FARC atrocities were related directly to drug trafficking
activities. For example, on January 5, the FARC killed eight coca
pickers in the municipality of Pensilvania, Caldas Department, for
failing to pay FARC taxes. On June 15, the FARC killed 34 coca pickers
who allegedly worked for rival paramilitary drug traffickers in the
municipality of La Gabarra, Norte de Santander Department. On August
11, the FARC killed another 10 peasants in the Catatumbo region of
Norte de Santander Department, presumably over their coca crop.
FARC massacres of members of the public security forces included
the July 22 killings of 13 soldiers on a road between Huila and
Putumayo Departments and the August 2 killings of 9 members of the
police in the municipality of Trujillo, Valle del Cauca Department.
The FARC also killed persons it suspected of collaboration with
government authorities or paramilitaries. For example, on July 10, the
FARC's Ninth Front killed seven men in San Carlos for allegedly
supporting paramilitaries. On September 13, the FARC killed three men
in El Libano, Tolima Department, for alleged collaboration with
paramilitaries. On December 31, the FARC killed 17 persons, including 4
children, near Tame, Arauca Department, allegedly for being
paramilitary supporters.
On August 30, troops captured Jorge Eliecer Martinez ``Jeronimo
Aljure,'' a suspected leader of the FARC's 56th Front. Martinez was
accused of killing 3 foreign-born indigenous rights activists and at
least 69 others. The case continued at year's end.
FARC deserters reported that guerrilla leaders threatened to
execute fighters who attempted to desert.
b. Disappearances.--Forced disappearances--many of them politically
motivated--continued to be a problem. The law specifically defines
forced disappearance as a crime. CINEP reported 65 cases of forced
disappearance during the first 6 months of the year, and accused the
security forces of direct responsibility for 17. The U.N. Working Group
on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances reported in 2003 that there
had been at least 1,114 forced disappearances since 1981, 850 of which
remained unresolved.
On November 3, the Prosecutor General's Office charged three
members of the National Police with the forced disappearance and
subsequent death of Ruben Suarez, who disappeared from a police station
in Susa, Cundinamarca Department, on April 20. The three also were
suspected of stealing $80,000 (200 million pesos) that Suarez was
carrying when he was detained.
Paramilitaries were responsible for most forced disappearances.
According to CINEP, paramilitaries committed at least 48 forced
disappearances during the first 6 months of the year, compared with 130
in 2003. Paramilitaries often abducted persons suspected of
collaboration with guerrillas; almost all of these persons were
presumed dead (see Section 1.a.). For example, on June 22,
paramilitaries forcibly kidnapped and killed four members of the
indigenous Wayuu tribe near the town of Maicao, La Guajira Department,
for allegedly collaborating with the FARC. Authorities later confirmed
that the four had been killed.
Although the number of kidnappings continued to decline,
kidnapping, both for ransom and for political reasons, remained a
serious problem. According to the Presidential Program for Human
Rights, there were 1,250 kidnappings through November, a reduction of
approximately 42 percent from the 2,200 kidnappings reported in 2003.
GAULAs and other elements of the security forces freed 201 hostages in
the first 8 months of the year. However, the Free Country Foundation
reported that, despite government efforts, through February, at least 6
persons died in captivity. The government-affiliated Fund for the
Defense of Personal Liberty (FONDELIBERTAD) provided assistance to
approximately 600 friends and relatives of kidnapping victims.
The Free Country Foundation reported that paramilitaries were
responsible for 120 kidnappings through August, or 10 percent of all
kidnappings in which a perpetrator was identified. Paramilitaries
kidnapped both for ransom and as an expression of power and influence.
For example, on June 27, paramilitaries kidnapped former Senator Jose
Gnecco and his family in La Guajira Department. Paramilitary leader
Rodrigo Tovar ``Jorge 40'' later released Gnecco after President Uribe
excluded Tovar from ongoing peace negotiations with the Government and
ordered his arrest. The press reported that Gnecco, a member of a
prominent regional family, owed Tovar money.
On July 24, members of the Armed Forces rescued 23 laborers
kidnapped by paramilitaries in the municipality of El Desastre de San
Diego, Cesar Department.
Kidnapping continued to be an unambiguous, standing policy for both
the FARC and the ELN. The Free Country Foundation reported that
guerrillas were responsible for approximately 31 percent of kidnappings
reported during the first 8 months of the year in which a perpetrator
was identified. According to the Foundation, through August, the FARC
had kidnapped 213 persons, and the ELN kidnapped 92 persons.
Kidnapping for ransom remained a major source of revenue for both
the FARC and ELN. The Free Country Foundation reported that, as of
August, there had been 529 kidnappings for ransom during the year,
approximately 52 percent of all kidnappings. In addition, the FARC
purchased kidnapping victims from common criminals and then negotiated
ransom payments with families.
On February 14, members of the ELN posing as paramilitaries
kidnapped a man from his home in Casablanca, Tolima Department. A
ransom payment was negotiated and paid, but the victim was not freed.
Police later arrested members of a criminal gang in Bogota that
negotiated on behalf of the ELN. Gang members volunteered that the
Casablanca kidnapping victim was killed in spite of the ransom payment.
His body had not been recovered by year's end.
On August 31, the ELN kidnapped a computer technician in Bagado,
Choco Department. He was released on September 29, after his company
paid a ransom of approximately $5,000 (12 million pesos).
On December 24, the FARC's Ninth Front kidnapped eight national
tourists at a spa in San Rafael, Antioquia Department. The FARC
threatened the families, which prevented the kidnappings from being
reported until the following day. By year's end, only one of the
hostages had been released.
At least 223 children were kidnapped during the year. On February
10, for example, the FARC kidnapped a 9-year-old girl from a school bus
in Candelaria, Valle del Cauca Department. They released her on
February 21.
On July 14, after receiving an undisclosed ransom from former
Senator Jaime Losada, the FARC released his sons, Jamie Felipe and Juan
Sebastian, who were kidnapped from their apartment in Neiva, Huila
Department in 2001. Their mother remained in FARC captivity at year's
end.
The FARC committed many politically motivated kidnappings, which it
then used to discredit the Government or pressure it into a so-called
``humanitarian exchange.'' For example, on February 25, 50 members of
the FARC dressed in GAULA uniforms kidnapped 3 persons and injured 4
others during an attempted mass kidnapping conducted at 2 residential
buildings in Neiva, Huila Department, where many politically
influential persons resided. On August 21, the FARC kidnapped
Arquimedes Vitonas, the indigenous mayor of Toribio municipality, Cauca
Department, and on August 26, in cooperation with the ELN, kidnapped
Orlando Hernandez, the indigenous mayor of Ricaurte, Narino Department.
The military rescued Hernandez on September 6 (see Sections 3 and 5).
The FARC also kidnapped members of the public security forces for
political reasons. According to the Presidential Program of Human
Rights, through November, the FARC had kidnapped 11 members of the
public security forces. On December 31, the FARC kidnapped three more
police officers in Sipi, Choco Department.
The ELN also kidnapped for political reasons. For example, on July
25, members of the ELN kidnapped Misael Vacca, Roman Catholic Bishop of
Yopal, Casanare Department, allegedly because they wanted him to carry
a political message to the Government. Vacca was released 3 days later
(see Section 2.c.). On October 6 in Ciudad Bolivar, Antioquia
Department, ELN terrorists kidnapped a woman and her nephew who rumors
incorrectly identified as relatives of President Uribe.
On October 11, the Superior Tribunal of Bogota sentenced the
members of the ELN Central Command to 39 years in prison for the 1999
hijacking of a passenger airline in Bucaramanga, Santander Department,
and the kidnapping of all 46 passengers.
The FARC continued to hold political hostages taken in previous
years, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt;
former Senator Jorge Eduardo Gechem; former members of Congress Orlando
Bernal, Luis Eladio Perez, and Consuelo Gonzalez; Congresswoman Gloria
Polanco; former Governor of Meta department Alan Jara; 12 former
regional legislators from Valle del Cauca Department; and at least 4
foreign-born persons. The FARC released several proof-of-life videos
during the year, which stirred debate over the possibility of an
exchange of hostages for imprisoned members of the FARC. The hostages'
families, national and international NGOs, foreign governments, and
prominent public figures pressured the Government to cede to FARC
demands for an exchange.
On August 18, the Government announced it had sent a message to the
FARC on July 23 offering to release 50 FARC members imprisoned for
rebellion if the FARC would release its political prisoners. The
Government added that released FARC members would have the option of
relocating to a ``friendly'' country or joining the Government's
reinsertion program. The FARC rejected the Government's offer. On
December 2, the Government unilaterally released 23 members of the FARC
imprisoned for rebellion as a sign of good faith intended to bring
about a reciprocal gesture from the FARC. On December 17, the
Government announced it would not extradite imprisoned FARC commander
Ricardo Palmera ``Simon Trinidad'' to a third country if the FARC
released 63 political hostages by December 30. The FARC rejected the
Government's offer.
The FARC killed numerous hostages during the year. For example, on
September 29, the parents of Daniela Vanegas identified the body of
their 15-year-old daughter, who had been kidnapped by the FARC in
October 2003 while on her way to school in Bogota. On December 8, the
FARC killed Roman Catholic priest Javier Francisco Montoya after
kidnapping him in the town of Novita, Choco Department (see Section
2.c). There were numerous reports that guerrillas tortured kidnapping
victims (see Sections 1.c. and 1.g.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution and criminal law prohibit such practices;
however, there were reports that the police, military, and prison
guards sometimes mistreated and even tortured detainees. Members of the
military and police accused of torture are tried in civilian, rather
than military, courts (see Section 1.e.). CINEP asserted that as of
June 30 the security forces were responsible for 75 incidents of
torture.
On April 23, 10 soldiers allegedly threatened and tortured 3
peasants in Cunday, Tolima Department. The Office of the Prosecutor
General continued to investigate accusations publicized in 2002 by the
Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) that members of
the Cali GAULA collaborated with paramilitaries in abducting and
torturing individuals suspected of involvement in kidnappings.
CINEP reported that, as of June 30, paramilitaries were responsible
for at least 44 cases of torture. For example, on January 31,
paramilitaries abducted and tortured Ines Pena, a member of the Popular
Women's Organization, in Barrancabermeja, Santander Department. She was
released a short time later. Many victims of paramilitary killings,
such as 11 peasants killed in May in Tame, Arauca Department, showed
signs of torture.
Guerrillas also committed acts of torture. The bodies of many
persons kidnapped and subsequently killed by guerillas showed signs of
torture, and former guerrilla hostages reported severe deprivation,
denial of medical attention, and physical and psychological torture
during captivity (see Section 1.b.). The Ministry of Defense reported
that guerrillas tortured, mutilated, and killed captured soldiers and
police (see Section 1.g). CINEP reported 5 cases of torture by
guerrillas as of June 30.
With the exception of new facilities, prison conditions remained
harsh, especially for prisoners without significant outside support.
Many of INPEC's 8,906 prison guards and administrative staff were
poorly trained or corrupt. Severe overcrowding and dangerous sanitary
and health conditions were serious problems. Private sources continued
to supplement most prisoners' food. INPEC spent an average of
approximately $1.50 (3,870 pesos) per day per inmate on food,
education, and health care. The high-security prison in Valledupar,
Cesar department, was the only penitentiary in the country certified as
meeting international standards. Five other facilities were built to
the standards, but INPEC decided it would be too costly to fund the
auditing and certification processes for them. In other facilities,
inmates paid to eat, drink, sleep on a mattress, wash clothes, or make
telephone calls, and many were forced to pay protection money to fellow
inmates or corrupt prison guards. According to INPEC, overcrowding was
the prison system's most serious problem. As of September, the
country's prisons and jails held 68,240 inmates, almost 30 percent over
their intended capacity of 49,645. According to the National Human
Rights Ombudsman's Office, the increasing severity of overcrowding
resulted from aggressive government security policies that added
inmates at nearly six times previous annual rates. On October 18, local
press reported that the medium- and high-security prisons in
Valledupar, La Dorada, and Giron faced water shortages, affecting
approximately 5,000 inmates. During the year, inmates at the Dona Juana
Prison in La Dorada, Caldas Department went on a hunger strike to
protest the lack of water.
The Government sometimes failed to prevent deadly violence among
inmates. INPEC reported at least 38 violent deaths among inmates during
the year, not including suicides. There were five major prison riots
between January and August, in which at least seven inmates were
injured. Riots were motivated principally by inmates' attempts to force
changes in administrative policies. For example, inmates rioted at
Bellavista prison in Medellin when INPEC officials attempted to
transfer many of them to alleviate overcrowding. The Office of the
Prosecutor General continued to investigate allegations that some
prison guards routinely used excessive force and treated inmates
brutally.
Male and female prisoners were separated in facilities that held
both men and women. There also were dedicated women's prisons.
Conditions at women's prisons were similar to those at men's. According
to the Criminal Procedure Code, no one under the age of 18 may be held
in a prison; juveniles were held in separate facilities operated by the
Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF).
There were no separate facilities for pretrial detainees, who made
up nearly 60 percent of prison inmates. According to INPEC, 30,356
pretrial detainees were held in overcrowded police jails. 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 (see Section 1.d.).
Incarcerated members of illegal armed groups who refused to
renounce terrorist affiliations were held separately from members of
rival groups and the general prison population. Authorities generally
granted incarcerated leaders of these groups substantial autonomy to
organize their respective prison wings and structure daily activities.
To facilitate conditions for negotiations, the Government allowed some
incarcerated leaders to use special communications equipment to
maintain contact with terrorists still at large.
Fifty-three prisoners escaped during the year, 13 while on 72-hour
passes, 24 because of faulty security, 2 in prison breaks with outside
assistance, and 1 from a prison work detail. On November 3, former army
Major Cesar Maldonado, who was convicted in 2002 of the attempted
murder of former union leader and member of Congress Wilson Borja,
escaped from a military prison. As a result, on November 5, the
military dismissed four officers responsible for prison security, one
of whom was under arrest and facing charges at year's end. Retired
Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Plazas, who escaped from the same facility in
July 2003 while serving a 40-year sentence for kidnapping and murder,
remained at large (see Section 1.a.). In October, FARC commander
Hernando Buitrago ``Julian'' escaped from his cell at the headquarters
of the Prosecutor General's Office in Bogota. In November, six agents
from the Corps of Technical Investigators (CTI) were dismissed and
subsequently arrested in connection with the escape. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to have routine access to
most prisons and police and military detention centers. However, the
FARC and ELN continued to deny the ICRC access to police and military
hostages (see Sections 1.b. and 1.g.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were allegations that
authorities detained citizens arbitrarily.
The 125,000 members of the National Police are under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense. The National Police includes
special units that focus on intelligence, narcotics, kidnapping and
extortion, and rural policing. On February 12, the Government completed
its reinstallation of police forces in all of the country's 1,098
municipalities. Police are authorized to execute arrest warrants and
detain suspects ``caught in the act'' or fleeing the scene of a crime.
DAS agents have broad intelligence gathering, law enforcement, and
immigration control function, as do members of the CTI.
Police, DAS, and CTI officials executed arrest warrants issued by
prosecutors based on probable cause. Law enforcement officials also
arrested 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.
On August 30, the Constitutional Court rejected an antiterrorism law
that would have granted the military broader powers to arrest and
detain terrorist suspects (see Section 1.f.). Law enforcement
authorities must promptly inform suspects of the reasons for their
arrest and bring suspects before a senior prosecutor within 36 hours of
their 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 or
terrorism, 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.
Individuals accused of lesser or unintentional crimes have access
to bail; bail is generally not available for serious crimes such as
murder, rebellion, or narcotics trafficking. The law prohibits
incommunicado detention. 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. According to CINEP, the
security forces arbitrarily detained over 495 persons during the first
6 months of the year. Many of these detentions took place in highly
conflictive areas where the military was involved in active hostilities
against terrorist insurgents. For example, on July 11, members of the
Army detained Edinson Palomino Banguero, local president of the
Sintraova labor union, for 11 hours at a police station in the town of
Arauquita, Arauca Department.
On June 7, sociologist Alfredo Correa was detained on charges of
rebellion and collaboration with the FARC in Barranquilla. He was
released due to lack of evidence days before presumed paramilitaries
killed him on September 17 (see Section 1.a.).
The Government and prominent local NGOs frequently disagreed about
how to define an ``arbitrary'' detention; the Government characterized
detentions based on compliance with legal formalities, while NGOs
typically applied other criteria.
According to INPEC, there were 30,284 pretrial detainees (nearly 60
percent of prison inmates) held in overcrowded police jails. 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 (see Section 1.c.). Trial delays
were caused by large numbers of detainees, financial constraints, and
staff shortages.
The Government stated it did not hold political detainees, although
some prominent NGOs considered captured guerrillas to be detained for
political reasons.
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 political pawns in a prisoner exchange (see Section 1.b.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, the suborning and intimidation of
judges, prosecutors, and witnesses was a serious problem. The judicial
system was also extremely overburdened. The administrative chamber of
the CSJ reported that, as of October 2003, the civilian judiciary--
including the criminal justice system--suffered from a backlog of at
least 102,000 cases. These backlogs led to large numbers of pretrial
detainees (see Section 1.c.). Impunity remained the greatest challenge
to the credibility of the Government's commitment to human rights.
Judicial authorities frequently were subjected to threats and acts
of violence. According to the National Association of Judicial Branch
Employees, numerous judicial branch employees received threats against
their lives, and some judges and prosecutors assigned to small towns
worked out of departmental capitals because of security concerns. There
were reports that judicial workers were killed during the year. For
example, on August 11, unknown assailants shot and killed Ronaldo David
Redondo, a former superior court judge and La Guajira Department
magistrate, in front of his home in the departmental capital of
Riohacha. The crime was under investigation at year's end. On November
13, gunmen shot and killed state attorney Mario Canal on a highway near
the city of Popayan, Cauca Department. Canal had been investigating
crimes allegedly committed by captured FARC leaders. Witnesses, who
were even more vulnerable to intimidation, often lacked faith in the
Government's ability to protect them and refused to testify.
The civilian justice system is composed of four functional
jurisdictions: Civil, administrative, constitutional, and special. The
civil is the largest jurisdiction and handles all criminal, civil,
labor, agrarian, and domestic cases involving nonmilitary personnel. In
small towns, a single ``all-purpose'' judge rules on all cases.
Specialized circuit courts within the civil jurisdiction try cases
involving particularly sensitive crimes, such as narcotics trafficking
and terrorism. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the civil
jurisdiction and serves as its final court of appeals. In addition to
hearing appeals from lower courts, the Supreme Court has original
jurisdiction in trials of the President, cabinet ministers, heads of
independent government agencies, admirals and generals, and magistrates
of the Supreme Court, Council of State, Constitutional Court, and CSJ.
The administrative jurisdiction of the civilian justice system is
divided into 27 judicial districts with an equal number of tribunals.
Administrative actions such as decrees and resolutions may be
challenged in the administrative jurisdiction on constitutional or
other grounds. The Council of State is the highest court in the
administrative jurisdiction and serves as the final court of appeals
for complaints arising from administrative acts.
The Constitutional Court, which is charged with ``safeguarding the
integrity and supremacy'' of the Constitution, is the sole judicial
body that encompasses the constitutional jurisdiction of the civilian
justice system. It rules 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 randomly reviews 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 as a legal defense of last resort. Courts must rule on the
validity of a tutela within 10 days. Approximately 195,000 tutelas were
before the Constitutional Court for possible review at the end of the
year.
The special jurisdiction of the civilian justice system consists of
the Justices of the Peace program, designed to encourage alternative
dispute resolution at the municipal level, which has been implemented
in less than 1 percent of the country's municipalities, and the
indigenous jurisdiction, which grants indigenous leaders the right to
exercise judicial functions on indigenous reservations in accordance
with traditional laws (see Section 5.). The CSJ is responsible for the
administration and discipline of the civilian justice system. The CSJ
is divided into two chambers: Administrative and disciplinary. The
administrative chamber supervises the civilian justice system's budget
and determines its organization. The disciplinary chamber disciplines
judicial officials and resolves conflicts of jurisdiction, such as
those between the civilian and military justice systems.
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 Office of the Prosecutor General is tasked with investigating
criminal offenses and prosecuting the accused. Its human rights unit,
which included 11 satellite units in 7 regional capitals, specialized
in investigating human rights crimes. The unit's 43 prosecutors--30 in
Bogota and 13 throughout the rest of the country--were handling 1,469
cases at year's end.
During the year, Prosecutor General Luis Camilo Osorio created a
new internal affairs unit to rid the office of corruption, required
officials in especially sensitive positions to submit to polygraph
examinations, and summarily dismissed employees suspected of
corruption.
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 received during
the year to the human rights unit of the Prosecutor General's Office.
The civilian justice system is an independent branch of government
that uses a Napoleonic legal system incorporating some accusatorial
elements. On August 31, the President signed a new Criminal Procedure
Code. The new Code changes the roles of judges, prosecutors,
investigators, and defense attorneys, as well as the presentation of
evidence in an accusatory criminal justice system. It was scheduled to
begin its staggered implementation in the judicial districts of Bogota,
Armenia, Pereira, and Manizales in January 2005.
A criminal case begins with a preliminary investigation that can
last up to 180 working days. If evidence is found linking a particular
individual to a crime, the case moves into a formal investigative stage
in which prosecutors have a maximum of 360 working days to file formal
charges. Once formal charges are filed, the Government has 35 working
days to bring a case to trial. Trials are open to the public. Judges
question witnesses directly and determine the outcome of all trials.
There are no juries.
An accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and has the
right to timely consultation with counsel. Attorneys from the Office of
the Human Rights Ombudsman (see Section 4) served as public defenders
and are required to represent indigent defendants; however, the Office
was overburdened severely. Defendants have the right to be present at
proceedings against them, review relevant government evidence, present
witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, and confront and question
prosecution witnesses. However, most evidence continued to be presented
in writing, and judges generally relied on written records, rather than
oral argument, to determine guilt or innocence. Defendants have the
right to appeal a conviction to a higher court.
The military justice system consists of the Supreme Military
Tribunal, which serves as the court of appeals for all cases tried in
military courts, and 44 military trial courts. The civilian Supreme
Court serves as a second court of appeals for cases in which sentences
of 6 or more years in prison are imposed.
The military judiciary 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. Serious violations of human rights were considered
unrelated to military service and were 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 illegal orders to
commit human rights abuses.
Military judges preside over courts-martial without the assistance
of a jury. 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 8 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 is similar to
that within the civilian justice system, with the exception that the
military justice system has incorporated many accusatorial elements.
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
public defenders from the Ombudsman's Office.
On August 4, Minister of Defense Jorge Alberto Uribe dismissed the
Director of Military Justice, General Jose Camelo, reportedly because
of delays in the investigation of high-profile cases. In December,
Brigadier General Luis Fernando Puentes took over as Director of
Military Justice.
In the first 8 months of the year, the CSJ ruled on eight
jurisdictional disputes between the civilian and military justice
systems, assigning seven cases to the civilian system and one case to
the military justice system. The Ministry of Defense reported--and the
Prosecutor General's Office confirmed--that military and police
personnel charged by civilian prosecutors routinely were suspended from
their duties and placed on half-pay. Officers and NCOs were removed
from command duties. Twenty members of the military and 25 police
officers were suspended as of August for human rights violations or
collaboration with paramilitaries.
The Government did not hold political prisoners, although, as of
August, it held approximately 3,917 prisoners accused of rebellion or
aiding and abetting insurgency. The Government provided the ICRC access
to these prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice; however, there were
exceptions.
Except in exigent circumstances, the law requires government
authorities to obtain a warrant signed by a senior prosecutor to enter
a private home without the owner's consent. The Ministry of Defense
continued training public security forces in legal search procedures
that comply with constitutional requirements and human rights
standards.
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. On August 30,
the Constitutional Court struck down a government-backed antiterrorism
statute on a procedural technicality. The statute contained provisions
that would have authorized government authorities to intercept private
communications without judicial authorization in cases related to
terrorism. The evidence would have been admissible in court.
In November, the Inspector General's Office upheld on appeal its
2003 decision to order the dismissal from the armed forces of Colonel
Mauricio Santoyo, the former commander of the Medellin GAULA. Santoyo
had presided over the illegal wiretapping of the telephone lines of
over 2,000 individuals and NGOs between 1997 and 2000.
A key component of the Government's ``Democratic Security
Strategy'' to combat terrorism and restore order throughout the country
was a network of civilian informants--some paid--who identified
terrorist activists and sympathizers. Many national and international
human rights groups criticized the network as vulnerable to abuse and a
threat to privacy and other civil liberties.
The Government did not prohibit membership in most political
organizations; however, membership in private organizations that
espoused or carried out acts of violence--such as the AUC, FARC, and
ELN--was illegal.
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 punished family members for alleged
wrongdoing by individuals. The FARC, which employed large numbers of
female combatants, prohibited pregnancies among its troops and ordered
mandatory implantation of intrauterine devices and forced abortions.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--The country's 40-year-old internal
conflict--among government forces, a right-wing paramilitary movement,
and two leftist insurgent groups--continued. The internal armed
conflict, and the narcotics trafficking that both fueled it and
prospered from it, were the central causes of violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law. Government security forces
generally abided by international humanitarian law and respected human
rights. The Human Rights Ombudsman's Office reported that 2 percent of
complaints it received about violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law implicated members of the security
forces. However, some members of the security forces violated human
rights (see Sections 1.a., 1.b., 1.c., and 1.d.).
On November 6, the Air Force killed a 9-year-old girl and injured
two others when it strafed a residence it mistakenly believed housed
FARC guerrillas. The Air Force was still investigating the incident at
year's end.
On May 25, the Administrative Tribunal of Arauca ordered the
Government to pay approximately $870,000 (2 billion pesos) to the
families of 17 persons killed in the Air Force bombing of the village
of Santo Domingo, Arauca Department, in December 1998. The civilian
criminal trial of the helicopter pilot, co-pilot, and navigator
continued at year's end.
The Government, including military authorities, followed an open-
door policy toward the ICRC, allowing free and safe passage to members
of impartial humanitarian organizations, even in conflict zones.
On October 24, the Government completed the destruction of its
remaining 6,784 undeployed antipersonnel landmines. The Government
destroyed over 21,000 landmines between June 2003 and October.
Some members of the public security forces--principally enlisted
personnel and NCOs, but also some more senior officials--collaborated
with or tolerated the activities of illegal paramilitaries. Evidence
suggested there were tacit nonaggression pacts between local military
officers and paramilitary groups in some regions, and some members of
the security forces actively assisted or sought the assistance of
paramilitary groups. However, the military substantially increased
offensive actions against paramilitary groups. According to the
Ministry of Defense, the security forces captured 4,772 paramilitaries
during the year, a 50 percent increase from 2003, and killed 558
paramilitaries in combat, compared with 346 in 2003. Paramilitaries
lost significantly more combatants per confrontation with the security
forces than did the FARC or ELN.
Paramilitaries were responsible for numerous violations of
international humanitarian law and human rights. Although estimates
varied, there were approximately 12,000 paramilitary fighters in the
country. The largest and most influential paramilitary organization was
the terrorist AUC, which operated as a loose confederation of disparate
paramilitary groups.
Formal negotiations between the Government and AUC leaders
regarding conditions for paramilitary demobilization continued during
the year.
In January, the Organization of American States agreed to verify
the paramilitary peace process and established six regional offices
that employed several dozen international and national staff. On July
1, the Government formally established a concentration zone in the
village of Santa Fe de Ralito, Cordoba Department, where paramilitary
leaders could negotiate with government authorities without fear of
arrest. In November and December, 2,627 fighters from 5 separate blocs
surrendered their arms to government authorities. Among the demobilized
were senior AUC commanders Salvatore Mancuso and Hernan Hernandez.
Critics from across the ideological spectrum, including major
domestic and international human rights groups, expressed concerns
about the legitimacy of the paramilitary demobilization process, the
real motivations of the paramilitaries, and the potential for impunity
for confessed human rights abusers.
The AUC's December 2002 unilateral cease-fire remained in effect;
however, it was not perfectly observed, and some dissident paramilitary
groups never agreed to a cessation of hostilities. Power struggles for
leadership and control of drug trafficking resources provoked
internecine warfare among paramilitary groups. For example, on
September 19, fellow paramilitaries allegedly killed AUC Centauros Bloc
Commander Miguel Arroyave. Arroyave controlled large swaths of valuable
drug trafficking territory in the eastern plains where clashes between
several paramilitary blocs caused sharp increases in violence.
Most paramilitary cease-fire violations affected innocent
civilians. For example, the Government reported that paramilitaries
were responsible for 390 killings of civilians since the December 2002
cease-fire declaration. As of September, the Office of the Human Rights
Ombudsman had received complaints about 342 alleged violations of the
paramilitary cease-fire in 11 departments, including reports of
massacres, kidnappings, selective killings, displacements, robberies,
and the recruitment of children. The CCJ claimed there had been at
least 1,899 violations of the paramilitary cease-fire since December
2002 (see Sections 1.a, 1.b., and 2.d.).
Despite paramilitary cease-fire violations, the overall level of
paramilitary violence continued to decrease. Paramilitaries committed
fewer selective killings, particularly of vulnerable groups such as
trade unionists, fewer massacres, and forcibly displaced fewer
civilians. According to CINEP, paramilitaries were responsible for the
deaths of 304 civilians through June, a negligible decrease from 2003.
Combat between paramilitaries and guerrillas led to many civilian
deaths. For example, on November 25, media reports claimed eight
civilians were killed during clashes between paramilitaries and the ELN
in Choco Department. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned
that this area was at high risk of paramilitary-guerrilla clashes.
Although the overall number of forced displacements caused by
paramilitaries fell, paramilitaries continued to forcibly displace
civilians residing along key drug and weapons transit corridors or
suspected of harboring sympathies for guerrillas. For example, on April
18, paramilitaries displaced 600 members of the indigenous Wayuu tribe
in Bahia Portete, La Guajira Department. Paramilitaries also prevented
or limited the delivery of foodstuffs and medicines to towns and
regions considered sympathetic to guerrillas, straining local economies
and increasing forced displacement (see Section 2.d.).
Although paramilitaries continued to employ child soldiers (see
Section 5), paramilitary groups turned over at least 70 minors to
government authorities during the year, either as signs of good faith
or as conditions of formal demobilization. For example, on December 18,
26 minors demobilized with the AUC's Calima Bloc.
The 12,500 member FARC and the 2,500 member ELN--both terrorist
organizations--declined in numerical strength during the year because
of strong pressure from the military that caused high numbers of
guerrilla casualties and led to thousands of guerrilla desertions. In
many areas of the country, the two guerrilla groups worked together to
combat government forces or paramilitaries. On January 11, the ELN
announced it would work more closely with the FARC to resist the
Government's ``Plan Colombia'' military offensive. In October, the FARC
proposed closer coordination between the two terrorist groups.
The FARC and ELN violated international humanitarian law by
committing unlawful killings, kidnapping civilians and military
personnel, torturing captives, displacing populations, and recruiting
child soldiers (see Sections 1.a., 1.b., 1.c., 2.d., and 5.).
Guerrillas were responsible for a large percentage of civilian
deaths related to the internal conflict. Combat between guerrillas and
state security forces caused numerous civilian casualties. For example,
on July 7, an elderly woman was injured during a FARC attack against
the security forces in Narino Department. CINEP attributed at least 144
civilian deaths to the FARC and ELN as of June 30.
According to the Ministry of Defense, guerrillas committed 709
terrorist acts during the year. For example, in May, 14 persons were
killed and 93 injured when the FARC, in commemoration of the 40th
anniversary of its founding, detonated bombs in the cities of Medellin,
San Carlos, and Apartado, Antioquia Department. The largest bombing
occurred on May 22, when the FARC bombed a popular Apartado nightclub,
killing 5 and injuring 93. On August 8, the FARC detonated a bomb
during a festival in Medellin, injuring 35. Guerrillas also detonated
bombs attached to motorcycles, bicycles, animals, and human cadavers.
Guerrillas used landmines to defend static positions such as base
camps and drug labs and as indiscriminate weapons of terror. According
to the Vice President's Office, between 70,000 and 100,000 landmines
were deployed nationwide, and there were 1,155 registered landmine
incidents during the year, a 23 percent increase over 2003. Guerrillas
were responsible for over 75 percent of landmine incidents, which
killed at least 182 persons. Thirty-six percent of landmine victims
were civilians.
Guerrillas failed to respect the injured and medical personnel.
Both the FARC and the ELN frequently executed wounded prisoners,
threatened and harassed doctors and nurses, and killed enemy combatants
receiving medical care. For example, in February, the FARC kidnapped a
nurse from her car in Armenia, Quindio 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, the FARC blockaded the towns of San Carlos and
San Luis in Eastern Antioquia, and, on July 10, killed seven displaced
residents of San Carlos who returned to the city without the FARC's
authorization.
According to government figures, attacks against public
infrastructure decreased in almost all areas. Large-scale military
operations and a permanent police presence in every municipality
resulted in a 42 percent decrease in terrorist attacks through
November. Most attacks on infrastructure affected roads, electrical
towers, and oil pipelines. The Government recorded 116 attacks on
electrical towers and 66 on oil pipelines through August, representing
decreases of 64 and 17 percent, respectively. An increased military
presence and quicker military reactions to threats against the pipeline
reduced attacks against the Cano Limon-Covenas pipeline--the country's
largest--by 50 percent, to 17. Attacks against communications towers,
bridges, and aqueducts fell by approximately 90 percent, 77 percent,
and 67 percent, respectively. However, attacks on public highways
increased by 27 percent, to 138.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. However, journalists regularly
practiced self-censorship to avoid retaliation and harassment by
criminals, members of illegal armed groups, and corrupt local
officials.
The National Television Commission continued to oversee television
programming, although it did not censor substantive content.
The Government did not use libel laws to suppress criticism or
engage in direct or indirect censorship of the media. In March,
prosecutors formally dropped libel charges filed in June 2003 against
newspaper columnist Roberto Posada for publicly insinuating that
prominent businessman Pedro Juan Moreno had links to paramilitaries.
The media's reliance on government advertising revenues may have
reduced its criticism of government actions and policies.
National and international NGOs reported that media representatives
regularly practiced self-censorship because of threats of violence from
illegal armed groups and common criminals. At least 4 journalists went
into voluntary exile during the first 9 months of the year, joining 20
who left the country in 2002 and 2003.
The security forces generally did not subject journalists to
harassment, intimidation, or violence; however, there were exceptions,
as well as reports of threats and violence against journalists by
corrupt local officials. On February 4, for example, unidentified
gunmen killed journalist Oscar Alberto Polanco as he departed the
television station where he worked in Cartago, Valle del Cauca
Department. Polanco had used his television show to criticize corrupt
local government officials and institutions. In February,
Barrancabermeja radio journalist Garibaldi Lopez reportedly received
threatening phone calls from persons identifying themselves as friends
of local government officials he had denounced for corrupt practices.
In September, print journalist Cristian Herrera left the country after
receiving threatening phone calls from unidentified persons warning him
to stop reporting on violence, petty crime, and corruption in Cucuta,
Norte de Santander Department. In June, local police had allegedly
threatened Herrera after he and a photographer were discovered
photographing a prisoner transfer at the city's airport. Herrera also
reported being threatened on other occasions by the city's mayor and
police chief. In December, the mayor was arrested for suspected links
to paramilitaries.
During the year, journalists were intimidated, threatened,
kidnapped, and killed by members of illegal armed groups. According to
information gathered by the Colombia Foundation for Press Freedom, as
of November, 3 journalists were killed, at least 2 kidnapped, 1
tortured, and at least 37 threatened with death.
Paramilitaries threatened, kidnapped, and killed journalists. On
January 28, two paramilitaries kidnapped and tortured Ines Pena, a
television announcer and a member of the Popular Women's Organization
in Barrancabermeja, Santander Department, and warned her to stop
producing her television program (see Section 1.c.). On September 9,
radio journalist Luis Alberto Castano fled the city of Libano, Tolima
Department, after learning that paramilitaries planned to kill him. In
September, investigative journalist Claudia Julieta Duque reported
receiving telephone threats after investigating possible irregularities
in the criminal trial of AUC leader Carlos Castano and alleged
paramilitaries Juan Pablo Ortiz and Edilberto Antonio Sierra for their
roles in the 1999 murder of prominent journalist Jaime Garzon. On March
10, Castano, who had been tried in abstentia, was sentenced to 38 years
in prison. Sierra and Ortiz were acquitted for lack of evidence. On
October 15, the bodies of Milton Delgado and Milton Rosero, who hosted
local television programs about social issues, were found along a
roadway near the municipality of Florida in Valle del Cauca Department.
Guerrillas also threatened, kidnapped, and killed journalists. For
example, presumed guerrillas from the ELN's Carlos German Velasco Front
posted a notice on the door of a radio station in Cucuta, Norte de
Santander Department, identifying journalists Olga Lucia Cotamo, Angela
Echeverri, and Fernando Fonseca as military objectives for allegedly
sympathizing with government policies. On October 10, members of the
FARC's Jacinto Matallana Mobile Column kidnapped television
correspondent Luis Carlos Burbano and photographer Mauricio Mesa in the
municipality of La Divina Pastora, on the border of Narino and Putumayo
Departments. The FARC, which had accused Burbano and Mesa of espionage,
released both journalists the following day after reviewing the team's
recorded video footage.
In October, the FARC kidnapped a journalist and cameraman from
Canal Caracol in Santiago, Putumayo Department.
The International Federation of Journalists operated an office in
Bogota to monitor violence against the media and provide assistance to
local journalists. The InterAmerican Press Association also ran its own
rapid action unit in Bogota to help the Prosecutor General's Office
investigate crimes against journalists. The Ministry of Interior
operated a program for the protection of journalists that provided
protection to 20 media representatives during the year. The Ministry of
the Interior also supported an alerts network organized for journalists
by providing a small number of radios and an emergency telephone
hotline.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom. However,
paramilitary groups and 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. Paramilitaries killed and threatened university
professors and students they suspected of leftist sympathies. For
example, on September 17, presumed paramilitaries killed Alfredo
Correa, a university professor in Barranquilla. The Department of
Administrative Security had arrested Correa on June 17 after an
informant identified him as a member of the FARC's Caribbean Front. He
had been released in early September after prosecutors concluded there
was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.
Guerrillas also killed, threatened, and kidnapped academics and
their family members for financial and political reasons. For example,
on September 8, the FARC kidnapped biology professor Margarita Escobar
and five university students who were conducting field research near
the municipality of Urrao, Antioquia department. All six were released
on September 12 after the FARC announced that it had verified their
academic credentials. Regional government authorities alleged the
kidnapping was financially motivated. In July, the body of Bernardo
Ernesto Velez was discovered near Canas Gordas, Antioquia Department.
Velez, the brother of Education Minister Cecilia Velez, had been
kidnapped by the FARC in 2001.
Guerrillas used university campuses to plan, prepare, and carry out
terrorist attacks.
Both paramilitaries and guerrillas regularly threatened and killed
public school teachers, especially at the high school level. According
to the Presidential Program for Human Rights, through November, 57
teachers were killed and 16 kidnapped.
Paramilitaries and guerrillas targeted teachers because of their
vocal opposition to forced recruitment of children by illegal armed
groups; their pedagogical, labor, and community leadership; and their
alleged dissemination of political propaganda in the classroom.
Paramilitaries were responsible for most of these abuses. For example,
on February 27, presumed paramilitaries killed teacher Ernesto Rincon,
a leader in the local teachers union, in the municipality of Caldas,
Boyaca Department. On May 7, presumed paramilitaries killed public
school teacher and principal Jesus Alberto Campos in the city of Tame,
Arauca Department. On May 18, unidentified individuals killed Isabel
Toro after torturing her near the city of Yopal, Casanare Department.
On May 26, members of the FARC killed a local teacher in San Andres,
Antioquia Department. In April and May, in Tame, Arauca Department, the
FARC killed two teachers. Threats and harassment caused many professors
and students to adopt lower profiles and avoid discussing controversial
topics. Some academics went into voluntary exile.
In conjunction with FECODE and the Ministry of Education, the
Presidential Program for Human Rights launched a special initiative to
protect at-risk teachers. The program charges regional committees with
investigating specific threats against teachers and, in some cases,
facilitating at-risk teachers' relocation, with continued employment as
educators, within the country.
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 association
was limited in practice by threats and acts of violence committed by
illegal armed groups against labor unions, indigenous groups, and NGOs
(see Sections 4, 5, and 6.a.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Although there is no official state religion, most citizens were
Roman Catholic, and the Roman Catholic Church retained a de facto
privileged status. Accession to a 1997 public law agreement with the
State is required for non-Roman Catholic religions to minister to their
adherents in public institutions, such as schools and hospitals, and to
perform marriages recognized by the State. When deciding whether to
grant accession to the 1997 agreement, the Government considers a
religion's total membership, its degree of popular acceptance within
society, and other relevant factors, such as the content of the
organization's statutes and its required behavioral norms. At year's
end, 13 non-Roman Catholic religious bodies, including the Evangelical
Council of Churches (CEDECOL), an umbrella organization of hundreds of
small evangelical churches, were granted accession. No non-Christian
religious group was a signatory to the 1997 public law agreement.
Roman Catholicism was taught in public schools, but students had
the option of opting out of sectarian religious instruction.
Protestant churches complained that new zoning laws showed de facto
favoritism toward Roman Catholicism, since most Roman Catholic
cathedrals were constructed before zoning laws were instituted and were
therefore were exempt from the laws' requirements.
On November 25, a team of prosecutors and investigators raided a
small Taoist commune in a mountainous rural region of Santander
Department based on information provided by eight former commune
members that the commune's leadership was engaged in illegal
activities. The commune's leaders claimed the government raid was part
of a larger plot to close down the community. The community's
insularity and isolation in a region with a significant guerrilla
presence complicated efforts to gather accurate information concerning
the allegations. The Government's investigation was ongoing at year's
end.
There were isolated reports of anti-Semitism, including graffiti
painted on the exterior walls of synagogues and anti-Semitic statements
in pamphlets published by small xenophobic organizations.
Both paramilitaries and guerrillas harassed, threatened, and
sometimes killed religious leaders and activists, although generally
for political, rather than religious, reasons. The Presidential Program
for Human Rights reported that illegal armed groups made numerous
threats against priests and other religious workers, killed seven
priests, and kidnapped three others. Nearly all these killings were
attributed to leftist guerrillas, particularly the FARC. For example,
in December the FARC kidnapped and killed Roman Catholic priest Javier
Francisco Montoya near the town of Novita, Choco Department.
On July 25, members of the ELN kidnapped Misael Vacca, the Roman
Catholic Bishop of Yopal, Casanare Department. The ELN attempted to
justify the kidnapping by claiming it had a political message for him
to deliver to the Government. Vacca was released 3 days later following
an army rescue operation that cut his captors off from the ELN
commanders who allegedly prepared the message. Vacca had been involved
in peace efforts between the Government, ELN, and right-wing
paramilitary groups in Casanare.
There was no ruling in the criminal trial of FARC commander John
Fredy Jimenez and hired gunman Alexander de Jesus Zapata for the 2002
killing of Isaias Duarte, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cali. In
October, paramilitary Jimmy Matutte was sentenced to 32 years in prison
for his involvement in the 1999 murder of Catholic priest Jose Luiz
Maso and Spanish aid worker Inigo Eguiluz Telleria.
According to the CEDECOL, as of September 30, illegal armed groups
had killed 18 evangelical church leaders. The FARC was responsible for
11 of these killings. For example, on September 4, three suspected FARC
guerrillas opened fire during a prayer service in the Christian and
Missionary Alliance Church of Puerto Asis, Putumayo Department. The
gunmen killed 3 and wounded 14 others, including 2 children. The FARC
inhibited the right to free religious expression in areas it
controlled, forcing the closure of hundreds of evangelical churches,
particularly in the southwestern part of the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 this right in practice;
however, there were exceptions. In areas where counterinsurgency
operations were underway, police and military officials sometimes
imposed curfews or required civilians to obtain safe-conduct passes.
Paramilitaries and guerrillas continued to establish illegal
checkpoints on rural highways, although a larger and more visible
government security presence along major highways cut kidnappings at
illegal checkpoints by 43 percent and led to a major increase in
intercity vehicular traffic.
The Social Solidarity Network (RSS), the Government's displaced
persons service agency, registered 137,315 displaced persons during the
year, down from 219,469 in 2003 and 422,977 in 2002. The Consultancy
for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES), a human rights NGO
specializing in displacement issues (see Section 4), estimated a
smaller decrease in displacements, with 205,500 persons displaced
during the first 9 months of the year, compared with 230,000 in 2003.
Various explanations were advanced to explain the decline in
displacements. The Government noted a larger state security presence
throughout the country and a decrease in paramilitary violence related
to the Government's ongoing negotiations with the country's largest
paramilitary organization. CODHES and other NGOs asserted, however,
that instead of displacing peasants, paramilitaries and guerrillas were
forcibly preventing displacements. CODHES included as displaced persons
coca producers who migrated in response to government drug eradication
efforts, which substantially increased CODHES figures.
The RSS had registered more than 1,565,765 displaced persons since
1995; UNHCR estimated that more than 2 million persons in the country
had been displaced at one time or another.
Precise numbers of IDPs were difficult to obtain, since both NGOs
and the Government reported that some persons were displaced more than
once and many did not register with the Government or NGOs. The FARC
and ELN discouraged IDPs from registering with the Government through
force, intimidation, and disinformation, and guerrilla agents sometimes
masqueraded as IDPs to sow doubt and discontent among the displaced
population. Most IDPs were rural peasants displaced to large cities
such as Bogota. According to the UNHCR, 22 percent of IDPs were
indigenous or Afro-Colombian, which was proportionate to their
percentage of the overall population. 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.
The Government was unable to provide sufficient humanitarian
assistance to the displaced, despite statutes and court rulings
requiring it to do so. Many IDPs lived in unhygienic conditions with
little access to health care and educational or employment
opportunities. Government assistance for the displaced was provided
principally through the RSS, the ICBF, and the Ministry of Social
Protection. The ICRC provided substantial emergency humanitarian
assistance to the displaced: Assistance was provided for the first 90
days following a displacement, after which the Government and other
organizations were expected to assist, which did not always occur in
practice.
The Constitution provides for the granting of asylum and refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or 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 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government reserves the right to determine eligibility for asylum,
based upon its own assessment of the nature of an applicant's claim.
According to the Government, 237 recognized refugees resided in the
country at the end of the year, and 34 persons sought refugee status.
The Government approved 18 refugee cases involving 20 individuals. The
Government refused 14 requests and 6 were still pending at year's end.
The Government reported that no applications for asylum were filed
during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, 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, and civilian public employees, although
eligible to vote, are not allowed to participate in partisan politics;
however, legislation passed in November will allow them, beginning in
2006, to participate in partisan politics (including the right to vote)
during the 4 months immediately preceding a national election.
In 2002, voters elected a bicameral legislature with a mix of
independents and members of the traditional Liberal and Conservative
parties. In the 2002 presidential election, voters elected Alvaro
Uribe, a dissident Liberal running as an independent. Both elections
were generally free and fair, in spite of a concerted campaign by
terrorist organizations, such as the FARC and AUC, to disrupt or
manipulate the outcome.
Political parties generally operated without government
interference. Parties that fail to garner 50,000 votes in a general
election automatically are dissolved but can reincorporate at any time
by presenting 50,000 signatures to the National Electoral Commission
(CNE). However, political reforms approved in November that will take
effect in 2006 raised the vote threshold that parties must meet to
retain formal status and gain access to government funds. The Liberal
and Conservative parties have long dominated politics, but the election
of President Uribe as an independent in 2002 and the success of center-
left candidates in regional elections suggested the political arena was
widening.
The country suffered from endemic corruption and graft in both the
public and private sectors, exacerbated by drug trafficking revenues
that made corruption as effective a tool as violence for illegal armed
groups and large drug trafficking organizations.
According to the Colombian Confederation of Chambers of Commerce
``Confecamaras,'' estimates of income lost to corruption varied between
$2.5 million (5.75 million pesos) and $5 million (11.5 million pesos)
annually. The World Bank estimated that corruption in government
procurement cost the country $480 million (1.1 trillion pesos)
annually. Government and private sector analysts agreed that a black
market of illegal commissions governed incentives for many business
transactions.
The Government continued its Presidential AntiCorruption Program in
alliance with the World Bank and 31 public institutions and NGOS. The
alliance continued to examine the absence of genuine governance caused
by corruption to design appropriate policies. Confecamaras managed
programs promoting entrepreneurial and public ethics through corporate
centers in the country's main cities.
The Program encouraged the drafting of municipal and departmental
transparency pacts, which are public agreements between elected
officials and their constituents to implement efficiency and
anticorruption programs. Such pacts were signed in the municipalities
of Ibague, Tolima Department; Manizales, Caldas Department; and Pasto,
Narino Department. The Program also established voluntary committees of
private citizens to serve as monitors for the effective implementation
of transparency pacts and developed a Culture of Lawfulness teaching
module for the public schools. According to a July 2003 Transparency
International survey, citizens considered Congress to be the country's
most corrupt public institution.
Corruption related to illegal armed groups was a serious problem.
For example, on June 24, Ramiro Suarez, mayor of Cucuta, Norte de
Santander Department, was detained by the Prosecutor General's Office
for alleged ties to paramilitary groups.
On December 23, the Prosecutor General's Office issued an arrest
warrant for Casanare Department Governor Miguel Angel Perez for
allegedly receiving $217,000 (500 million pesos) from paramilitary
chief ``Martin Llanos'' to finance his 2003 political campaign.
On March 31, the President of the Senate granted a team from the
CTI--the investigative branch of the Prosecutor General's Office--
access to the office of the Senate's Human Rights Committee. The
warrant-based search was based on allegations that committee staff sold
fabricated death threats used by purchasers to bolster petitions for
asylum in foreign countries.
The Constitution and laws permit public access to government
information. The Constitution allows all persons to access public
documents. The Administrative Code addresses the right to access public
documents and the right to review government information. The Code also
provides for the right to consult public documents and receive
expedited copies, unless the information relates to defense or national
security and could be used to intimidate or embarrass private citizens.
In 2003, the GOC launched the ``Colombia Online'' program, which
focuses on transparency, efficiency, and clarity in government
procurement practices. Increased Internet use helped create a climate
of greater transparency by making public the terms of reference of
bidding processes and eliminating onerous registration fees.
There were no prohibitive fees to access government information,
and there were no reports of serious abuses of the public information
system. However, small-scale graft, in which low-level officials
insisted on bribes to speed up access to information, was a problem.
Paramilitaries sometimes threatened local officials. For example,
on December 2, Evelio Munoz, the mayor of Florencia, Cauca Department,
and his 19-member cabinet fled to the departmental capital of Popayan
as a result of threats from paramilitaries.
The FARC continued to threaten and commit acts of violence against
government officials. The assassination of President Uribe remained a
FARC priority. During the first 10 months of the year, 12 former
mayors, 1 serving mayor, 1 former governor, and 18 serving city council
members were killed. On January 21, suspected FARC operatives killed
Marcos Ataya, the former mayor of Arauca City, Arauca Department. On
August 27, members of the FARC killed Luis Alberto Zorro, mayor of the
town of Chameza, Casanare Department. On August 22, the FARC kidnapped
the indigenous mayor of Toribio, Cauca Department (see Sections 1.a.
and 1.b.). On December 28, in its seventh attempt against his life, the
FARC planted a bomb outside the office of Julio Acosta, Governor of
Arauca Department.
On October 28, 12 members of the FARC's Teofilo Forero Mobile
Column raided the offices of the City Council of Neiva, Huila
Department. The assailants killed a guard but were unable to reach
council members gathered inside the building.
Scores of other local officials throughout the country resigned
because of threats from the FARC. More than 30 mayors who left office
in January fled the country or were preparing to do so because of
looming death threats. The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman
reported that at least 300 mayors conducted business from regional
capitals via telephone and messenger because they were not safe in
their own towns. In the first 3 months of the year, 32 city council
members were displaced to capitals from their local offices. The
Ministry of Interior operated a program for the protection of
vulnerable populations that provided protection to 424 mayors, former
mayors, and council members during the year.
The FARC continued to hold several dozen politicians hostage to
pressure the Government into a prisoner exchange (see Section 1.b.).
There were 5 women--including the Minister of Foreign Affairs--in
the 13-member cabinet, 11 women in the 102-member Senate, and 20 women
in the 166-member House of Representatives, including its new
President. There were 2 women on the 23-member Supreme Court, 2 women
on the 13-member CSJ, and 1 woman on the 9-member Constitutional Court.
A quota law requires that women be placed in at least 30 percent of
nominated government posts, and the Government must report to Congress
each year on the percentage of women in high-level government
positions.
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.
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 conditions in the country.
Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views,
although they often differed with NGO analyses of the human rights
situation and government compliance with human rights standards.
Over 60,000 human rights and civil society NGOs were registered in
the country, although most existed only on paper. The most prominent
domestic human rights NGOs included CCJ and the Jose Alvear Restrepo
Lawyers' Collective, both of which focused on defending human rights
through legal analysis and case work; CINEP, which managed the
country's largest and most influential database of human rights
violations; the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights
(CPDDH), which provided support and assistance to victims of human
rights violations and worked to organize civil society to defend human
rights and promote a peaceful resolution to the country's armed
conflict; CSPP, which focused on the rights and treatment of persons
detained for politically motivated crimes, particularly left-wing
subversion; ASFADDES, the country's leading voice in demanding justice
for the disappeared; CODHES, which advocated policies designed to
prevent displacement and defended the rights of the displaced; the
Association for Alternative Social Promotion (MINGA), which sought to
promote respect for human rights through education, research, lobbying,
and legal assistance; the Permanent Assembly of Civil Society for
Peace, which served as a forum for regional and national NGOs to
discuss key themes in the agenda for peace and nonviolent alternatives
to the armed conflict; and the Free Country Foundation, which provided
psychological, legal, and public relations assistance to kidnap victims
and their families and lobbied the Government for better antikidnapping
efforts. The Truth for Colombia group was a relatively new association
of small human rights NGOs that generally supported the Government's
antiterrorism security policies
Local human rights NGOs had an influence that far exceeded their
membership or resources. 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 tended to differ in their
analysis of a serious and complex human rights situation. In
particular, government statistics and evaluations of the human rights
situation often contrasted with NGO statistics and analyses. These
drastically divergent understandings of the human rights situation
deepened already profound mutual suspicions.
Discrepancies between government and NGO statistics partially could
be explained by differences in terminology and methodology. For
example, the Government defined a massacre as the intentional killing
of four or more persons at the same time and place, while NGOs defined
a massacre as the deaths of three or more persons. CINEP strictly
followed legal conventions that define ``human rights violations'' as
crimes that only can be committed by the State or state-sponsored
actors, which led it to attribute, directly or indirectly, all ``human
rights violations'' to the Government. The Government, on the other
hand, defined human rights violations to encompass crimes by all
illegal armed groups, whether paramilitaries or guerrillas, as well as
the State. The Government based its data on information reported to
government authorities, supplemented by press reports and confirmable
NGO statistics. NGOs, on the other hand, relied primarily on citizen
complaints and press reports, which in some cases were difficult to
substantiate. The differing reporting techniques resulted in a
government tendency to underreport violations and an NGO tendency to
overreport violations.
Although the Government generally did not interfere with the work
of domestic human rights NGOs, some NGOs claimed criticisms made by the
President put them at risk for retaliation by paramilitaries. Many
domestic NGOs also contended that the Government arrested human rights
activists arbitrarily, particularly in highly conflictive areas (see
Section 1.d.).
The Government asserted that many self-declared human rights
activists actually were engaged in criminal activities that supported
terrorism. For example, on February 18, authorities arrested Luz Perly
Cordoba, the secretary general of the agricultural workers union
FENSUAGRO and human rights director of the Arauca Peasants Association
(ACA), for rebellion and criminal conspiracy. She was carrying a false
identity document with a substituted photograph at the time of her
arrest (see Section 6).
The Government, through the Ministry of Interior and Justice and
the DAS, allocated approximately $570,000 (1.25 billion pesos) to its
program for the protection of human rights activists and many other
vulnerable populations. The Government provided protection to over 29
human rights activists during the year and bulletproofed 9 additional
offices and residences.
According to the CCJ, 13 human rights activists were killed and 2
forcibly disappeared during the year; most of these killings were
attributed to paramilitaries. On August 3, for example, suspected
paramilitaries killed Fredy Arias, spokesman and human rights
coordinator for the Kankuamo indigenous tribe, in Valledupar, Cesar
Department (see Sections 1.a. and 5). Arias had spoken frequently about
the human rights crisis affecting his indigenous community. On October
6, suspected paramilitaries killed Ana Teresa Yance, a community leader
in Medellin's working class Comuna 13 neighborhood, a former FARC
militia stronghold.
On May 4, four armed, masked men forcibly entered the offices of
the Permanent Assembly of Civil Society for Peace, an umbrella
organization of domestic NGOs, inventoried the office, and stole a cell
phone and petty cash. Similar forced entries also occurred on October
18 and November 10, when armed intruders attempted to take information
stored on the Assembly's computer system. There were no suspects in any
of the incidents at year's end.
There were no new developments and none were expected in the
Prosecutor General's investigation of the 2002 killing of Jose Rusbell,
a member of the Joel Sierra Human Rights Committee in Arauca
department.
The Government generally did not interfere with the work of
international human rights and humanitarian NGOs. Representatives of
international human rights groups visited the country and held meetings
with local human rights groups and individuals in various regions of
the country without government interference. These international
delegations sometimes received active government protection. The larger
international NGOs, such as AI, Human Rights Watch, and the Washington
Office on Latin America (WOLA), devoted equal attention to government
forces, guerrillas, and paramilitaries. International NGOs criticized
the Government not only for some direct violations of human rights, but
also for high levels of impunity and its failure to sever effectively
links between the military and paramilitaries.
On May 27, in a speech in the city of Apartado, Antioquia
Department, President Uribe implicitly criticized both Peace Brigades
International and the Fellowship of Reconciliation for allegedly
``obstructing justice.'' On June 16, during remarks to an audience of
national police, Uribe explicitly criticized AI for failing to denounce
immediately the FARC's massacre of 34 peasants the previous day. AI
later denounced the atrocity and explained that it had waited to
``verify the facts.'' Uribe and other government officials subsequently
held a variety of meetings with international and local NGOs to
reinitiate dialogue and increase trust; however, with limited success.
On October 17, the Danish NGO Association Rebellion allegedly
donated $8,500 (18 million pesos) to the FARC. The Government
complained to Danish authorities and asked for the extradition of the
organization's members. The Government of Denmark reportedly was
conducting an investigation at year's end.
The Government cooperated with international governmental
organizations. The UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration
(IOM), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), ICRC had an active
presence in the country and were allowed to carry out their work
without government interference.
In March, UNHCHR opened its third regional office in Bucaramanga,
Santander Department. The UNHCHR monitored and analyzed the national
human rights situation and provided advice and assistance on human
rights protection. The UNHCHR's mandate in the country runs through the
end of President Uribe's term in 2006.
In its human rights report for 2003, published in March, the UNHCHR
once again issued 27 recommendations for improving the human rights
situation in the country. Twenty-four of the recommendations were
directed at the Government and the independent Prosecutor General's
Office (see Section 1.e.). The UNHCHR and local NGOs reported that the
Government had not fully complied with most of the recommendations by
the end of the year. Throughout the year, the Government met with
UNHCHR and local NGOs to discuss additional measures to comply with the
recommendations. UNHCHR acknowledged progress on several of the
recommendations, including establishing offices of the Inspector
General and Human Rights Ombudsman throughout the country and improving
the Early Warning System.
The National Human Rights Ombudsman, who reports to the Inspector
General (see Section 1.e.), is elected by the House of Representatives
from a list of three candidates submitted by the President to serve a
4-year term overlapping those of two presidents. The Office has the
constitutional duty to ensure the promotion and exercise of human
rights. In addition to providing public defenders for the indigent (see
Section 1.e.), the Ombudsman's 34 regional offices served as a channel
for complaints of human rights violations. The Ombudsman's Bogota
Office was the headquarters of a national Early Warning System (SAT)
designed to alert public security forces of impending human rights
violations, particularly large-scale massacres.
Volmar Antonio Perez served as Ombudsman by appointment of the
President until August, when the House of Representatives elected him
to a full term as Ombudsman. The office, with international assistance,
continued to provide training to regional ombudsmen and conducted
public education on human rights. Despite the Ombudsman's successes,
resource constraints meant the office generally was underfunded and
understaffed, limiting its ability to effectively monitor human rights
violations or prevent their occurrence.
In their role as human rights defenders, regional ombudsmen were
under constant threat from illegal armed groups. For example, on April
2, the military uncovered a FARC threat against Rafael Caro, the human
rights ombudsman for La Guajira Department.
The Government's Presidential Program for Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law, 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 a regular Human Rights Observer magazine that
provides analyses of major human rights issues and the human rights
situation in disparate regions of the country.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives have legally mandated
human rights committees. The committees serve as fora for discussion of
human rights issues but have no authority to draft legislation. They
therefore lack prestige and have added little of substance to the
national human rights debate.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution specifically prohibits discrimination based on
race, sex, religion, disability, language, or social status; however,
in practice, many of these provisions were not enforced
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal
abuse; however, it remained a serious problem. The Institute for Legal
Medicine and Forensic Science reported 22,271 cases of domestic
violence against women in 2003, but noted that only a small percentage
of these cases were brought to its attention. The law provides legal
recourse for victims of domestic violence. Judicial authorities may
remove an abuser from the household and require therapy or reeducation.
According to the Ministry of Justice and Interior, 1,290 persons were
charged criminally for domestic violence during the year; 256 were
convicted. The law stipulates that the Government must provide victims
of domestic violence with immediate protection from physical or
psychological abuse. Through its ``Make Peace'' program, the Colombian
Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) provided safe houses and counseling for
victims; however, its services were dwarfed by the magnitude of the
problem. In addition to fulfilling traditional family counseling
functions, the ICBF's 531 family ombudsmen were assigned a total of
18,686 domestic violence cases in 2003. The Human Rights Ombudsman's
Office conducted regional training workshops to promote the application
of domestic violence statutes.
The law prohibits rape and other forms of sexual violence,
including by a spouse; however, it remained a serious problem. In 2003,
the Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Science reported 8,666
cases of suspected sex crimes, including rape, but noted that, like
cases of domestic violence, only a small percentage of such crimes were
reported. Paramilitaries 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 Penal Code provides for sentences of between
4 and 40 years for crimes against sexual freedom and human dignity,
including rape, sex with a minor, sexual abuse, induction into
prostitution, and child pornography. The maximum sentence for violent
sexual assault is 15 years; the minimum sentence is 8. For acts of
spousal sexual violence, the law mandates sentences of 6 months to 2
years and denies probation or bail to offenders who disobey restraining
orders. The ICBF provided support to victims of sexual violence.
In October, AI reported that women and girls in the country were
subjected to a continuum of violence ranging from domestic violence to
violence related to the internal armed conflict. AI accused all parties
to the conflict of abusing women, but especially paramilitaries and
guerrillas.
Prostitution, which is legal in designated ``tolerance zones,'' was
widespread and remained a serious problem exacerbated by a poor economy
and internal displacement. Sex tourism existed to a limited extent,
especially in coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla, where
marriage and dating services were often fronts for sexual tourism.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation continued to be a
problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
There were no laws prohibiting sexual harassment, and it remained a
pervasive problem.
The Constitution prohibits discrimination against women and
specifically requires authorities to ensure adequate and effective
participation by women at decision-making levels of public
administration. However, discrimination against women persisted. Women
faced hiring discrimination, were disproportionately affected by
unemployment, and had salaries that were generally incompatible with
their education and experience. Government unemployment statistics
indicated that the unemployment rate for women was 16.5 percent,
compared with 5 percent for men. Female workers in rural areas were
most affected by wage discrimination and unemployment.
Despite an explicit constitutional provision promising additional
resources for single mothers and government efforts to train them in
parenting skills, women's groups reported that single mothers continued
to face serious economic and social problems. According to a 1997
Constitutional Court ruling, a woman's decision to bear a child cannot
be considered just cause for firing her if she is pregnant or the
mother of a child under 3 months of age. There were no published
reports of such firings during the year.
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.
Children.--The Constitution imposes an obligation on the family,
society, and the State to protect children, foster their development,
and ensure their ability to exercise fully their rights; however, these
obligations were not fulfilled completely. The Children's Code
describes these rights and establishes the services and programs
designed to enforce the protection of minors. The ICBF oversees all
government child protection and welfare programs and also funds
nongovernmental programs that benefit children.
The Constitution stipulates that the State must provide a free
public education for children between the ages of 6 and 15; however,
the National Department of Statistics (DANE) estimated that 75 percent
of children between ages 6 and 15 attended school. By law, a primary
education is universal, compulsory, and free. The Government covered
the basic costs of primary education, although many families faced
additional expenses such as matriculation fees, books, school supplies,
and transportation costs that often were prohibitive, especially for
the rural poor.
The law requires the Government to provide medical care to
children, and boys and girls had equal access to such care. However,
medical facilities were not universally available, especially in rural
areas.
Child abuse was a serious problem. The National Institute for Legal
Medicine and Forensic Sciences reported 7,844 cases of child abuse in
2003. According to the Association Against Child Abuse, less than 5
percent of child abuse cases were reported to government authorities.
Although final statistics were unavailable for the year, the National
Institute for Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences estimated that of
the 8,666 cases of suspected sex crimes reported to it in 2003, 70
percent involved the sexual abuse of children, the vast majority under
them under 14. The ICBF estimated that 25,000 children were victims of
sexual exploitation, and it provided assistance, both directly and
through other specialized agencies, to more than 14,400 of them during
the year.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 35,000 adolescents worked as
prostitutes, in spite of legislation prohibiting sex with minors and
the employment of minors for prostitution. Children also were
trafficked for sexual exploitation (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Persons under 18 are prohibited from serving in the public security
forces; however, both paramilitaries and guerrillas used child
soldiers. In October, the IOM estimated that between 6,000 and 11,000
children in the country were members of illegal armed groups; UNICEF
reported that the number was as high as 14,000. The Ministry of Defense
estimated that 40 percent of FARC members were minors and that most
guerrilla fighters had joined the FARC ranks as children. Both
paramilitaries and guerrillas forcibly recruited minors as combatants.
Although many minors were recruited forcibly, a 2002 study by
UNICEF found that 83 percent of child soldiers volunteered. Limited
educational and economic opportunities and a desire for acceptance and
camaraderie increased the appeal of service in armed groups.
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 529 children surrendered to state security forces
during the year. Illegal armed groups frequently threatened children to
thwart them from leaving terrorist ranks. For example, in October,
three former child soldiers described how the AUC forced them to march
several days to an isolated training camp, where they were told they
would be tortured and their families killed if they tried to escape.
FARC child deserters also reported that local guerrilla commanders
threatened to kill their families should they desert or attempt to do
so. A reinsertion program for former child soldiers administered by the
ICBF provided assistance to 505 children during the year. The remaining
24 children received assistance from their indigenous communities.
Paramilitary groups released some child soldiers as a prelude to
demobilizations negotiated with the Government (see Section 1.g.).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
According to UNHCR, 74 percent of all IDPs were women and children
(see Section 2.d.). The Human Rights Ombudsman's Office estimated that
15 percent of displaced children attended school. Displaced children
especially were vulnerable to physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and
recruitment by criminals.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country.
The Criminal Code provides for prison sentences of between 10 and
15 years and fines of up to 1,000 times the monthly minimum wage. These
penalties, which are even more severe than those for rape, can 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. Police actively investigated trafficking offenses
and some traffickers were prosecuted, although limited resources
hindered prosecutions. Between 2000 and July, the Prosecutor General's
Office opened 280 investigations into trafficking cases, of which 41
cases resulted in arrests and 25 went to trial.
A government advisory committee composed of representatives of the
Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior
and Justice, the DAS, the Office of the Inspector General, the Office
of the Prosecutor General, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman,
the National Registrar's Office, the National Police, the ICBF, the
Presidential Program for Human Rights, and Interpol met every 2 months
to discuss trafficking in persons. The committee prepared information
campaigns, promoted information exchange between government entities,
and encouraged closer cooperation between the Government and Interpol.
The Government cooperated with foreign counterparts on
investigations and successfully freed victims in solo and joint
operations. During the year, the DAS worked with its counterparts to
capture a Spanish trafficker in the coffee region who subsequently was
extradited to Spain and sentenced to 18 years in prison. To protect
citizens trafficked to other countries, government foreign missions
provided legal aid and social welfare assistance. The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Missions abroad worked closely with the IOM to
repatriate victims. In addition, IOM provided antitrafficking training
to consular officers. During the year, IOM received information
regarding 141 cases of trafficking in persons. Information concerning 9
of these cases came from diplomatic missions overseas.
The country was a source for trafficking in persons, primarily for
sexual purposes, and principally to Europe and Asia. Destination
countries with large numbers of victims included Spain, Japan, and Hong
Kong. Victims also were trafficked to the United States and other Latin
American countries. According to the DAS, an estimated 45,000 to 50,000
women worked overseas as prostitutes. Many of them were trafficking
victims. The vast majority of trafficking victims were young women,
although children and young men were also at risk. Female trafficking
victims were at a high risk for sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted
pregnancies, and forced abortions.
Many traffickers disclosed the sexual nature of the work they
offered but concealed information about working conditions, clientele,
and compensation. Others disguised their intent by portraying
themselves as modeling agents, offering marriage brokerage services, 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. Most
traffickers were well-organized and linked to narcotics or other
criminal organizations. Internal trafficking--largely a result of the
armed conflict--also was a problem.
The IOM strengthened government institutions involved in
antitrafficking efforts and assisted trafficking victims. Specifically,
the IOM trained 2,982 officials in 38 regional training sessions on
trafficking issues and provided victims with job training and
employment opportunities through 13 regional projects that directly
benefited 936 persons. The IOM also helped victims obtain necessary
medical and psychological care. The Hope Foundation, an antitrafficking
NGO, provided educational information, social support, and counseling
to trafficking victims. In February, with the support of the IOM, the
Foundation launched an information campaign to assist travelers in
Bogota's international airport. The Rebirth Foundation also provided
assistance to trafficking victims, particularly children.
The IOM continued its major antitrafficking public relations
campaign that included placing large posters in airports, foreign
consulates, and travel agencies, and running professionally produced
public service announcements on television.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. 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 social security fund for public employees cannot refuse
to provide services for children with disabilities, regardless of the
costs involved.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Approximately 22 percent of the
population was of African origin. Afro-Colombians are entitled to all
constitutional rights and protections; however, they faced significant
economic and social discrimination. Seventy-four 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.
The Government had yet to implement the provisions of the 1993 law
designed to benefit Afro-Colombians by expanding public services and
private investments and providing for collective titles to some Pacific
coastal lands.
Indigenous People.--The Constitution gives special recognition to
the fundamental rights of indigenous people, who comprise approximately
2 percent of the population.
By law, indigenous groups have perpetual rights to their ancestral
lands. Traditional Indian authority boards operated approximately 545
reservations as municipal entities, with officials selected according
to indigenous traditions. However, approximately 200 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 (INCORA) administered a program to
buy back lands declared to belong to indigenous communities.
The Constitution provides for special criminal and civil
jurisdictions within indigenous territories based on traditional
community laws (see Section 1.e.). However, these jurisdictions were
subject to manipulation and often rendered punishments that were much
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 was respectful of such requests but stated that for
security reasons, it could not provide advanced notice of most military
operations.
The Ministry of Interior and Justice, through the 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.
Members of indigenous communities continued to be victims of all
sides in the internal conflict. According to the Presidential Program
for Human Rights, 85 indigenous people were killed during the year, at
least 15 by paramilitaries, 12 by the FARC, and 2 by the ELN. For
example, on February 27, paramilitaries killed three indigenous people
in the port city of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Department. On March
10, the FARC killed three indigenous members of the Embera Chami tribe
in Mistato, Risaralda Department. On August 3, paramilitaries killed
indigenous leader and human rights defender Freddy Arias in the city of
Valledupar, Cesar Department (see Section 4). On December 7, the FARC
killed three leaders of the Embera Katio tribe in the city of Apartado,
Antioquia Department. On September 8, the FARC released Arquimides
Vitonas and Gilberto Munoz, indigenous leaders in the community in
Toribio, Cauca Department, who had been kidnapped on August 23 after
venturing into a FARC-controlled area (see Sections 1.b. and 3). The
Ministry of Interior operated a protection program that provided
protection to 32 indigenous leaders during the year.
The UNHCHR strongly criticized threats and violence against
indigenous communities and characterized government investigations of
human rights violations against indigenous groups as inadequate. The
National Organization of Indigenous Persons (ONIC) reported many
incidents in which illegal armed groups forcibly recruited indigenous
people or obligated them to collaborate, restricted indigenous people's
freedom of movement, blockaded indigenous communities, or accused
indigenous people of sympathizing with their adversaries.
Section 6. Workers Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides for the
right to organize unions, except for members of the armed forces,
police, and persons performing ``essential public services'' as defined
by law, and the Government respected this right in practice. However,
violence against union members and antiunion discrimination remained
obstacles to joining unions and engaging in trade union activities, and
the number of unions and union members continued to decline. According
to the National Labor College (ENS), a Medellin-based NGO that
collects, studies, and consolidates information on organized labor,
there were 2,357 unions registered in the country at the end of the
year, with 856,099 members, or approximately 4 percent of the labor
force.
The Labor Code provides for automatic recognition of unions that
obtain 25 signatures from potential members and comply with a
registration process; however, this process was slow and sometimes took
years. The Government can compel trade unions to provide interested
third parties with relevant information on their work, including books,
registers, plans, and other documents. The ILO Committee of Experts
considered this amendment to be inconsistent with freedom of
association, since it believed that only an administrative authority
should conduct investigations when there are reasonable grounds to
believe that an offense has been committed.
Labor leaders continued to be targets of attacks by illegal armed
groups, primarily for political reasons. According to the ENS, as of
August 31, 3 union members were kidnapped, 2 disappeared, 276 were
threatened with death, 2 survived attempts on their lives, and 47 were
killed. By comparison, 62 trade union members were killed during the
same period in 2003. Of those killed, all but one were members of
unions affiliated with the United Workers Central (CUT), the country's
largest and most left-leaning labor federation. The Ministry of Social
Protection asserted that 24 of the 47 trade unionists were killed
because of trade union activity, while the others were targeted for
political activities or died in personal disputes. The ENS, on the
other hand, noted a stronger correlation between trade unionists'
deaths and their labor activism, noting that 16 of those killed were
board members or union or federation directors who were involved in
labor disputes at the time they were killed.
While noting that killings of trade union leaders had declined, the
ILO Committee of Experts nonetheless noted what it called a
``persistent climate of violence'' in the country. Violence against
trade unionists was limited generally to regions contested by multiple
illegal armed groups. According to the ENS, 66 percent of trade
unionist killings occurred in 5 of the country's most conflictive
departments: Arauca, Atlantico, Antioquia, Magdalena, and Valle del
Cauca. Illegal armed groups disproportionately targeted educators, who
represented approximately one-third of the organized work force.
According to the ENS, 20 teachers were killed and 254 received death
threats during the first 8 months of the year (see Section 2.a.).
In 70 percent of incidents of violence against trade union members,
the ENS was unable to determine which illegal armed group was
responsible. Based on available information, the ENS attributed 37
percent of these crimes to paramilitaries. The CUT claimed that
paramilitaries were responsible for 97 percent of the violence against
its members through April. On April 15, alleged paramilitaries killed
Carlos Alberto Chicaiza, a leader of SINTRAEMSIRVA, a local government
workers union affiliated with the CUT, while he was traveling from Cali
to Palmira, Valle del Cauca Department. On July 15, two unidentified
gunmen killed Carmen Elisa Nova, a leader of the CUT-affiliated
SINTRAHOSPICLINICAS, a medical workers union, in Bucaramanga, Santander
Department. On September 7, the Office of the Prosecutor General
arrested Lieutenant Juan Pablo Ordonez and soldiers Oscar Saul Cuta and
Jhon Alejandro Hernandez of the Army's 18th Brigade for the August 5
killing of labor leaders Jorge Prieto, Leonel Goyeneche, and Hector
Alirio Martinez. The Office of the Prosecutor General previously had
issued warrants for the arrest of all three labor leaders on suspicion
of membership in the ELN. The soldiers alleged the three trade union
members had been shot in a skirmish; however, a forensic examination
conducted by the Office of the Prosecutor General concluded they likely
were executed.
Guerrilla groups killed, kidnapped, and threatened trade union
members for political and financial reasons. For example, on June 23,
the FARC's 34th Front released Luis Carlos Herrera, vice president of a
government workers union in Antioquia, after the departmental
government agreed to launch a development project in a FARC-controlled
area.
Some labor leaders alleged the Government attempted to marginalize
trade unions by arbitrarily arresting trade union members on suspicion
of engaging in terrorist activity. According to the ENS, as of August
31, security forces had arbitrarily detained 51 trade unionists,
including Luz Perly Cordoba, Secretary General of FENSUAGRO, an
agricultural workers union in Arauca department. Authorities arrested
Cordoba on February 18 and charged her with rebellion and subversion
for alleged ties to the FARC's Northeast Bloc. On August 6, the Office
of the Inspector General ruled there was sufficient evidence to proceed
to trial against Cordoba. On March 29, a judge dismissed charges
against Hernando Hernandez, former president of the National Oil
Workers Union (USO), stating there was insufficient evidence to proceed
to trial. Hernandez had been charged with rebellion and subversion for
alleged ties to the ELN.
Union leaders contended that perpetrators of violence against
workers operated with virtual impunity. There were few successful
prosecutions of crimes against trade union members. A major obstacle to
bringing cases to trial was witnesses' reluctance, for personal
security reasons, to testify or come forward with information.
Prosecutors and judicial investigators frequently were subject to
threats, intimidation, or coercion by illegal armed groups. According
to the Ministry of Social Protection, approximately 70 percent of cases
involving the killings of trade unionists since 1994 remained in the
preliminary investigative stage despite a regulation requiring cases to
be brought to trial or closed within 2 years. Action on 18 percent of
cases was suspended due to lack of evidence. Approximately 4 percent of
cases had been brought to trial. In January, however, authorities
arrested Adolfo Hickly for his suspected involvement in the 2002
killing of Adolfo Munera, a leader of SINALTRAINAL, a food and beverage
workers union, in Barranquilla, Atlantico Department. Several labor
organizations continued to pursue civil suits against alleged authors
of paramilitary antilabor violence. For example, SINTRAMINERGETICA's
2003 civil suit in a foreign court against the Drummond Company, which
operated a large coalmine in Cesar Department, alleged that the company
ordered or acquiesced in local paramilitaries' killings of three union
activists.
During the year, the Government and the country's three principal
labor federations finalized development of a work plan for the Inter-
Institutional Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Worker's
Human Rights. The Commission is charged with preventing human rights
violations against union members and promoting and protecting freedom
of association, collective bargaining, and the right to strike.
To improve the security of particularly vulnerable union leaders,
the Government increased resources devoted to the Ministry of Interior
and Justice's protection program for trade union leaders. During the
year, the program secured 19 union headquarters and residences, and,
since 1999, has provided protection to 5,681 union members and
activists. Although trade union leaders acknowledged the benefits of
the program, they still complained that its resources were insufficient
to protect the large number of threatened trade unionists adequately.
The Executive Council of the CUT also complained that labor unions were
not given an adequate voice in the administration of the program. The
Presidential Program for Human Rights established a program to relocate
at-risk teachers (see Section 2.a.).
The Constitution prohibits antiunion discrimination. However, a
number of long-standing ILO criticisms of the Labor Code challenged the
scope and effectiveness of this provision. Specifically, the ILO
criticized: The requirement that government officials be present at
assemblies convened to vote on a strike call; the legality of firing
union organizers from jobs in their trade once 6 months have passed
following a strike or dispute; the requirement that candidates for
trade union offices belong to the occupation that their unions
represent; 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.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution provides for workers' right to organize and bargain
collectively, and the Government respected this right in the private
sector; however, collective bargaining had not been implemented fully
in the public sector. High unemployment, a large informal economic
sector, traditional antiunion attitudes, and violence against trade
union leaders made organizing unions difficult. Weak union organization
and a requirement that trade unions represent a majority of a company's
workers to negotiate on their behalf limited workers' bargaining power
in all sectors. 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.
Collective pacts between individual workers and their employers
were not subject to collective bargaining and were used by employers to
complicate and discourage labor organization.
The growing prevalence of workers' cooperatives further diminished
collective bargaining. Workers' cooperatives are required to register
with the Superintendent of Economic Cooperatives, which places the
number of such cooperatives at 1,500 and the number of associated
workers at 150,000. Workers' cooperatives are obligated to provide
compensation at least equivalent to the minimum wage and the same
health and retirement benefits as other workers receive. Government
investigations revealed irregularities or abuses in 75 percent of
workers' cooperatives. 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' day-to-day 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 September, the Government rescinded
specific tax breaks enjoyed by workers' cooperatives.
The Constitution provides for the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice; however, members of the armed forces,
police, and persons executing ``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. Legislation
that prohibits public employees from striking is still in effect,
although it often was overlooked. By law, public employees must accept
binding arbitration if mediation fails.
Various high profile strikes occurred during the year. On April 22,
the USO declared a ``political strike'' to protest government plans to
restructure Ecopetrol, the country's state-owned oil company. The
strike, which lasted 35 days, was declared illegal by the Government on
the basis of a 1995 Constitutional Court decision ruling that all
hydrocarbon sector employees perform ``essential public services.''
Approximately 250 USO workers were dismissed for participating in the
strike. As part of the settlement, a voluntary arbitration tribunal was
established to determine on a case-by-case basis whether dismissed
workers should be reinstated.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits slavery and any form of forced or compulsory labor, including
by children, and there were no reports that such practices occurred in
the formal sector.
Paramilitaries and guerrillas practiced forced conscription (see
Section 5). There were some reports that guerrillas and paramilitaries
used forced labor, including child labor, in areas outside full
government control (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Constitution prohibits the employment of children under 14 in most
occupations, and the Labor Code prohibits the granting of work permits
to children under 18; however, child labor remained a significant
problem, particularly in the informal sector. According to the DANE,
nearly 15 percent of children were employed. In October 2003, a
National Committee for the Eradication of Child Labor, which included
officials from the Ministries of Social Protection, Education, and
Communications, as well as representatives of unions, employer
associations, and NGOs, implemented the Government's 2003-06 Third
National Plan to Eradicate Child Labor. The Action Plan includes
specific goals and strategies to protect children by updating
information on child labor, strengthening the education system,
actively searching for child workers and removing them from the
workplace, and improving cooperation and coordination at the
departmental and municipal levels.
The Government has ratified ILO Convention 182 but has not
deposited the instrument of ratification with the ILO, pending review
of an ILO-prepared legal opinion on whether the Government can be held
responsible for forced conscription of child soldiers by illegal armed
groups (see Section 5).
The 1989 decree that established the Minors Code categorically
prohibits the employment of children under 12 and strictly limits work
by children ages 12 and 13. It also requires exceptional conditions and
the express authorization of the Ministry of Labor to employ children
between 12 and 17. Children under 14 are prohibited from working, with
the exception that those ages 12 and 13 may perform light work with the
permission of their parents and appropriate labor authorities. Children
ages 12 and 13 may work a maximum of 4 hours a day, children ages 14
and 15 a maximum of 6 hours a day, and children ages 16 and 17 a
maximum of 8 hours a day. 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. Children are prohibited
from working in a number of specific occupations, including mining and
construction; however, these requirements largely were ignored in
practice, and 5 percent of working children possessed the required work
permits.
According to a recent report released by parastatal company Mineros
de Colombia, between 200,000 and 400,000 children worked in illegal
gold, clay, coal, emerald, limestone, and other mining operations.
Children also worked extensively in agriculture, primarily on
subsistence family farms. According to DANE, approximately 200,000
children worked as coca pickers or in other aspects of the illegal drug
trade. The legal minimum age for work was inconsistent with completing
a basic education, and only 38 percent of working children attended
school.
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.f. and 5), prostitutes (see
Section 5), or coca pickers. The Minors Code provides for fines ranging
from 1 to 40 minimum monthly salaries for violations of child labor
laws. If a violation is deemed to have endangered a child's life or
threatened his or her moral values, sanctions also can include the
temporary or permanent closure of the guilty establishment. In the
formal sector, the Ministry of Social Protection enforced child labor
laws through periodic inspections.
The Ministry had inspectors in each of the country's 32 departments
and the national capital, responsible for certifying and conducting
repeat inspections of workplaces that employed children; however, the
system lacked resources and covered 20 percent of the child labor force
employed in the formal sector of the economy.
The National Committee for the Eradication of Child Labor conducted
training on legislation and enforcement for approximately 600 public
officials in 7 departments and created an information system on child
labor to better measure and understand the problem. The Government, the
major labor federations, and media representatives published articles,
broadcast documentaries, and launched other outreach programs to
delegitimize child labor. UNICEF continued a program to encourage
children to leave the workforce and return to school.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets a uniform
minimum wage every January that serves as a benchmark for wage
bargaining. The monthly minimum wage, set by tripartite negotiations
among representatives of business, organized labor, and the Government,
was approximately $140 (358,000 pesos). Because the minimum wage is
based on the Government's target inflation rate, the minimum wage has
not kept up with real inflation. The national minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. An
estimated 47 percent of workers earned wages that were insufficient to
cover the costs of the Government's estimated low-income family
shopping basket.
The Labor Code provides for a regular workday of 8 hours and a
regular workweek of 48 hours. The Code stipulates that workers are
entitled to receive premium compensation for additional hours worked
and for work performed on Sundays. The law requires employers to
provide premium pay for work performed between the hours of 10 p.m. and
6 a.m.
Legislation provides comprehensive protection for workers'
occupational safety and health, which the Ministry of Social Protection
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. The Social Security Institute reported 148,835
work-related accidents through the first 8 months of the year,
resulting in 363 deaths. Workers in the informal sector sometimes
suffered physical or sexual abuse.
The Labor Code provides workers with the right to remove themselves
from a hazardous work situation without jeopardizing continued
employment. However, unorganized workers, particularly those in the
agricultural sector, often continued working in hazardous conditions
because they feared losing their jobs if they criticized abuses.
__________
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica is a constitutional democracy governed by a president
and unicameral Legislative Assembly directly elected in free multiparty
elections every 4 years. The presidential term of Abel Pacheco de la
Espriella, of the Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), began in May
2002, after he won 58 percent of the vote in a fair and free election.
The judiciary is independent.
The 1949 Constitution abolished the military forces. The Ministry
of Public Security--which includes specialized units such as the anti-
narcotics police--is responsible for law enforcement and shares
national security responsibility with the Ministry of the Presidency.
The judicial investigative police, part of the judicial branch of
government, conduct most criminal investigations. Civilian authorities
maintained effective control of the security forces. Some members of
the security forces committed isolated human rights abuses.
The market economy was based primarily on light industry, tourism,
and agriculture; the country's population was approximately 4 million.
Real gross domestic product growth was 3.9 percent, compared with 5.6
percent in 2003. Wage growth for public and private sector employees,
estimated at 8.5 percent and 11 percent respectively, did not keep pace
with the 13.13 percent rate of inflation.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas. There were some
instances of physical abuse by police and prison guards, and
penitentiary overcrowding remained a problem. The judicial system
processed some criminal cases very slowly, resulting in lengthy
pretrial detention for some persons charged with crimes. Press freedom
was a problem, with some journalists practicing self-censorship to
avoid accusations of libel, defamation, and the associated criminal
penalties involved if convicted of such crimes. Domestic violence was a
serious problem, and traditional patterns of unequal opportunity for
women remained. Abuse of children also remained a problem, and child
prostitution was a serious problem. Trafficking in persons was a
problem. Child labor persisted, in spite of government efforts to
eradicate it.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, in June, security forces shot and killed a man fleeing from
the scene of a domestic disturbance. The police officers reported that
they were unaware they had injured the man, whose body was discovered a
day later in the field into which he had fled. At year's end, the
investigation of the shooting continued, and the police officer
involved was fired for an unrelated matter.
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 holds
invalid any statement obtained through violence; however, members of
the security forces were responsible for some physical abuse. The
Ombudsman's office was effective in lodging and recording complaints of
police misconduct (see Section 4).
As of August, the Ombudsman's office had received 39 reports of
police abuse of authority or misconduct. Of these, 20 reports still
were being investigated, 8 were determined to be legitimate, and 11
were determined to be without merit.
Prison conditions generally met international standards; however,
overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of health services, and violence
among prisoners were common. As of August, the Ombudsman's office
received 14 complaints of physical abuse of prisoners by guards, of
which 11 were still being investigated, and 3 were determined to be
without merit. The office also received 163 other complaints from
prisoners alleging inadequate medical care, arbitrary administrative
procedures, violation of due process of disciplinary procedures, unfair
denial of prison transfer requests, and poor living conditions. Of
these 163 complaints, 89 were still being investigated, 15 were
determined to be legitimate, and 59 were determined to be without
merit. 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. On July
20, a prison guard was arrested for smuggling narcotics into a San Jose
prison. The Social Adaptation Division of the Ministry of Justice
reported that seven Ministry employees were imprisoned, and another
five employees were awaiting trial for smuggling narcotics into
prisons.
Penitentiary overcrowding remained a problem. As of October, the
Social Adaptation Division of the Ministry of Justice reported a total
of 13,692 persons under its supervision, including 7,611 jailed
prisoners, 936 persons required to spend nights and weekends in jail,
4,545 persons in supervised work programs requiring no jail time, and
600 juveniles. The overall prison overpopulation rate was 10 percent;
however, crowding was more severe in several small jails. Problems at
La Reforma prison complex, the country's largest, and San Sebastian
prison drew attention to conditions in those institutions. Conditions
at the young adult prison in the La Reforma complex were so poor that
the Public Defender presented a case before the Supreme Court calling
for the construction of a new facility to house young adults convicted
of crimes while minors. Despite a judicial order that required the
Ministry of Justice to develop a solution, at year's end, the prison
continued to hold young adult prisoners. The Ombudsman attributed the
problems at La Reforma to overcrowding, deteriorating infrastructure,
lack of adequately trained prison personnel, lack of prisoner
employment programs, and insufficient medical care. Local judicial
officials also cited the practice of grouping hardened criminals
together with first-time offenders because of a shortage of maximum-
security units and a poorly functioning drug-rehabilitation program.
Prisoners usually were separated by sex and by level of security
(minimum, medium, and maximum); however, overcrowding sometimes
prevented proper separation. As of October, the Ministry of Justice
reported a total of 1,149 women under its supervision, including 527
jailed prisoners, 151 persons required to spend nights and weekends in
jail, 447 persons in supervised work programs requiring no jail time,
and 24 female juveniles. Female prisoners were held separately in
conditions that generally were considered fair, although the women's
prison held 8 percent more inmates than its intended capacity.
Juveniles were held in separate detention facilities in campus-like
conditions that generally were considered good. The juvenile penal
system held 93 youths in detention and another 507 in supervised
alternative sanction programs.
Most, but not all, pretrial detainees were held separately from
convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, including representatives from the Ombudsman's office. Human
rights observers were allowed to talk to prisoners and to prison
employees in confidence and without third parties present.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
respected these prohibitions.
The ``Public Force,'' a combination of several disbanded police
units, including the Border Guard, the Rural Guard, and the Civil
Guard, is approximately 10,000 strong, not including municipal police
forces, which are supervised and funded by each municipality. The
Ministry of Public Security has a Disciplinary Legal Department with an
Internal Affairs Unit to investigate charges made against its public
force members and members of other Ministry of Public Security units
such as the anti-narcotics police. During the year, investigations
resulted in over 70 dismissals. A number of the dismissals were the
result of background checks that revealed some officers did not meet
required educational or other hiring requirements, or had a number of
unauthorized absences from duty. As of September, there were also were
two dismissals for abuse of authority, nine for drug or alcohol abuse,
three for refusal to take a drug test, and four dismissals for acts of
corruption. These statistics did not include complaints against the
judicial investigative police, transit police, or immigration officers,
who were under the authority of other ministries or institutions.
The Pacheco administration continued its effort to depoliticize and
professionalize the police force. A 2001 law replaced military ranks
with civilian titles and ensured that police officials were not
dismissed due to a change in administrations. The law also required
that the police academy develop a course in police administration that
included material on the fundamental and universal principles of human
rights. All new recruits received approximately 1 week of human rights
training as part of the 7-month basic training program. Due to resource
constraints, only new recruits passed through the basic training
program; it was estimated that 3,500 members of the police force had
attended the basic training program.
The law requires issuance of judicial warrants before making
arrests. The Constitution entitles a detainee to a judicial
determination of the legality of the detention during arraignment
before a judge within 24 hours of arrest. The law provides for the
right to bail, and the authorities observed it in practice. The law
also provides detainees prompt access to an attorney, and, in practice,
this was often done before the arraignment. Indigents are provided a
public attorney at government expense, and, in practice, even those
with sufficient personal funds may obtain a public defender. With
judicial authorization, the authorities may hold suspects incommunicado
for 48 hours after arrest or, under special circumstances, for up to 10
days.
On January 30, security forces detained approximately 600 citizens
and Nicaraguan immigrants in La Carpio to verify their immigration
status and check for outstanding arrest warrants. On March 19, the
Supreme Court ruled that the collective detention was unconstitutional
since it violated the due process rights of the individuals detained.
A criminal court may hold suspects in pretrial detention for
periods of up to 1 year, and the court of appeals may extend this
period to 2 years in especially complex cases. The law requires that
suspects in pretrial detention have their cases reviewed every 3 months
by the court to determine the appropriateness of continued detention.
According to the Ministry of Justice, in October, there were 2,078
persons in pretrial detention, representing 39 percent of the prison
population.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice. The Constitution provides for the right to
a fair trial, and an independent judiciary enforced this right;
however, the legal system faced many challenges, including significant
delays in the adjudication of civil disputes and a growing workload.
The judicial branch of government includes the upper and lower
courts, the judicial investigative police, the office of the
prosecutor, the office of the public defender, forensic laboratories,
and the morgue. The lower courts include the courts of first instance
and the circuit courts. The Supreme Court is the highest court, with 22
justices known as magistrates. The Legislative Assembly elects those
magistrates for 8-year terms, which are renewed automatically unless
two-thirds of the Assembly opposes such renewal. The Supreme Court
generally had a reputation for independence and integrity.
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.
On August 4, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that
the Government had violated Article 8 (Denial of Due Process) of the
Inter-American Convention on Human Rights by not permitting a
correspondent to submit evidence in his defense during a 2001 appeal
before the Supreme Court. The correspondent was convicted of defamation
in 1999 and appealed the criminal court's ruling in 2001 (see Section
2.a.).
There were no reports of political prisoners.
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 requested government
assistance to evict squatters forcibly from private land. On April 22,
75 squatters were arrested attempting to return to land from which they
were removed forcibly in July 2003. A group of more than 100 squatters
sought shelter in a San Jose church for several months until a court
ruling assured the families that they could return to their homes,
which were located approximately 5 miles from the disputed land.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, journalists and media
company owners criticized outdated legislation that imposed criminal
penalties, instead of civil fines, for common press infractions and
argued that such legislation promoted self-censorship.
On August 4, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that
the Government had violated Article 13 (Freedom of Expression) of the
Inter-American Convention on Human Rights when a criminal court
convicted a journalist of defamation in 1999. The criminal court had
sentenced the correspondent to 120 days in jail and ordered his
newspaper to pay approximately $200,000 (88,890,000 colones) in fines.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the Government
should reform its press laws ``within a reasonable amount of time,''
expunge the correspondent's name from the criminal registry, and pay
the correspondent's damages and legal expenses.
In an August 2003 survey by La Nacion newspaper of 184 journalists
on their perception of freedom of the press, 41 percent said they left
out information in reporting because of legal concerns, 79 percent said
they felt pressure not to investigate certain issues, and 22 percent
claimed that they had received some type of threat during the previous
12 months relating to the performance of their job. The greatest number
of threats came from business and political interests. Of the surveyed
journalists, 75 percent indicated that they felt constrained in their
practice by existing legislation, and the same proportion were
unsatisfied with the slow progress the Legislative Assembly had made in
reforming existing laws.
However, in a public opinion poll conducted by Unimer in December,
61 percent of respondents indicated that they believed the press was at
liberty to inform the public, compared with 33 percent in 2001. This
change in the public's perception was attributed to journalists'
investigative reports of high-level corruption scandals throughout the
year (see Section 3).
A 1996 ``right of response'' law provides persons criticized in the
media with an opportunity to reply with equal attention and at equal
length. Print and electronic media continued to criticize public
figures; however, media managers found it difficult to comply with
provisions of this law. The Penal Code outlines a series of ``insult
laws'' that establish criminal penalties of up to 3 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. In 2003, the Inter-American Press Association and the World
Press Freedom Committee asserted that such laws had the effect of
restricting reporting by the media, and that they wrongly provided
public officials with a shield from public scrutiny by citizens and the
press.
During the year, three journalists were convicted in criminal
courts for journalism infractions. One journalist was sentenced to 30
days in prison and fined for ``tarnishing the image'' of a school
official, another was sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined for
publishing an altered photo of television models, and a third was
sentenced to 50 days in prison and fined after publishing a story that
accused a public employee of misusing public funds.
In December 2003, journalist Ivannia Mora was killed, and police
arrested and charged her former employer and four accomplices for
ordering the killing. At year's end, the case was still under
investigation, but a business rivalry appeared to be the motive.
During the year, the authorities arrested additional suspects in
the 2001 murder of radio host Parmenio Medina. At year's end, police
continued to investigate the case. Individuals charged during 2003
remained in detention pending trial.
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 strictly 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.
On May 26, a judge ordered a tabloid magazine office closed after
the owner failed to pay fines imposed by the Commission. The fines,
pending from October 2003, resulted from the owner's refusal to submit
the magazine, which reportedly contained semi-nude photographs, for the
Commission's review before distributing and selling the magazine. The
owner argued that the magazine was not pornographic, and the
Commission's action amounted to censorship. In August, the magazine was
allowed to resume publication, but the owner of the magazine requested
that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights review the case.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
On May 31, in La Carpio, residents barricaded a street to protest
the lack of infrastructure and to demand property titles to land they
occupied. Security forces intervened to remove the barricade, and a
riot ensued. Police used tear gas and retreated from the scene. Six
police officers and two civilians suffered gunshot wounds during the
incident. After negotiations, residents agreed to remove the barricade
the following morning.
Beginning on August 23, truck drivers blocked highways throughout
the country to protest government vehicle inspection requirements.
After attempting to negotiate with the truckers' representatives for 2
days, security forces arrested 85 persons who refused to move their
vehicles. In some cases, police broke windows and used tear gas in
arresting individuals locked inside their vehicles. Within a day, all
of those arrested for blocking public roads were released.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The Constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the state
religion; however, it also prohibits the State from impeding the free
exercise of other religions ``that do not impugn universal morality or
proper behavior.'' Members of all faiths freely practiced their
religion without government interference. Religious education teachers
in public schools must be certified by the Roman Catholic Church
Conference of Bishops, which does not certify teachers from other
denominations or faiths. Private schools were free to offer any
religious instruction. Foreign missionaries and clergy of all faiths
worked and proselytized freely.
The Government did not restrict the establishment of churches. New
churches, primarily evangelical Protestant churches that are located in
residential neighborhoods, occasionally encountered problems with local
municipalities due to neighbors' complaints about noise and traffic.
Some churches were closed as a result.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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. There
were no restrictions on travel within the country, emigration, or the
right of return.
The law requires that adults carry their national identification
cards with them 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 exile, and it was not used.
The law and a series or executive decrees provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The
Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees 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. Unlike in
previous years, the Refugee Department eliminated its backlog, and most
refugee cases were processed within a month.
As of December 12, the Government received 1,386 applications for
refugee status, of which 1,132 were from Colombians. From January to
December 12, the Government recognized 819 persons as refugees, of
which 765 were of Colombian origin. These figures included family
members. Since July 2001, the Government received 14,559 applications
for refugee status, of which 12,676 were from Colombians. The majority
entered in legal visitor status and applied for asylum. Those who
sought temporary refugee status were expected to return to their
country of origin once fighting ended.
In addition, the Government provided refugee status for 20 Cuban
migrants in need of protection who had been interdicted by a foreign
government. The Constitution specifically prohibits repatriation of
anyone subject to potential persecution. The authorities regularly
repatriated undocumented Nicaraguans, most of whom entered the country
primarily for economic reasons. According to the General Directorate of
Migration, between January and November 14, the Government deported 955
persons, of which 607 were Nicaraguans, and denied entry to 37,648
persons, of which 36,446 were Nicaraguans.
Allegations of abuse by immigration and other border officials
periodically arose.
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 and by secret ballot every 4 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 4-year terms. Assembly members
may seek reelection after at least one term out of office.
In the February 2002 elections, the failure of any presidential
candidate to win 40 percent of the popular vote necessitated a runoff
election in April, which was won by Abel Pacheco of the PUSC Party.
PUSC candidates won 19 of the Legislative Assembly's 57 seats. The
National Liberation Party won 17 seats, and several other parties hold
the remaining seats. Although traditionally a two-party system, several
small opposition parties wielded significant influence within the
Legislative Assembly.
A special legislative committee continued to investigate campaign
finance irregularities and undisclosed sources of funding by the
presidential candidates during the 2002 election. It aimed to formulate
recommendations before the start of the 2006 election process. At
year's end, the committee had not yet completed its deliberations. In
December, the Chief Prosecutor's office also announced the reopening of
the campaign finance investigation surrounding President Pacheco's 2002
election campaign. The investigation continued at year's end.
Public corruption remained an issue in spite of government efforts
to combat it. During the year, there were several well-publicized
accusations against government officials engaged in corruption or
alleged conflict of interest arrangements.
In April, the president of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund
(CCSS) was forced to resign following disclosure that he had been
renting a house, at discounted rates, owned by the chief financial
officer of an important CCSS medical supplier. In June, this
investigation widened when investigators found that the CCSS Board of
Directors used public funds to pay for an advertising campaign
supporting the former CCSS president. Subsequently, members of the
Board of Directors were charged with embezzlement.
The CCSS investigation continued throughout the year and eventually
implicated former President Rafael Angel Calderon and other prominent
individuals. Investigators claimed that Calderon directed a scheme that
pushed a bill through the Legislative Assembly to purchase $39.5
million in medical equipment, and in return, the former president and
accomplices received approximately $9.2 million in commissions. In
October, former President Calderon was placed in pretrial detention,
and the investigation into bribery, illicit enrichment, and corruption
involving the CCSS case continued at year's end.
In July, following a separate investigation, President Pacheco
fired two directors of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE)
after disclosures that they had used a 2003 business trip for personal
ends, which resulted in the award of a $130 million ICE contract to a
global telecommunications company. A third ICE manager also was fired
for his role in the contract award, and the contract was suspended
until a review could be completed. In July, the Constitutional Court
accepted an appeal by the two fired directors, but the appeal later was
dismissed.
In September, one of the ICE directors fired in July disclosed to
investigators the details of another kickback arrangement that
implicated former President Miguel Angel Rodriguez. The former ICE
director alleged that former President Rodriguez received part of a
$2.4 million dollar kickback received from a foreign telecommunications
company (a different company than the case for which the director was
already under investigation) in exchange for the award of two ICE
contracts totaling over $258 million. Upon his return to the country on
October 15, Rodriguez was arrested and later placed in pretrial
detention. The investigations into the kickback and other cases
involving the former president continued at year's end.
In October, a third former President, Jose Maria Figueres Olsen
admitted to receiving $900,000 from the same foreign communications
company implicated in the kickback scheme involving former President
Rodriguez; however, Figueres denied any wrongdoing and stated that the
funds received over a 3-year period were for professional consulting
services. Despite requests from the Legislative Assembly for his
return, Figueres remained in Switzerland and had not been charged with
a crime at year's end.
The Government generally respected citizens' rights to information,
and many government institutions published reports that detailed the
year's activities. In May, the Ombudsman's office released its annual
human rights report, which criticized the Government for its lack of
transparency and for denying public access to information.
Specifically, the report criticized the lack of transparency regarding
the funding of the Foundation for State Cooperation, a private
foundation that supported government programs. The report also
criticized the Government for failing to provide information on its
fiscal reform proposal, on cuts in social spending, and on the
negotiations of a free trade agreement. The Ombudsman's office
criticized the annual fee of approximately $27 (12,000 colones)
required to access the daily government gazette via the Internet,
stating that the fee infringed upon the rights of citizens to access
government decrees, edicts, resolutions, and legislation.
Women encountered no legal impediments to their participation in
politics and increasingly were represented in leadership positions in
the Government and political parties. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal
required 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 is also the Minister of
the Presidency), the Minister of Child and Adolescent Issues, the
Minister of Health, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of
Women's Affairs were women. There were 20 women in the 57-seat
Legislative Assembly, including 9 legislative committee chairwomen, and
women held prominent offices in the 3 largest political parties.
Indigenous people may participate freely in politics and
government; however, in practice, they have not played significant
roles in these areas except on issues directly affecting their welfare,
largely because of their relatively small numbers and physical
isolation. They accounted for approximately 1 percent of the
population. There were no indigenous members of the Legislative
Assembly.
The country's 100,000 Afro-Caribbeans, who mostly resided in Limon
Province, enjoyed full rights of citizenship, including the protection
of laws against racial discrimination. There were three Afro-Caribbean
members in the Assembly.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Various domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides that all persons are equal before the
law, and the Government generally respected this provision.
Women.--The Government continued to identify domestic violence
against women and children as a serious 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 assistance to 5,866 women, including
counseling and lodging for battered women in INAMU shelters. INAMU also
maintained a domestic abuse hotline, receiving 6,021 calls in 2003.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Domestic Violence and
Sexual Crimes for the San Jose area investigated 45 cases of disobeying
a court order, 83 cases of assault, 82 cases of armed assault, 124
cases of battery, 3 cases of aggravated battery, 15 cases of
abandonment, 80 cases of verbal threats, 5 cases of attempted killing,
and 1 killing. In addition, the Office reported that it was
investigating 14 cases of parental abuse of custodial rights and 28
cases of parental abduction of children. In 2003, the Office of the
Special Prosecutor for Domestic Violence and Sexual Crimes prosecuted
448 cases related to domestic violence. INAMU reported that 20 women
and girls were killed in incidents of domestic violence, compared with
29 during 2003.
The Law Against Domestic Violence establishes mechanisms to help
victims. The authorities incorporated training on handling domestic
violence cases into the basic training course for new police personnel.
The law requires public hospitals to report cases of domestic violence
against women. It also denies the perpetrator 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 sanctions
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 Penal
Code provides for sanctions from 10 to 18 years in prison for rape and
2 to 10 years in prison for statutory rape. As of November, authorities
reported approximately 5,400 cases of sex crimes, compared to 5,226
cases in 2003. Authorities attributed the increase to a greater public
awareness of the need to report these types of crimes. Approximately 17
percent of the prison population was serving sentences as a result of
convictions related to sex crimes.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18. The Penal
Code prohibits individuals from promoting or facilitating the
prostitution of individuals of either sex, independent of the
individual'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 is
a growing problem; however, law enforcement agencies initiated
investigations under existing legislation that prohibits the promotion
of prostitution. The Government and several advocacy groups also
initiated awareness campaigns publicizing the dangers of sex tourism
and its association with child sexual exploitation.
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. The Ombudsman's office received 66 complaints of sexual
harassment from May 2003 until April.
The Law for the Promotion of the 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 almost all ministries and most
parastatal organizations, and 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.
According to a 2003 U.N. Development Program report, women over age
15 represented 36.6 percent of the labor force. Most women (76 percent)
worked in the service sector, with the remainder working in industry
(17 percent) and agriculture (6 percent). Women occupied 45 percent of
professional and technical positions and 30 percent of legislative,
senior official, and managerial positions. The Constitution and Labor
Code require that women and men receive equal pay for equal work;
however, the estimated earned income for women was approximately 78
percent of the earned income for men, despite the fact that 20 percent
of women in the workforce had some university instruction, compared
with 11 percent of men.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare through well-funded systems of public education and medical
care. It also established a legal framework intended to comply with the
Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international
standards. Primary education is compulsory, free, and universal. The
law requires 6 years of primary and 3 years of secondary education for
all children, and attendance is required until age 15. School
attendance requirements were generally enforced. The Ministry of
Education reported that, as of July, the estimated primary school
dropout rate was 1.4 percent, and the secondary school dropout rate was
4.4 percent. The law guarantees 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. During the year, PANI assisted 4,511 children, including 564
cases of substance abuse, 2,435 cases of physical abuse, and 1,425
cases of sexual abuse. Traditional attitudes and the inclination to
treat such crimes as misdemeanors sometimes hampered legal proceedings
against those who committed crimes against children.
The Government, security officials, and child advocacy
organizations acknowledged that the commercial sexual exploitation of
children remained a serious problem (see Section 5, Trafficking in
Persons).
In 2003, the NGO Casa Alianza estimated that of the approximately
1,500 children living on the street, 76 percent were addicted to drugs
and 29 percent survived by prostitution.
The Constitution and the Labor Code provide special occupational
protection for minors and establish a minimum working age of 15 years.
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
in women and minors for the purpose of prostitution, comprehensive
legislation that addresses all forms of trafficking does not exist. NGO
representatives stated that the absence of such legislation hindered
the prosecution of trafficking cases. There were reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The law provides for sentences of 2 to 10 years in prison for
anyone who engages in sex with a minor and 4 to 10 years in prison for
those who managed or promoted child prostitution. The Government
enforced this law and raided brothels and arrested clients.
As of September, authorities had charged one individual with a
trafficking-related crime. In 2003, authorities made 14 arrests based
on charges of child sexual exploitation. Authorities indicted eight
defendants and placed six suspects in investigative detention pending
formal charges. By year's end, four of those arrested in 2003 were
convicted, and the case against a fifth individual was dropped.
Government agencies responsible for combating trafficking and child
sexual exploitation included the Special Prosecutor on Domestic
Violence and Sex Crimes, the Judicial Investigative Police, the
National Institute for Children, the Foreign Ministry, the Labor
Ministry, the Public Security Ministry, and the Tourism Ministry.
Cases of trafficking involved persons from Colombia, the Dominican
Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Russia, and 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. Traffickers often recruited victims with a promise of secure
employment and good pay.
Child prostitution was a serious problem. PANI estimated that 3,000
children suffered from commercial sexual exploitation and identified
particular risks for street children in the urban areas of San Jose,
Limon, and Puntarenas. During the year, PANI reported that it provided
assistance to minors in 87 separate cases of commercial sexual
exploitation.
The Special Prosecutor's Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual
Crimes has processed 66 child sexual exploitation cases and convicted
31 citizens and 9 foreigners for child sexual exploitation crimes since
1999.
From January through June, Casa Alianza presented the Government
with 54 complaints for promoting the prostitution of minors, 28
complaints for sexual relations with minors, and 7 complaints for the
production of child pornography. The Special Prosecutor's office
reported that, as of September, it was investigating 31 cases of sexual
relations with minors.
A governmental Inter-Ministerial Group on Trafficking made efforts
to raise awareness of trafficking issues and sexual exploitation of
children and encourage law enforcement and prevention measures,
particularly at the local level; however, these efforts were hampered
by a lack of resources.
There were limited formal mechanisms specifically designed to aid
trafficked victims; however, the Government offered indirect
assistance, such as stay-in-school programs, to child victims of
trafficking. Victims were not granted temporary or permanent residence
status and often were deported immediately to their country of origin.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in education, access to health care, or in
the provision of other state services. Reports of discrimination in
employment sometimes occurred. The law mandates access to buildings for
persons with disabilities, but the Government did not enforce this
provision in practice, and many buildings remained inaccessible. 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 13,162 special education students
were registered in the school system during the year, and there were
1,378 special education centers to assist special education students
and students with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--The population includes nearly 64,000
indigenous persons among 8 ethnic groups. Approximately 73 percent
lived in traditional communities on 22 reserves, which, because of
their remote location, often lacked access to schools, health care,
electricity, and potable water. The Law of the Indigenous People
nominally protects reserve land as the collective, nontransferable
property of the indigenous groups; however, some indigenous landowners
sold their land to pay off debts, sometimes illegally to nonindigenous
people. The Ombudsman had an office to investigate violations of the
rights of indigenous people and sought to return reserve land to
indigenous groups.
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 Labor Code also
guarantees freedom of association in the negative sense; that is, the
right not to join a union and to leave a union, and accordingly
prohibits any action that might infringe that right. About 12 percent
of the work force was unionized, and approximately 80 percent of all
union members were public sector employees. Unions operated
independently of government control.
Some trade union leaders contended that the existence of worker
``solidarity associations'' in some enterprises displaced unions and
discouraged collective bargaining; however, the law prohibits these
non-dues-collecting organizations from representing workers in
collective bargaining negotiations or in any other way assuming the
functions of or inhibiting the formation of trade unions. Instead, they
offered membership services, including credit union programs, matching-
fund savings accounts, and low-interest loans. Approximately 330,000
workers were members of solidarity associations, 95 percent of whom
worked in the private sector.
Specific provisions of the Labor Code provide protection from
dismissal for union organizers and members during union formation,
including reinstating workers fired for union activities; however,
enforcement was lax, and employers often failed to comply with this
provision in practice.
The Ministry of Labor continued to work on clearing a number of
labor cases pending from previous years, including cases of workers
allegedly fired for union activities. From January to November, the
Center for Alternative Resolution of Labor Disputes handled 2,014
cases, of which 881 cases were submitted to reconciliation, 73 percent
of which resulted in an agreement between the parties.
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.
If a trade union, of which at least 34 percent of the workforce are
members, requests collective bargaining, the employer is obligated to
initiate the bargaining process.
Private sector unions had the legal right to engage in collective
bargaining; however, direct arrangements were used more commonly. The
Ministry of Labor reported that, from 1999 through the end of the year,
there were 315 direct arrangements in the private sector compared to 22
collective agreements.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, unions complained of burdensome
administrative requirements in order for a strike to be legal. The law
requires that at least 60 percent of the workers in the enterprise
support strike action. Pursuant to a Constitutional Court ruling,
restrictions on the right to strike apply only to essential services
that concern the national economy or public health.
From July through August, air traffic controllers went on strike
for 47 days. The Government brought in replacement controllers from
other Latin American countries to continue airport operations. The
labor courts ruled the strike illegal, and the Government prepared to
fire the controllers, but the Government instead reached a settlement.
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
Constitution and the Labor Code provide special occupational protection
for minors and establish a minimum working age of 15 years. Adolescents
between the ages of 15 and 18 may work for a maximum of 6 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 Labor Ministry, in cooperation with PANI, generally enforced
these regulations in the formal sector. Due to limited government
resources for enforcement, some children worked on the fringes of the
formal economy in violation of these limits. The banana industry did
not employ youths under the age of 18.
Child labor was a problem mainly in the informal sector of the
economy, including small-scale agriculture, domestic work, and family-
run enterprises. Child prostitution and other types of child sexual
exploitation remained serious problems (see Section 5).
The country had a national program of action on child labor, and
the Government continued to work with the ILO and other organizations
to eradicate this problem. The Ministry of Labor maintained an Office
for the Eradication of Child Labor, which is responsible for
coordinating government efforts and programs targeted at child labor.
During the year, the Government continued to provide small loans and
economic aid to families with at-risk children and scholarships for
poor families to cover the indirect costs of attending school. During
the year, the Government and NGOs also initiated a new child labor
awareness campaign and continued to implement a number of projects to
remove children from work and return them to school.
The Office for the Eradication of Child Labor reported that, from
January to August, it registered 740 cases in its child labor database,
of which 350 were children working under the legal employment age of
15. The Ministry provided assistance in reinserting the children into
education institutions.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Constitution provides for a
minimum wage, which is set by the National Wage Council. Monthly
minimum wages for the private sector ranged from approximately $133
(59,593 colones) for domestic employees to approximately $523 (234,503
colones) for university graduates. The Ministry of Labor effectively
enforced minimum wages in the San Jose area, but it did so less
effectively in rural areas, especially those where large numbers of
migrants were employed. At the lower end of the scale, 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. Generally, workers may work a maximum
of 8 hours during the day and 6 at night, up to weekly totals of 48 and
36 hours, respectively. 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.
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 Inspection
Directorate's ability to carry out its inspection mandate. Workers have
the right to leave work if conditions become dangerous; however,
workers who did so may jeopardize their jobs unless they file written
complaints with the Ministry of Labor.
__________
CUBA
Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by Fidel Castro, who is
chief of state with the titles of president, head of government, first
secretary of the Communist Party (CP), and commander in chief of the
armed forces. The regime exercises control over all aspects of life
through the CP and its affiliated mass organizations, the government
bureaucracy headed by the Council of State, and the state security
apparatus. In March 2003, he declared his intent to remain in power for
life. The CP is the only legal political entity, and President Castro
personally chooses the membership of the Politburo, the select group
that heads the CP. There are no contested elections for the 609 member
National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), which meets twice a year
for several days to rubber stamp decisions and policies previously
decided by the governing Council of State. In 2003, government
supporters won all 609 ANPP seats in uncontested elections. In 2003,
the Government also held a referendum making the socialist character of
the constitution ``untouchable.'' The CP controls all government
positions, including judicial offices. The judiciary is completely
subordinate to the Government and to the CP.
The Ministry of Interior is the principal instrument of state
security and control. Officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which
are led by Fidel Castro's brother, General Raul Castro, have occupied
the majority of key positions in the Ministry of Interior during the
past 15 years. In addition to the routine law enforcement functions of
regulating migration and controlling the Border Guard and the regular
police forces, the Interior Ministry's Department of State Security
investigated and suppressed political opposition and dissent. It
maintained a pervasive system of surveillance through undercover
agents, informers, rapid response brigades (RRBs), and neighborhood
based Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs). The
Government traditionally has used the CDRs to mobilize citizens against
dissenters, impose ideological conformity, and root out
``counterrevolutionary'' behavior. RRBs consisted of workers from a
particular brigade such as construction or factory workers organized by
the CP to react forcefully to any situation of social unrest. The
Government on occasion used RRBs instead of the police or military
during such situations. Members of the security forces committed
numerous, serious human rights abuses.
The economy was centrally planned, with some elements of state
managed capitalism in sectors such as tourism and mining. The country's
population was approximately 11 million. Exports largely were
restricted to primary products such as sugar and minerals, but tourism
and emigre remittances were key sources of hard currency. Inefficiency,
outdated infrastructure, and natural disasters led to the lowest sugar
harvest in 70 years in 2003, with only a slight recovery during the
year and continued low yields projected for 2005. The Government
announced economic growth of 5 percent during the year using a new,
unique way of calculating gross domestic product that ostensibly gives
greater weight to social programs.
The State controlled approximately 90 percent of the formal
economy, and the Government continued to harass citizens working in the
underground economy. Less than 2 percent of citizens worked in the
highly regulated private sector. In August, the Government issued a
resolution allowing citizens with certain private sector licenses to
exercise the right to work in the licensed field only after completing
a full day of work in their regular government job. In October, the
Government began a policy of cancelling the issuance of new work
licenses in 40 private sector categories.
Government policy officially was aimed at preventing economic
disparity, but citizens with access to foreign currency enjoyed a
significantly higher standard of living than those with only pesos. In
November, after 9 years as legal tender, the Government disallowed the
use of the U.S. dollar and began charging a 10 percent surcharge to
exchange dollars to ``convertible pesos.'' A convertible peso is
equivalent to one U.S. dollar. The vast majority of citizens earned
their salaries in pesos and only had access to convertible pesos if
they worked in the tourist sector or received remittances from abroad.
A system of ``tourism apartheid'' continued, whereby citizens often
were denied access to hotels, beaches, and resorts reserved for
foreigners.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the
Government continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. Citizens did
not have the right to change their government peacefully. Although the
Constitution allows legislative proposals backed by at least 10,000
citizens to be submitted directly to the ANPP, in 2002 and 2003, the
Government rejected 2 petitions, known as the Varela Project, with more
than 25,000 signatures, calling for a national referendum on political
and economic reforms. CP affiliated mass organizations tightly
controlled elections to provincial and national legislative bodies,
resulting in the selection of single, government approved candidates.
In March 2003, the Government arrested 75 human rights activists,
subjected them to summary trials, and sentenced them to prison terms
ranging from 6 to 28 years. During the year, authorities arrested an
additional 22 human rights activists and sentenced them for acts such
as contempt for authority.
Members of the security forces and prison officials continued to
beat and abuse detainees and prisoners, including human rights
activists. The Government failed to prosecute or sanction adequately
members of the security forces and prison guards who committed abuses.
Prison conditions remained harsh and life threatening, and the
Government restricted medical care to some prisoners as a method of
control. Prisoners died in jail due to lack of medical care. The
authorities routinely continued to harass, threaten, arbitrarily
arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human rights advocates and members
of independent professional associations, including journalists,
economists, doctors, and lawyers. The Government denied political
dissidents and human rights advocates due process and subjected them to
unfair trials. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy rights.
The Government denied citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly,
and association and closely monitored domestic and international
journalists through physical and electronic surveillance. It limited
the distribution of foreign publications and news, restricted access to
the Internet, and strictly censored news and information. The
Government restricted some religious activities but permitted others.
The Government limited the entry of religious workers to the country.
The Government tightly restricted freedom of movement, including
foreign travel, and did not allow some citizens to leave the country.
The Government controlled internal movements and used external exile to
punish dissenters. The Government did not permit domestic human rights
groups to function legally, sharply and publicly rejected all criticism
of its human rights practices, and discouraged foreign contacts with
human rights activists. Violence against women, especially domestic
violence, and underage prostitution were problems. Racial
discrimination was a problem. The Government severely restricted worker
rights, including the right to form independent unions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
Unlike in 2003, there were no reports during the year of the
Government summarily executing its citizens.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits abusive treatment of detainees
and prisoners; however, members of the security forces sometimes beat
and otherwise abused human rights advocates, detainees, and prisoners.
The Government took no steps to curb these abuses. There continued to
be numerous reports of disproportionate police harassment of black
youths (see Section 5).
On August 2, Nivaldo Diaz Castello, a Varela Project leader, was
detained by State Security agents, threatened, and stripped of all his
belongings before being released.
The Government continued to subject persons who disagreed with it
to what it called acts of repudiation. At government instigation,
members of state controlled mass organizations, fellow workers, or
neighbors of intended victims were obliged to stage public protests
against those who dissented from the Government's policies, shouting
obscenities and often causing damage to the homes and property of those
targeted; physical attacks on the victims sometimes occurred. Police
and State Security agents often were present but took no action to
prevent or end the attacks. Those who refused to participate in these
actions faced disciplinary action, including loss of employment.
On March 5 and March 17, an unknown group stoned the house of
activists Tomas Gonzalez Coya Rodriguez and Beatriz Pacheco Nunez, of
Santa Clara, breaking down the front door. The stones were wrapped in
paper on which obscenities were written. The family also received
anonymous death threats via phone.
On April 19, assailants pelted the Havana home of Henry Samuel,
President of the Republican Alternative Movement, with jars of human
excrement. Samuel reported the incident to the National Revolutionary
Police (PNR), which took no action.
On September 8, Elsa Morejon reported that on several occasions
during the year, large groups of people had gathered around her home to
yell profanities and insult her husband, human rights activist Dr.
Oscar Elias Biscet, who was arrested in 2002 for ``acts against the
independence or the territorial integrity of the State.''
Prison conditions continued to be harsh and life threatening, and
conditions in detention facilities also were harsh. The Government
claimed that prisoners enjoyed rights such as family visitation,
adequate nutrition, pay for work, the right to request parole, and the
right to petition the prison director. Police and prison officials,
however, often denied these rights in practice, and beat, neglected,
isolated, and denied medical treatment to detainees and prisoners,
including those convicted of political crimes or those who persisted in
expressing their views. Political prisoners in particular often were
held at facilities hundreds of miles from their families, placing an
undue hardship on many families' time and financial resources.
The Penal Code prohibits the use of corporal punishment on
prisoners and the use of any means to humiliate prisoners or to lessen
their dignity; however, the Code fails to establish penalties for
committing such acts, and they continued to occur in practice.
Detainees and prisoners, both common and political, often were
subjected to repeated, vigorous interrogations designed to coerce them
into signing incriminating statements, to force collaboration with
authorities, or to intimidate victims. Some endured physical and sexual
abuse, typically by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards, or
long periods in punitive isolation cells. Pretrial detainees were
generally held separately from convicted prisoners, although some long
term detainees, including political detainees, were held with convicted
prisoners. In Havana, there were two detention centers; once sentenced,
persons were transferred to a prison.
Fabio Prieto Llorente, one of the 75 activists arrested in March
2003, reported he was held in a small cell with leaky walls and a
cement slab for a bed. The cell was infested with rats, frogs, and
insects. Prieto was serving a 20 year sentence for ``acts against the
independence or the territorial integrity of the State.''
Prisoners sometimes were held in ``punishment cells,'' which
usually were located in the basement of a prison, with continuous semi
dark conditions, no available water, and a hole for a toilet. Reading
materials, including Bibles, were not allowed, and unlike in previous
years, authorities denied visits to families of political prisoners
while they were held in these cells. Prisoners in punishment cells had
no access to lawyers.
On January 1, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, a Varela Project leader
and one of the 75 activists arrested in March 2003, reported serving 45
days in a punishment cell for protesting the suspension of
correspondence and the delivery of food and medical supplies from his
family. He did not receive food or water during the first 3 days of his
confinement and slept on a cement floor. Authorities confiscated his
Bible and prohibited any contact with other prisoners. Ferrer was
serving a 25 year sentence for ``acts against the independence or the
territorial integrity of the State.''
On July 5, Elsa Morejon reported that her husband, Dr. Biscet, was
sent to a punishment cell for refusing to eat in the prison cafeteria,
wear the uniform of common prisoners, and stand at attention when
guards entered his cell. He was not permitted to read, write, or leave
his cell to get exercise. In addition, prison authorities refused to
accept food and medical supplies brought by Morejon or permit anyone to
bring him food. As a result, Biscet found himself on a virtual hunger
strike.
Prison guards and State Security officials subjected human rights
and pro democracy activists to threats of physical violence, to
systematic psychological intimidation, and to detention or imprisonment
in cells with common and violent criminals, sexually aggressive
inmates, or State Security agents posing as prisoners.
On January 21, Yeni Veloz Oquendo, wife of common prisoner Estany
Rodriguez Preval, reported that jailers at Valle Grande prison had
sexually abused her husband.
On June 17, Ana Aguililla, wife of political prisoner Francisco
Chaviano, arrested in May 1994 for ``revealing state security
secrets,'' reported that prison authorities forced Chaviano from his
cell, stripped him, and publicly beat him.
On July 6, family members of political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia
Perez, arrested in 1990 for articulating ``enemy propaganda,'' reported
being beaten along with Garcia during a prison visit. Authorities
handcuffed and beat Garcia and later punched his sister and kicked his
girlfriend's 9 year old son after the visitors protested the harsh
treatment.
On August 3, Yarai Reyes, wife of Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, 1 of
the 75 political prisoners arrested in March 2003, reported that prison
authorities incited common prisoners to beat her husband. Hernandez was
serving a 25 year sentence for ``acts against the independence or the
territorial integrity of the State.''
The Government regularly failed to provide adequate nutrition and
medical attention, and approximately 10 to 20 prisoners reportedly died
due to lack of medical attention. Both the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (IACHR) and the Representative for Cuba of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as other human rights monitoring
organizations, have reported the widespread incidence in prisons of
tuberculosis, scabies, hepatitis, parasitic infections, and
malnutrition. In April, Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights
Watch (HRW) issued reports expressing concern regarding the poor health
of numerous political prisoners, the limitations on family visits for
some political prisoners, and the incarceration of many political
prisoners far from their home provinces. The Government did not respond
to AI or HRW.
Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a political prisoner released during the
year, reported that prison officials regularly denied him adequate
medical treatment during his 20-month incarceration.
On April 13, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez reported the deaths of three
common prisoners, Vidal Caerencio de la Hoz Avila, Felix Hernandez Soa,
and Didier Marrero Pereira, because they had not received emergency
medical attention.
On June 14, Masiel Gutierrez, wife of Rolando Jimenez Posada, a
human rights activist arrested in April 2003 without any formal
charges, reported that her husband had been beaten and placed in a
punishment cell for demanding his asthma medication.
On August 29, Barbara Rojo Arias, wife of Omar Ruiz Hernandez, an
independent journalist and 1 of the 75 human rights activists arrested
in March 2003, reported that her husband was denied access to required
medications for his heart condition and stomach problems. Ruiz was
serving an 18 year sentence for ``acts against the independence or the
territorial integrity of the State.''
During the year, the Government released 18 political prisoners,
reportedly for medical reasons.
Prison officials regularly denied prisoners other rights, such as
the right to correspondence, and continued to confiscate medications
and food brought by family members for political prisoners. Some prison
directors routinely denied religious workers access to detainees and
prisoners.
On March 11, in a letter to his wife Gisela Sanchez Verdecia,
Antonio Diaz Sanchez complained that prison authorities confiscated and
censored his correspondence.
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, a political prisoner released during
the year, reported that prison authorities denied her access to
religious workers during her entire 16 month incarceration. She also
stated that prison authorities offered religious services to common
prisoners but threatened prisoners who exercised this right with denial
of privileges, such as visits and correspondence.
There were separate prison facilities for women and for minors.
Human rights activists believed that conditions in these facilities
were poor. The law provides that pretrial detainees are held separately
from convicted prisoners; however, the law was seldom enforced in
practice, often because of a lack of facilities.
The Government did not permit independent monitoring of prison
conditions by international or national human rights monitoring groups.
The Government has refused to allow prison visits by the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since 1989. In April, for the first
time in 15 years, the Government invited a group of international
journalists to visit two selected prison hospital wards. Many
participants dismissed the visits as staged propaganda.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Arbitrary arrest and detention
continued to be problems, and they remained the Government's most
effective and commonly used tactics for harassing opponents. The Law of
Penal Procedures 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 the authorities to provide suspects
with access to a lawyer within 7 days of arrest. However, the
Constitution states that all legally recognized civil liberties can be
denied to anyone who actively opposes the decision of the people to
build socialism. The authorities routinely invoked this sweeping
authority to deny due process to those detained on purported state
security grounds.
The Ministry of the Interior exercises control over police and
internal security forces. The PNR is the primary law enforcement
organization and generally was effective in investigating common
crimes. Specialized units of the Ministry of the Interior are
responsible for monitoring, infiltrating, and suppressing opposition
political groups. The PNR plays a supporting role by carrying out house
searches and providing interrogation facilities for State Security
agents. There were some reports in both the independent and official
press of bribery and corruption within the security forces.
The authorities routinely engaged in arbitrary arrest and detention
of human rights advocates, subjecting them to interrogations, threats,
degrading treatment, and unsanitary conditions for hours or days at a
time. 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.
Detainees often were not informed of the charges against them. The
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.).
Time in detention before trial counted toward time served if
convicted. Bail was available and usually was low and more equivalent
to a fine.
During the year, authorities arrested 22 human rights activists,
including 3 Varela Project organizers and an independent librarian. By
year's end, 13 of the 22 had been tried and sentenced.
On February 4, authorities arrested independent librarian Jose
Agramonte Leiva for contempt for authority, specifically for having
yelled, ``Down with Fidel!'' At year's end, he remained incarcerated
awaiting trial (see Section 2.a.).
On April 19, authorities arrested Alexis Garcia Pena and Walter
Lopez Gonzalez of the Christian Liberation Movement for their
activities in promotion of the Varela Project.
In March 2003, authorities arrested 75 human rights activists,
journalists, and opposition political figures, charging them with
violating national security and aiding a foreign power, among other
crimes. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern
regarding the arrests and summary trials, as did many governments,
international organizations, and public figures. During the year, the
Government released 14 of the 75 activists, including Martha Beatriz
Roque Cabello of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, independent
journalist Raul Rivero, independent journalist and economist Oscar
Espinosa Chepe, and independent journalist and poet Manuel Vasquez
Portal. At year's end, the other 61 activists remained in prison.
During the year, the 15 remaining persons arrested near the Mexican
Embassy in 2002 remained in prison awaiting trial, which was scheduled
for January 2005.
At year's end, at least 13 political detainees were awaiting trial,
many of whom had been held for more than 1 year.
The Government often held persons without charges for months. On
April 27, after more than 25 months in prison, authorities sentenced 10
human rights activists and independent journalists arrested in 2002,
including blind human rights activist Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva (see
Section 1.e). Gonzalez Levya subsequently was released conditionally
and told he could not leave his home province of Ciego de Avila without
express government permission.
The Government also often released activists after months of
detention without charges.
On June 8, authorities released Leonardo Bruzon Avila, Carlos
Alberto Dominguez, Emilio Leyva Perez, and Lazaro Rodriguez Capote
after 28 months of imprisonment without trial.
The 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 Penal Code includes the concept of ``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. Government authorities regularly threatened
prosecution under this provision. Both the U.N. Commission on Human
Rights (UNCHR) and the IACHR criticized this tactic for its
arbitrariness, the summary nature of the judicial proceedings employed,
the lack of legal safeguards, and the political considerations behind
its application. According to the IACHR, the so called special
inclination to commit crimes referred to in the Penal Code amounted to
a subjective criterion used by the Government to justify violations of
individual freedoms and due process for persons whose sole crime was to
hold a view different from the official view.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for
independent courts; however, it explicitly subordinates the courts to
the ANPP and the Council of State. The ANPP and its lower level
counterparts choose all judges. The subordination of the courts to the
CP, which the Constitution designates as the superior directive force
of society and the State, further compromises the judiciary's
independence. The courts undermined the right to a fair trial by
restricting the right to a defense and often failed to observe the few
due process rights available to defendants.
Civilian courts existed at the municipal, provincial, and supreme
court levels. Panels composed of a mix of professionally certified and
lay judges presided over them. There was a right to appeal, access to
counsel, and charges were generally known to the defendant, although
many political detainees subjected to summary trials in April 2003 were
unaware of the charges against them until moments before trial. The law
presumes the innocence of the accused, but the authorities often
ignored this right in practice.
The law and trial practices did not meet international standards
for fair public trials. Almost all cases were tried in less than 1 day;
there were no jury trials. While most trials were public, trials were
closed when there were alleged violations of state security.
Prosecutors may introduce testimony from a CDR member about the
revolutionary background of a defendant, which may contribute to either
a longer or shorter sentence. The law recognizes the right of appeal in
municipal courts but limits it in provincial courts to cases such as
those involving maximum prison terms or the death penalty. Appeals in
capital cases are automatic. The Council of State ultimately must
affirm capital punishment.
Criteria for presenting evidence, especially in cases involving
human rights advocates, were arbitrary and discriminatory. Often the
sole evidence provided, particularly in political cases, was the
defendant's confession, usually obtained under duress and without the
legal advice or knowledge of a defense lawyer (see Section 1.c.). The
authorities regularly denied defendants access to their lawyers until
the day of the trial. Several dissidents who served prison terms
reported that they were tried and sentenced without counsel and were
not allowed to speak on their own behalf.
On April 27, after 25 months in prison, the Government tried Juan
Carlos Gonzalez Leyva, of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights, and
sentenced him to 4 years in prison. He was released conditionally with
credit for time served, but told he could not leave the province of
Ciego de Avila without government permission. Gonzalez was arrested in
2002 after an ``illegal gathering'' in support of an independent
journalist who had been beaten by State Security agents.
On April 27, the Government tried Antonio and Enrique Garcia
Morejon of the Christian Liberation Movement and sentenced them to 3
\1/2\ years' imprisonment each for attending the same gathering as
Gonzalez Leyva.
On May 18, after 18 months in prison, the Government sentenced Raul
Arencibia Fajardo, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, and Virgilio Marantes Guelmes
to 3 years' imprisonment for public disorder, contempt for authority,
and resistance. The three were members of different organizations, but
were arrested together in 2002.
In April 2003, the Government arrested, summarily tried, convicted,
and sentenced 75 political activists within a period of 20 days.
Authorities did not reveal the charges against them and denied access
to counsel until the day of the trial. Much of the evidence against the
defendants consisted of unsubstantiated or unspecified allegations of
activities against the Government on behalf of a foreign power and
vague accusations of ``counterrevolutionary'' behavior. AI determined
that all 75 jailed activists were ``prisoners of conscience.''
The law provides the accused with the right to an attorney, but the
control that the Government exerted over the livelihood of members of
the state controlled lawyers' collectives compromised their ability to
represent clients, especially those accused of state security crimes.
Attorneys reported reluctance to defend those charged in political
cases due to fear of jeopardizing their own careers.
Military tribunals assumed jurisdiction for certain
counterrevolutionary cases and were governed by a special law. The
military tribunals processed civilians if a member of the military was
involved with civilians in a crime. There was a right to appeal, access
to counsel, and the charges were known to the defendant.
Human rights monitoring groups inside the country estimated the
number of political prisoners at approximately 300. The authorities
imprisoned persons on charges such as disseminating enemy propaganda,
illicit association, contempt for the authorities (usually for
criticizing President Castro), clandestine printing, or the broad
charge of rebellion, which often was brought against advocates of
peaceful democratic change. The Government continued to deny human
rights organizations and the ICRC access to political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution provides for the inviolability of a
citizen's home and correspondence; however, official surveillance of
private and family affairs by government controlled mass organizations,
such as the CDRs, remained one of the most pervasive and repressive
features of daily life. The Government employed physical and electronic
surveillance against nonviolent political opponents. The State assumed
the right to interfere in the lives of citizens, even those who did not
oppose the Government and its practices actively. The authorities
utilized a wide range of social controls. The mass organizations'
ostensible purpose was to improve the citizenry, but their real goal
was to discover and discourage nonconformity. Although official
statistics indicated that CDRs have grown over the past decade and
included 93.5 percent of the population over the age of 14, in reality,
citizen participation in these mass organizations declined. Economic
constraints both reduced the government's ability to provide material
incentives for their participation and forced many persons to engage in
black market activities, which the mass organizations were supposed to
report to the authorities.
The Ministry of Interior employed an intricate system of informants
and block committees (the CDRs) to monitor and control public opinion.
While less capable than in the past, CDRs continued to report on
suspicious activity, including: Conspicuous consumption; unauthorized
meetings, including those with foreigners; and defiant attitudes toward
the Government and the revolution.
The Government controlled all access to the Internet, and censored
all electronic mail messages. Dial up Internet service was
prohibitively expensive for most citizens. State Security often 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. Cell phones generally were not available to average
citizens.
On January 14, Barbara Lorenzo, who had attempted to emigrate
illegally, reported that police and other State Security agents
threatened to imprison her and take away her 3 year old daughter if she
attempted to leave the country again.
On October 18, Varela Project volunteer Ricardo Montes Puron
reported that State Security agents threatened to take away his
granddaughter, whom he had custody of and legally was trying to adopt,
if he did not leave the organization.
There were numerous credible reports of forced evictions of
squatters and residents who lacked official permission to reside in
Havana.
On March 19, State Security agents forced independent journalist
Carlos Garcell Perez to abandon his father in law's house, where he had
been living because Garcell did not have government permission to live
in the house. Agents threatened the father in law and informed him that
his granddaughter would lose her job if he continued to allow Garcell
to live in the house.
The Government sometimes punished family members for the activities
of their relatives. On July 15, Dayli Tejeda Herrera, a third year
chemistry student, was expelled from the Central University of Las
Villas for ``being the daughter of a counterrevolutionary.'' Her
father, Miguel Tejeda Tenorio, was the secretary general of the illegal
Christian Workers Union of Las Villas.
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''; this clause effectively bars free speech.
In law and in practice, the Government did not allow criticism of the
revolution or its leaders. Laws against anti government propaganda,
graffiti, and disrespect of officials impose penalties between 3 months
and 1 year in prison. If President Castro or members of the ANPP or
Council of State were the objects of criticism, the sentence could be
extended to 3 years. Charges of disseminating enemy propaganda, which
included merely expressing opinions at odds with those of the
Government, could result in sentences of up to 14 years. In the
Government's view, such materials as the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, to which the country is a signatory, international reports of
human rights violations, and mainstream foreign newspapers and
magazines, constituted enemy propaganda. Local CDRs inhibited freedom
of speech by monitoring and reporting dissent or criticism. Police and
State Security officials regularly harassed, threatened, and otherwise
abused human rights advocates in public and private to intimidate them.
The Constitution states that print and electronic media are state
property and can never become private property. The CP controlled all
media except for a few small, unauthorized church run publications. The
Penal Code bars ``clandestine printing'' and provides for 3 to 6
months' imprisonment for failure to identify the author of a
publication or the printing press used to produce the publication. Even
the Catholic church run publications, denied access to mass printing
equipment, were subject to governmental pressure. Vitral magazine, a
publication of the diocese of Pinar del Rio, continued to publish
during the year, although officials publicly described it as
``counterrevolutionary propaganda.'' The Cuban Conference of Catholic
Bishops indicated that the Church did not register its publications
with the Ministry of Culture as required by law because registration
would force it to cede control to the State.
Citizens did not have the right to receive or possess publications
from abroad, although news stands in hotels for foreigners and certain
hard currency stores sold foreign newspapers and magazines. The
Government continued to jam the transmission of Radio Marti and
Television Marti. Radio Marti broadcasts at times overcame the jamming
attempts on short wave bands, but its medium wave transmissions were
blocked completely in Havana. State Security agents subjected
dissidents, foreign diplomats, and journalists to harassment and
surveillance, including electronic surveillance and surreptitious entry
into their homes.
All legal media must operate under CP guidelines and reflect
government views. The Government attempted to shape media coverage to
such a degree that it pressured not only domestic journalists but also
groups normally outside official controls, such as visiting and
resident international correspondents. The Government barred some
foreign journalists from entering the country.
Law 88 outlaws a broad range of activities that undermine state
security and toughens penalties for criminal activity. Under the law,
anyone possessing or disseminating ``subversive'' literature or
supplying information that U.S. authorities could use to apply U.S.
legislation, may be subject to fines and prison terms of 7 to 20 years
for each charge. AI expressed ``grave concern'' regarding the
application of Law 88, which it said appeared to place ``unlawful
restrictions on internationally recognized rights.''
In 2003, authorities arrested and sentenced more than 30
independent journalists and human rights activists under Law 88.
Reporters without Borders (RSF) continued its campaign on behalf of the
imprisoned journalists.
At year's end, 22 independent journalists arrested in March 2003
for violating Law 88, including Ricardo Gonzalez Alonso, remained in
prison.
On February 4, the Government arrested Jose Agramonte Leiva, of the
Project for Independent Libraries, on charges of contempt for authority
for yelling ``Down with Fidel!'' Agramonte was still awaiting trial at
year's end (see Section 1.c.).
The Government continued to subject independent journalists to:
Internal travel bans; arbitrary and periodic detentions (overnight or
longer); harassment of family and friends; seizures of computers,
office, and photographic equipment; and repeated threats of prolonged
imprisonment. Independent journalists in Havana reported that
threatening phone calls and harassment of family members continued
during the year. The authorities also placed journalists under house
arrest to prevent them from reporting on human rights conferences and
events and on court cases against activists. In addition, police
increasingly tried to prevent independent journalists from covering so
called sensitive events. AI, HRW, the Inter American Press Association,
RSF, and the CPJ criticized the imprisonment of journalists and the
Government's continued practice of detaining independent journalists
and others simply for exercising their right to free speech.
The Government used Ministry of the Interior agents to infiltrate
and report on independent journalists.
The authorities often confiscated journalists' equipment,
especially photographic and recording equipment. Fax machines or
computers could be purchased only using inconvertible pesos, with
government permission; however, even if a receipt could be produced,
police often confiscated equipment. Journalists reported that
photocopiers and printers either were unavailable locally or the stores
refused to sell them to individuals. During the year, the Government
increased its efforts to confiscate satellite television antennas,
which it considered ``subversive materials.''
Resident foreign correspondents reported that the very high level
of government pressure experienced since 2000, including official and
informal complaints about articles, continued throughout the year. The
Government controlled members of the resident foreign press by
requiring them to obtain an exit permit each time they wished to leave
the country. The Government also forced foreign correspondents to hire
local staff from government agencies.
Distribution of information continued to be controlled tightly.
Importation of foreign literature was controlled, and the public was
unable to receive or possess foreign magazines or newspapers. Leading
members of the Government asserted that citizens did not read foreign
newspapers and magazines because they had access to government media,
including the daily televised government led discussion on the issues
which they needed to concern themselves. The Government sometimes
barred independent libraries from receiving materials from abroad and
seized materials donated by foreign diplomats.
By year's end, 8 of 9 independent librarians arrested in March 2003
and convicted of violating Law 88 or for ``acts against the
independence or the territorial integrity of the State'' remained in
prison, under sentences of 13 to 26 years' imprisonment.
The Government controlled all access to the Internet, and all
electronic mail messages were subject to government review and
censorship. In November, RSF issued a report noting the severe
repression of online freedom of expression. Access to computers and
peripheral equipment was limited, and the Internet could be accessed
only through government approved institutions. On January 12, the
Ministry of Information and Communications issued a report stating
there were 750 websites based in the country, including 1,100 ``.cu''
domains, many of which were hosted outside the country. Dial up access
to government approved servers was prohibitively expensive for most
citizens. For example, cyber cafes routinely charged 6 convertible
pesos (150 pesos) per hour, nearly the average worker's monthly salary.
Only foreigners were permitted to purchase Internet access cards from
the national telephone monopoly, ETECSA. As a result, clandestine
Internet connections continued to increase, and it was estimated that
more than 40,000 of these connections were made during the year.
On January 24, the Ministry of Information and Communications
enacted a resolution stating that direct access to the Internet only
would be available through telephone lines paid for in dollars, in an
attempt to restrict access ``for the social good.'' In August, the
Government closed six cyber cafes in Camaguey for not serving the
``social good,'' leaving only one Internet cafe in the entire province.
AI expressed concern stating, ``the new measures constitute yet another
attempt to cut off Cubans' access to alternative views and a space for
discussing them.''
E-mail use grew slowly as the Government allowed access to more
users; however, the Government still permitted access to very few
persons or groups. In 2003, the Government blocked instant messaging
programs. In 2002, the Government opened a national Internet gateway to
some journalists, artists, and municipal level youth community centers,
but the authorities continued to restrict the types and numbers of
international sites that could be opened. The Government did not permit
Catholic Church representatives to have Internet access.
The Government officially prohibits all diplomatic missions in
Havana from printing or distributing publications, particularly
newspapers and newspaper clippings, unless these publications
exclusively address conditions in a mission's home country and prior
government approval is received. Many missions did not accept this
requirement and distributed materials; however, the Government's
threats to expel embassy officers who provided published materials had
a chilling effect on some missions.
The Government restricted literary and academic freedoms and
continued to emphasize the importance of reinforcing revolutionary
ideology and discipline at the expense of freedom of expression. The
educational system taught that the State's interests took precedence
over all other commitments. Academics, government journalists, and
other government officials were prohibited from meeting with some
diplomats without prior approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry of Education required teachers to evaluate students' and
their parents' ideological character and to place such evaluations in
school records. These reports directly affected students' educational
and career prospects. Government policy required teaching materials for
courses such as mathematics or literature to have an ideological
content. Government efforts to undermine dissidents included denying
them advanced education and professional opportunities. Government
controlled public libraries denied access to books or information if
the requestor was unable to produce a letter of permission from the
proper government ministry. In 2003, President Castro stated publicly
that the universities were open only to those who shared his
revolutionary beliefs.
On February 22, an official of the Association for the Promotion
and Development of Literature barred independent journalist Abela Soto
from a literary presentation in Pinar del Rio, stating that the event
was ``only for revolutionaries.''
On May 24, authorities expelled 16 year old student Yasmani Oliva
from the Art Teachers School in Santa Clara for producing an anti
Castro poster. He was sent home and later summoned to a minor's
reeducation center.
Artistic expression was less restricted. The Government encouraged
the cultural community to attain the highest international standards
and to sell its work overseas for hard currency.
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.'' The law
punishes any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons,
including those for private religious services in private homes, by up
to 3 months in prison and a fine. The authorities selectively enforced
this prohibition and often used it as a legal pretext to harass and
imprison human rights advocates.
On February 9, Doralis Velasquez Falcon, wife of jailed labor
activist Hector Raul Valle Hernandez, was summoned to the police
station after a group of Czech officials visited her to express
solidarity with her husband's case. Officers of the State Security
agency warned that action would be taken against her if she continued
her pro civil rights activities.
The Government's policy of selectively authorizing the Catholic
Church to hold outdoor processions at specific locations on important
feast days continued during the year. On September 8, the Government
permitted, for the seventh consecutive year, a procession in connection
with Masses celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of Charity in Havana.
A number of activists participated in the procession. The authorities
permitted approximately 50 processions nationwide to mark the feast day
of Our Lady of Charity but denied approximately 14 others. The Catholic
Church decided to stop requesting permits for processions in areas
where they historically were not permitted.
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 (see Section 1.d.).
There were unapproved meetings and demonstrations, which the Government
frequently disrupted or attempted to prevent. The authorities sometimes
used or incited violence against peaceful demonstrators.
On April 9, authorities in Regla informed Pedro Pablo Valdes that
the ceremony his group was planning for April 11 to commemorate the
2003 execution of three youths by the Government would be considered a
``terrorist act'' and that participants would be punished accordingly.
The PNR posted two uniformed officers at the home where the ceremony
was to be held and forced the promoters to cancel the event.
Family members and supporters of political prisoners continued
their silent marches after attending weekly Mass at Havana's Santa Rita
Catholic Church. Authorities attempted to discourage members from
participating by arranging prison visits or phone calls with the
prisoners on Sundays during hours that conflicted with the Masses and
marches.
The Government organized marches on May Day and held a rally,
``Tribuna Abierta,'' every Saturday in a different municipality in the
country. The Government employed CDRs and officials in the workplace to
compel mass participation in these events, despite the fact that they
were covered by both radio and television.
The Government generally denied citizens the freedom of
association. The Penal Code specifically outlaws illegal or
unrecognized groups. The Minister of Justice, in consultation with the
Ministry of Interior, decides whether to give organizations legal
recognition. The authorities never have 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 (Agramonte), 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 Masonic Lodge, small human
rights groups, and a number of nascent fraternal or professional
organizations were the only associations permitted to function outside
the control or influence of the State, the CP, and their mass
organizations. With the exception of recognized churches and the
Masons, who have been established in the country for more than a
century, the authorities continued to ignore those groups' applications
for legal recognition, thereby subjecting members to potential charges
of illegal association. All other legally recognized NGOs were
affiliated at least nominally with, or controlled by, the Government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution recognizes the right of
citizens to profess and practice any religious belief within the
framework of respect for the law; however, in law and in practice, the
Government continued to restrict freedom of religion. In general,
unregistered religious groups continued to experience various degrees
of official interference, harassment, and repression. The Government's
main interaction with religious denominations was through the CP's
Office of Religious Affairs. The Ministry of Interior engaged in active
efforts to control and monitor religious institutions, particularly
through surveillance, infiltration, and harassment of religious
professionals and practitioners. The Government's policy of permitting
apolitical religious activity to take place in government approved
sites remained unchanged; however, citizens worshiping in officially
sanctioned churches often were subjected to surveillance by State
Security forces, and the Government's efforts to maintain a strong
degree of control over religion continued.
The Constitution provides for the separation of church and state.
The Government has allowed religious adherents to join the CP since
1991. A 1992 constitutional amendment prohibits religious
discrimination and removed references to ``scientific materialism''
(i.e., atheism) as the basis for the State. The Government does not
favor any one particular religion or church; however, the Government
appeared to be most tolerant of those churches that maintained close
relations to the State through the Cuban Council of Churches (CCC). The
CCC generally was supportive of government policies. Members of the
armed forces did not attend religious services in uniform.
The Government requires churches and other religious groups to
register with the provincial registry of associations within the
Ministry of the Interior to obtain official recognition. In practice,
the Government refused to recognize new denominations; however, the
Government tolerated some religions, such as the Baha'i Faith and a
small congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.
Unregistered religious groups were subject to official interference,
harassment, and repression. The Government, with occasional exceptions,
prohibited the construction of new churches, forcing many growing
congregations to violate the law and meet in private homes.
In January, Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited and
presided over the consecration of a church for the small Greek Orthodox
community in Havana. In November, a delegation of the Moscow
Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the country to
consecrate the first Russian Orthodox temple in the country. Government
media cast these events as evidence of the Government's religious
tolerance.
On September 23, members of the First Bethany Baptist church of
Holguin ended a 74 day hunger strike and sit in. The Government granted
permission to renovate the church, but before the work was finished, it
decided the renovation was too opulent and threatened to take over the
facility. The Government only allowed work to continue after the
protests.
Government harassment of private houses of worship continued, with
evangelical denominations reporting evictions from houses used for
these purposes. The CCC claimed that most private houses of worship
closed by the Government were unregistered and therefore illegal. In
addition, CCC Pentecostal members complained about the preaching
activities of foreign missionaries that led some of their members to
establish new denominations without obtaining the required permits.
Because of these complaints by the Pentecostals, the CCC formally
requested overseas member church organizations to assist them in
dissuading foreign missionaries from establishing Pentecostal churches.
In September 2003, the Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a
document accusing the Government of imposing tighter restrictions on
the Church and on society since the 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II,
and calling on the Government to show clemency towards political
prisoners.
Unlike in 2003, authorities in the town of Managua in Havana
Province permitted a procession to mark the feast day of the patron
saint of Managua.
The Government allowed 9 foreign priests and 19 religious workers
to enter the country to replace other priests and nuns whose visas had
expired. The applications of 60 priests and 130 other religious workers
remained pending at year's end, as did a request from the Conference of
Catholic Bishops for the Government to permit 15 Catholic orders to
establish a presence in the country; the lack of approval limited the
training of seminarians.
In the past several years, the Government relaxed restrictions on
some religious denominations, including Seventh day Adventists and
Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses, once considered ``active
religious enemies of the revolution,'' were allowed to proselytize door
to door and generally were not subjected to overt government
harassment, although there were sporadic reports of harassment by local
CP and government officials.
Education is secular, and no religious educational institutions are
allowed; however, the Catholic Church and Jewish synagogues were
permitted to offer religious education classes to their members. There
were no reports that parents were restricted from teaching religion to
their children.
The Government continued to prevent any national or joint
enterprise (except those with specific authorization) from selling
computers, fax machines, photocopiers, or other equipment to any church
at other than official and exorbitant retail prices. Religious
literature and materials must be imported through a registered
religious group and may be distributed only to officially recognized
religious groups. In punishment cells, prisoners were denied access to
reading materials, including Bibles (see Section 1.c.).
The CCC continued to broadcast a monthly 15 minute program on a
national classical music radio station on the condition that the
program not include material of a political character.
State Security officials visited some priests and pastors prior to
significant religious events, ostensibly to warn them that dissidents
were trying to ``use the Church''; however, some critics claimed these
visits were an effort to foster mistrust between the churches and human
rights or pro democracy activists. In many churches, most noticeably at
Santa Rita's, the Conference of Catholic Bishops estimated that the
number of State Security agents attending Mass for the purpose of
intimidating spouses of political prisoners increased.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Government severely restricted
freedom of movement. The Government generally did not impose legal
restrictions on domestic travel; however, it limited internal migration
to Havana, and restricted persons found to be HIV positive to
sanatoriums for treatment and therapy before conditionally releasing
them into the community. For the past several years, State Security
officials prohibited some human rights advocates and independent
journalists from traveling outside their home provinces, and the
Government also sentenced others to internal exile.
On July 13, authorities of the municipality of the Isle of Youth
prevented independent journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira from traveling to
Nueva Gerona to participate in the annual March 13 commemoration of
those who drowned in the tugboat sunk by the Government in 1994. Serpa
Maceira was advised he would be jailed if he attempted to travel to
Nueva Gerona.
Decree 217 prohibits persons in other provinces from moving into
Havana on the grounds that unchecked internal migration would
exacerbate the city's problems regarding housing, public transport,
water, and electrical supplies; visits to the city were permissible.
Police frequently checked the identification of persons on the streets,
and anyone from another province living in Havana illegally could be
fined 12 convertible pesos (300 pesos) and sent home. Fines were 40
convertible pesos (1,000 pesos) for those who resided illegally in the
neighborhoods of Old Havana, Cerro, or 10 de Octubre. Human rights
observers noted that while the decree affected migration countrywide,
it targeted individuals and families predominantly of African descent
from the more impoverished eastern provinces.
The Government imposed some restrictions on both emigration and
temporary foreign travel. By year's end, the Government had refused
exit permits to 836 people, but allowed the majority of persons who
qualified for immigrant or refugee status in other countries to depart.
In June, authorities denied an exit permit to Julio Antonio Valdes
Guevara, 1 of the 75 activists arrested in March 2003 and subsequently
released on April 15. Valdes Guevara was reportedly extremely ill and
required hemodialysis and a kidney transplant. His wife, 4 year old
son, sister, and brother-in-law all were granted exit permits.
Some denials involved professionals who attempted to emigrate and
whom the Government subsequently banned from working in their
occupational fields. The Government refused permission to others
because it considered their cases sensitive for political or state
security reasons. Resolution 54 denies exit permits to medical
professionals until they have performed 3 to 5 years of service in
their profession after requesting permission to travel abroad. This
regulation, normally applied to recent graduates, was not published
officially and may apply to other professionals as well.
The Government routinely denied exit permits to young men
approaching the age of military service (18 years) until they reached
the age of 27, even when it authorized other family members to leave.
However, in most of those cases approved for migration to the United
States under the 1994 U.S. Cuba Migration Accords, the applicants
eventually received exemption from obligatory service and were granted
exit permits.
The Government has a policy of denying exit permission for several
years to relatives of individuals who successfully migrated illegally
(for example, merchant seamen who defected while overseas and sports
figures who defected while on tours abroad).
The Government also used both internal and external exile as tools
for controlling and eliminating internal opposition. The Penal Code
permits the authorities to bar an individual from a certain area or to
restrict an individual to a certain area for a period of 1 to 10 years.
Under this provision, authorities could exile any person whose presence
in a given location they deemed to be ``socially dangerous.''
The Government routinely invoked forced exile as a condition for
political prisoner releases and also pressured activists to leave the
country to escape future prosecution. Margarito Broche Espinosa's
conditional release papers stated that he was released ``for 1 year,''
indicating that he would be imprisoned after 365 days if he remained in
the country. The conditional release papers given to Oscar Espinosa
Chepe indicated that he was released ``until he recovers his health,''
compelling him to leave the country before his health improved.
Migrants who travel to the United States must pay the Government a
total of 600 convertible pesos per adult and 400 convertible pesos per
child, plus airfare. These government fees for medical exam, often of
dubious quality, passport, and exit visa which must be paid in dollars
were equivalent to approximately 5 years of a professional person's
total peso salary and represented a significant hardship, particularly
for political refugees. Many individuals applying for political refugee
status were fired from their jobs for being ``politically unreliable''
and had no income. At year's end, however, there were no refugees
unable to leave the country because of inability to pay exit fees.
The Penal Code provides for imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine
of 12 to 40 convertible pesos (300 to 1,000 pesos) for unauthorized
departures by boat or raft. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that it regarded any sentence of more than
1 year for simple illegal exit as harsh and excessive. 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 Base at Guantanamo, after
attempting to emigrate illegally if they had not committed a separate
criminal offense.
In 1994, the Government eased restrictions on visits by, and
repatriations of, Cuban emigrants. Citizens who established residency
abroad and who were in possession of government issued permits to
reside abroad may travel to the country without visas, although
citizens who departed after December 31, 1970, must obtain a costly
passport to reenter the country. Persons who are at least 18 years of
age are eligible to travel abroad and may remain outside the country
for up to 11 months. Emigrants who were considered not to have engaged
in so called hostile actions against the Government and who were not
subject to criminal proceedings in their countries of residence may
apply at consulates for renewable, 2 year multiple entry travel
authorizations.
The Constitution provides for the granting of asylum to individuals
persecuted for their ideals or actions involving one of the following:
``For democratic rights against imperialism, fascism, colonialism, and
neocolonialism; against discrimination and racism; for national
liberation; for the rights of workers, peasants, and students; for
their progressive political, scientific, artistic, and literary
activities; and for socialism and peace.'' 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. The Government
cooperated with the UNHCR, and provided temporary protection to a small
number of persons. There was no information available on its use during
the year.
The Government had an established system for providing assistance
to refugees. During the year, 15 persons applied for refugee status, of
whom 10 were approved; according to the UNHCR, there were 795 refugees
in 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 or to
advocate change, and the Government retaliated systematically against
those who sought peaceful political change. The Constitution proscribed
any political organization other than the CP. In 2002, the Government
amended the Constitution to restrict further citizens' rights to change
the Government, making socialism the ``irrevocable'' basis of the
Constitution. In March 2003, President Castro declared his intent to
remain in power for life. While the Constitution provides for direct
election of provincial, municipal, and ANPP members, the 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 President Castro, selected the
members of the highest policy making bodies of the CP, the Politburo
and the Central Committee.
The authorities tightly controlled the selection of candidates and
all elections for government and CP positions. The candidacy committees
were composed of members of government controlled mass organizations
such as the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) and the CDRs and were
responsible for selecting candidates, whose names then were sent to
municipal assemblies that selected a single candidate for each regional
seat in the ANPP. An opposition or independent candidate never has been
permitted to run for national office.
In January 2003, the Government held national elections in which
609 candidates were approved to compete for the 609 seats in the
National Assembly. The CP was the only political party allowed to
participate in the elections. The CP approved candidates for all
offices. A small minority of candidates did not belong formally to the
CP but were chosen through the same government-controlled selection
process. According to the official media, 97.6 percent of registered
voters participated in the elections, and the candidates were voted in
by 91 percent of the electorate. No candidates with views independent
from, or in opposition to, the Government were allowed to run, and no
views contrary to the Government or the CP were expressed in the
government controlled national media. The Government saturated the
media and used government ministries, CP entities, and mass
organizations to urge voters to cast a ``unified vote'' where marking
one box automatically selected all candidates on the ballot form.
Deputies in the National Assembly, delegates in the provincial
assemblies, and members of the Council of State are elected during
general elections every 5 years. Municipal elections are held every 2
years to elect 14,686 local representatives to the municipal
assemblies, the lowest level of the Government's structure. In 2002,
the Government held elections for local representatives to the
municipal assemblies. Government newspapers reported that 95 percent of
voters participated in the election, compared with 98 percent in 2000.
Slightly less than 50 percent of those elected were incumbents and 22
percent were women; 6 percent of all candidates were between the ages
of 16 and 30. The reports also claimed that nationwide the number of
blank ballots remained steady at 2.8 percent, and the number of
annulled ballots decreased from 3 percent to 2.4 percent. In 2002,
98.99 percent of the electorate allegedly signed a petition to retain
the socialist nature of the regime indefinitely.
Although not a formal requirement, in practice, CP membership was a
prerequisite for high level official positions and professional
advancement.
The Government rejected any change to the political system judged
incompatible with the revolution and ignored or actively suppressed
calls for democratic reform. Since 2002, the Christian Liberation
Movement, led by Oswaldo Paya, introduced 2 petitions (known as the
Varela Project) with over 25,000 signatures to the National Assembly;
the petitions proposed a 5 point national referendum on political and
economic reforms. The petitions were based on Article 88 of the 1976
Constitution, which permits citizens to propose legislation if such
proposals are backed by at least 10,000 citizens. The Varela Project
called for an end to limits on freedom of association, an amnesty for
nonviolent political prisoners, reduced barriers to private enterprise,
electoral reforms, and free elections within a year of the referendum.
In response, the National Assembly unanimously passed an amendment
making socialism the irrevocable basis of the Constitution; however,
the amendment did not rescind the right of citizens to propose
legislation. On May 25, Paya issued a document called the ``National
Dialogue'' that called for the development of a transition program and
introduced proposals for reconciliation and the establishment of
democracy.
Varela organizers continued to collect signatures in support of
their proposal; however, activists reported increased harassment by
State Security agents. Varela activists were arrested and detained,
signatures were confiscated, activists and signers were fined and
threatened, and signers were forced to rescind signatures. State
Security impersonated canvassing volunteers and increasingly
infiltrated the ranks of activists. All 21 Varela activists arrested in
2003 remained in prison at year's end.
On August 3, State Security agents threatened and detained Varela
activists Flora Maria Echevarria and Erica Isabel Arriera Reynoso of
Quivican. The agents forced the women from a public bus, searched them,
and confiscated several signed Varela petitions. They were detained for
several hours and released.
On February 4, pro democracy activist Vladimiro Roca of the
movement ``All United'' published a document that examined the
Constitution and suggested 36 reforms. The document was distributed to
the public for comment and will be presented to the ANPP in the future
for its consideration.
Independent and official press reported incidences of government
corruption and bribery, and several officials were removed from their
positions for participating in corruption. In February, authorities
removed Minister of Tourism Ibrahim Ferradaz and two of three deputy
ministers in part because they were unable to control corruption.
Public access to government information is a legal right; however,
in practice, requests for information were routinely rejected, often on
the grounds that access was not a right. Law 88 provides for fines or
prison terms for those individuals in positions of power who give
information deemed sensitive to foreign companies or persons.
Government leadership positions continued to be dominated by men.
There were no legal impediments to women voting, holding political
office, or rising to political leadership; however, there were very few
women or minorities in policymaking positions in the Government or the
CP. There were 2 women in the 24 member Politburo and 20 in the 150
member Central Committee. Women held 219 seats in the 609 seat National
Assembly. Although blacks and persons of partial African descent made
up more than half the population, they held only six seats in the
Politburo. Following the selection of the new ANPP in January 2003,
government run Granma reported that the National Assembly was 67
percent white, 22 percent black, and 11 percent mixed race.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government did not recognize any domestic human rights groups
or permit them to function legally. The Government subjected domestic
human rights advocates to intense intimidation, harassment, and
repression. In violation of its own statutes, the Government refused to
consider applications for legal recognition submitted by human rights
monitoring groups (see Section 2.b.).
Dissidents generally believed that most human rights organizations
were infiltrated by State Security officials and subjected to constant
surveillance. Dissident leaders also were concerned that some
individuals joined their groups to qualify for refugee status to leave
the country. Public identification of suspected state infiltrators was
a crime punishable by 8 to 15 years' imprisonment.
In April 2003, authorities confirmed that 12 purported dissidents
were in fact agents of the Ministry of the Interior. The 12
infiltrators testified against several of the 75 human rights activists
and independent journalists subjected to summary trials.
The Government steadfastly rejected international human rights
monitoring. Since 1992, the Government has refused to recognize the
mandate of the UNCHR on Cuba and, despite being a UNCHR member, refused
to acknowledge requests by Christine Chanet, the Personal
Representative of the Commissioner on Human Rights, to visit the
country. On April 15, the UNCHR passed a resolution that expressed
concern about the human rights situation in the country and repeated
its earlier call on the Government to receive the visit of Chanet. In
January, she issued a report on the country's human rights situation,
specifically addressing issues impeding the growth of civil society,
such as arbitrary detentions, prison conditions, and summary trials.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution forbids discrimination based on race, sex, or
national origin; however, evidence suggested that racial discrimination
occurred frequently. The country is a multiracial society with a black
and mixed race majority.
Women.--Violent crime rarely was reported in the press, and there
was no publicly available data regarding the incidence of domestic
violence and rape; however, human rights advocates reported that
violence against women was a problem. The law establishes strict
penalties for rape, and the Government enforced the law; however,
according to human rights advocates, the police did not act on cases of
domestic violence.
Prostitution is legal for persons over 17 years of age; however,
pandering and economic activities facilitating prostitution, including
room rentals, are illegal. Press reports indicated that tourists
visited specifically to patronize inexpensive prostitutes. Some street
police officers were suspected of providing protection to the
prostitutes (known as ``jineteras''). The Government periodically
cracked down on prostitution, most recently in 2003, but jineteras
remained numerous and publicly visible in Havana and other major
cities. Most observers believed that the Government took these measures
to combat the perception that the Government promoted sex tourism. The
Government maintained centers to take prostitutes off the streets and
reeducate them. There was no information available regarding whether or
not the Government dismantled these centers, as recommended by a 2003
U.N. Special Rapporteur's report.
The Family Code states that women and men have equal rights and
responsibilities regarding marriage, divorce, raising children,
maintaining the home, and pursuing a career. Women were subject to the
same restrictions on property ownership as men. The law provides up to
1 year of maternity leave and grants working mothers preferential
access to goods and services. Approximately 40 percent of all women
worked, and they were well represented in many professions. According
to the most recent (2000) public figures of the Cuban Women's
Federation (FMC), a mass organization affiliated with the CP, women
held 33 percent of managerial positions. The FMC also asserted that
11,200 women received land parcels to cultivate, more than 561,000
women had begun working as agricultural workers, and that women devoted
34 hours a week to domestic work, approximately the same number of
hours they spent working outside the home.
Children.--The Constitution provides for government protection of
family, maternity, and matrimony. It also states that all children have
the same rights under the law and notes the duties of parents to ensure
their protection. State organizations and schools were charged with the
comprehensive formation of children and youth. Public education was
free through the university level; however, citizens could be barred
for a lack of ``revolutionary beliefs.'' The law requires school
attendance until the ninth grade, which was the highest level achieved
by most children. According to the government press, 100 percent of
school age children attended school. Education was suffused with
Marxist ideology and anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist propaganda,
beginning in primary school.
The educational system often forced families to live apart.
Residents of Havana who wanted their children to follow a university
track education or ``pre university'' were required to send them to
boarding schools outside the capital. Parents of children in rural
areas had few schooling options and were often forced to send their
children to rural boarding schools from as early as age 12. Religious
groups and NGOs complained that sexual relations among students and
even with teachers at boarding schools were tolerated and that children
were required to participate in several hours of manual labor per day
(see Section 6.c.).
Children up to the age of seven received additional food rations,
including meat and milk, through the ration card system.
The national health care system covered all citizens; however,
facilities were deteriorated and basic medicines were often impossible
to find.
Although seldom covered in the official media, there were
occasional reports of child abuse; however, there was no societal
pattern of child abuse. Police officers who found children loitering in
the streets or begging from tourists frequently intervened and tried to
find the parents. If a child was found bothering tourists more than
once, police frequently fined the child's parents. During their summer
vacation, students were pressured to enlist for up to a week of
``volunteer labor'' at one of the various work camps in rural areas.
Underage prostitution was a problem, with young girls engaging in
prostitution to help support themselves and their families. Children
could marry with the consent of their parents at the age of 14;
however, Article 310 of the Penal Code provides for 2 to 5 years'
imprisonment for anyone who ``induces minors under 16 years of age to
practice homosexuality or prostitution.'' The police generally enforced
laws on underage prostitution; however, the phenomenon continued as
more cabarets and discos opened catering to the sexual tourism trade.
Workers at some tourist facilities appeared to profit from underage
prostitution. The Government did not publicly acknowledge the
prevalence of underage prostitution; however, the Government prosecuted
persons involved in child prostitution and child pornography and
assisted other countries in international investigations of child
sexual abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Penal Code prohibits trafficking in
persons, and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to or
from the country. There were incidents of trafficking within the
country for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, which
were not reported in the official media.
The revised Code makes it illegal to promote or organize 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 Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the PNR, and
local governments are tasked with different facets of combating
trafficking in persons and the problem of underage prostitution, and no
entity had complete autonomy dealing with these issues. The police
investigated and arrested traffickers, the Ministry of Justice
prosecuted and incarcerated traffickers, and the Ministry of Education
rehabilitated prostitutes, including underage prostitutes. Child
victims generally were treated as criminals and were incarcerated for
breaking laws on prostitution. In June, the Government reported that
between 2000-04, there were 881 trials for those accused of procuring
prostitutes, with 1,377 individuals convicted and sentenced to prison.
There was no data published on prosecutions of trafficking of underage
children in prostitution.
There were reports of trafficking within the country for purposes
of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Victims of trafficking for
sexual exploitation generally were teenage girls age 14 to 17 who are
abused in prostitution. The country was also a destination for sex
tourists, including foreigners searching for underage prostitutes.
Victims of trafficking for forced labor included children coerced to
work in commercial agriculture.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services; however, there are
no laws that mandate accessibility to buildings for persons with
disabilities. 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.--Many persons of African descent
have benefited from access to basic education and medical care since
the 1959 revolution, and much of the police force and army enlisted
personnel is black. Nevertheless, racial discrimination often occurred
and was acknowledged publicly by high governmental officials. At the
2001 World Conference on Racism in South Africa, President Castro
acknowledged that the revolution had not eradicated racism. There were
numerous reports of disproportionate police harassment of black youths.
Evictions, exacerbated by Decree 217, primarily targeted individuals
and families who migrated to Havana from the eastern provinces,
traditionally areas of black or mixed race populations (see Section
2.d.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In the early years of
the regime, government rhetoric and official policy was anti
homosexual, and homosexuals were forcibly sent to ``reeducation
camps.'' Although such policies no longer persist, societal
discrimination continued.
The Government restricted persons found to be HIV positive to
sanatoriums for treatment and therapy before conditionally releasing
them into the community.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution gives priority to
state or collective needs over individual choices regarding free
association or provision of employment. The demands of the economy and
society take precedence over individual workers' preferences.
Established official labor unions have a mobilization function and do
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, anti union
discrimination by definition did not exist.
The CP selects the leaders of the sole legal labor confederation,
the CTC, whose principal responsibility is to ensure that government
production goals are met. Despite its assertions in international fora
to the contrary, the Government explicitly prohibited independent
unions, and none were recognized. There has been no change in
conditions since the 1992 International Labor Organization (ILO)
finding that the Government violated ILO norms on freedom of
association and the right to organize. Those who attempted to engage in
unofficial union activities faced government harassment. In June 2003,
the International Labor Conference concluded that government law and
practice were in violation of ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of
Association. The Applications Committee of the International Labor
Conference also called upon the Government to release trade unionists
arrested in March 2003 and urged the Government to accept an ILO
mission to verify labor conditions and to work with the Government to
ensure full compliance with Convention 87. The Government rejected the
Application Committee's conclusions and any possibility of an ILO
mission.
In June, the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA)
reaffirmed its November 2003 criticisms of the authorities' recognition
of only a single official union and prohibition of independent trade
unions. The CFA also cited the absence of collective bargaining and of
the right to strike, as well as the arrest and harassment of union
members, government infiltration of independent unions, and illegal
house searches. The CFA expressed particular concern regarding the
arrests and lengthy imprisonment of union organizers in March and April
2003 and recommended that an ILO Direct Contacts Mission be allowed to
enter the country to investigate the situation.
Workers often lost their jobs because of their political beliefs,
including their refusal to join the official union. Several small
independent labor organizations were created, although they functioned
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.
At year's end, seven of the nine labor leaders arrested in March
2003 remained in prison, including Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos. During
the year, authorities released Carmelo Diaz and Roberto de Miranda.
On March 30, authorities fired agricultural engineer Alexis Ramirez
Rodriguez from his position in the Granma Biochemical Factory of Bayamo
for not contributing to the union's ``militia'' fund or participating
in revolutionary union events. Ramirez was a delegate of the National
Independent Workers' Confederation of Cuba.
On September 23, two municipal housing inspectors from Villa Clara,
Sandra Cedeno Leon and Odalys Bacallao Diaz, reported being fired by
their supervisor for having signed the Varela Project. Their labor
records did not reflect the reason for dismissal.
On October 15, secret police beat trade unionist Lazaro Gonazlez
Adan in his home in Camaguey and subsequently arrested him on charges
of ``disrespect'' for state authority.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the
Cuban labor code provides for collective bargaining, it does not exist
in practice. The State Committee for Work and Social Security (CETSS)
sets wages and salaries for the state sector, which is virtually the
only employer in the country. The law does not provide for strikes, and
none were known to have occurred during the year. The country's three
export processing zones located at Beroa, Wajay, and Mariel were in the
process of being dismantled; however, there were no special laws or
exemptions from regular labor laws in these zones.
The Foreign Investment 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
managed to negotiate exceptions, the Government required foreign
investors and diplomatic missions to contract workers through state
employment agencies, which were paid in foreign currency, but which, in
turn, paid workers very low wages in pesos. Typically workers received
5 percent of the salary paid by the companies to the State. Workers
subcontracted by state employment agencies must meet certain political
qualifications. According to former Minister of Basic Industry Marcos
Portal, the state employment agencies consulted with the CP, the CTC,
and the Union of Communist Youth to ensure that the workers chosen
``deserved'' to work in a joint enterprise.
On January 9, authorities summoned Antonio Alonso to the Ministry
of Interior in the Municipality of Songo La Maya and fined him for his
union activities. Alonso was told by an official that he had been
tasked with ``getting rid'' of all the independent unions by
prohibiting all meetings, seminars, and training courses offered by
these groups.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Neither the
Constitution nor the Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor by
adults. The Constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor by
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see
Section 5). The Government maintained correctional centers where it
sent persons for crimes such as ``dangerousness.'' Prisoners held in
such centers were forced to work on farms or at sites doing
construction, agricultural, or metal work. The authorities often
imprisoned uncooperative internees.
The Government employed special groups of workers, formed into
``microbrigades,'' who were reassigned temporarily from their usual
jobs to work on special building projects. These microbrigades were
increasingly important in the Government's efforts to complete tourist
and other priority projects. Workers who refused to volunteer for these
jobs often risked discrimination or job loss. Microbrigade workers
reportedly received priority consideration for housing assignments. The
military assigned some conscripts to the Youth Labor Army, where they
served a 2 year military service requirement working on farms that
supplied both the armed forces and the civilian population.
On April 16, Alberto Martinez Femmdy, a prisoner in the Corojo
correctional facility, denounced in a letter smuggled out of prison
that he was forced to participate in manual labor from 4:30 a.m. to 8
p.m. 7 days a week.
On June 15, economist Felix Reyes Gutierrez was demoted as
punishment for blowing the whistle on corruption and theft at the
Ramiro Lavandreo Cruz cigarette factory in Villa Clara, where he
worked. Reyes was subsequently reassigned to do agricultural labor.
Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred in practice.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children; however,
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 post secondary
institutions (technical schools, university preparatory schools, and
agricultural institutes) were expected to devote 30 to 45 days per year
to primarily agricultural work. According to school rules, refusal to
do agricultural work could result in expulsion from the institution.
The country has not ratified ILO Convention 182, but the Government
adhered to Convention 182 standards concerning the elimination of the
worst forms of child labor.
The legal minimum working age is 17. However, 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 7 hours per day or 40 hours per week or on
holidays. Children age 13 to 18 cannot work in the following
situations: As longshoremen (load/unload excessive weight); in mines;
underground; near noxious, reactive or toxic substances; in high
places; or at night. The Labor Code permits persons age 18 or over to
work underground or with noxious substances.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--CETSS sets the minimum wage,
which varies by occupation. For example, the minimum monthly wage for a
maid was 6.35 convertible pesos (165 pesos); for a bilingual office
clerk, 7.30 convertible pesos (190 pesos); and for a gardener 8.30
convertible pesos (216 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 food (this subsidized food is enough for
approximately 1 week per month). The Government rationed most basic
necessities such as food, medicine, clothing, and cooking gas, which
were expensive and often scarce. However, even with these subsidies,
the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family.
The Government required foreign companies in joint ventures with
state entities to hire and pay workers through the State (see Section
6.b.). HRW noted that the required reliance on state controlled
employment agencies effectively left workers without any capacity
directly to negotiate wages, benefits, the basis of promotions, or the
length of the workers' trial period at the job with the employer.
Foreign companies paid the Government as much as 500 to 600 convertible
pesos per worker per month; however, because the Government paid
salaries in pesos instead of convertible pesos, workers only received 4
percent of the money foreign companies paid to the Government for their
services.
The standard workweek was 44 hours, with shorter workweeks in
hazardous occupations, such as mining. The Government reduced the
workday in some government offices and state enterprises to save
energy. The labor code provides workers with a weekly 24-hour rest
period.
Laws providing for workplace environmental and safety controls were
inadequate, and the Government lacked effective enforcement mechanisms.
Independent press and international organizations reported that
industrial accidents were frequent, but the Government suppressed such
reports. The Labor Code establishes 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. According to the Labor Code, 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 governed by a
prime minister, a cabinet, and a unicameral legislative assembly. A
president, nominated by the Prime Minister in consultation with the
leader of the opposition party, and elected for a 5-year term by the
Parliament, was head of state with largely ceremonial powers. Prime
Minister Pierre Charles' Dominica Labour Party (DLP) prevailed in
generally free and fair elections in 2000. Following the sudden death
of Prime Minister Charles on January 6, Members of Parliament appointed
Roosevelt Skerrit as Prime Minister on January 8. The judiciary is
independent.
The Office of the Prime Minister oversaw the Dominica Police, the
country's only security force. The civilian authorities maintained
effective control of the security forces. Some members of the security
force committed human rights abuses.
The country has a primarily agrarian, market-based economy and a
population of 70,400. The economy continued to depend heavily on
earnings from the declining banana industry. The Government's efforts
to market the island as an ecotourism destination produced mixed
results, with increases in arrivals by cruise ship passengers but a
drop in over-night stays. There was a high external debt and an
unemployment rate of approximately 23 percent. Gross domestic product
was estimated to increase by 1.1 percent and inflation was estimated to
be 2.4 percent.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas. Prison
conditions were poor; violence against women and children was a
problem; and there were instances of discrimination against indigenous
Carib Indians and societal discrimination against female Caribs in
mixed marriages.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
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 there were
some complaints of use of excessive force by the police.
During the year, 13 cases of misconduct were brought against the
police, of which 7 were for excessive force. By year's end, one case of
excessive force was before a disciplinary tribunal, five were being
investigated, and one was dropped for lack of evidence.
Of the 29 cases brought against the police in 2003, 19 were for
excessive force. Ten cases of excessive force were brought before a
disciplinary tribunal and 9 were dismissed.
Prison conditions were poor. The prison buildings were in
disrepair, conditions remained unsanitary, and overcrowding was a
serious problem. The State Prison held 290 prisoners in a facility
designed for approximately 200.
Female prisoners were held separately from male prisoners, and
juveniles were segregated from adult inmates. Pretrial detainees were
held with convicted prisoners, due to overcrowding and a lack of
sufficient holding cells.
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.
The 408-officer police effectively carried out its responsibilities
for public order. The police have a formal complaint procedure to
handle allegations of excessive force or abuse by police officers.
During the year, the police force received 13 complaints of abuse, of
which 2 were referred to the Attorney General and 11 were handled
internally.
The Constitution 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 are unable to bring a
detainee to court within the requisite period, the detainee could be
released and rearrested later. 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 Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judicial system is composed of a high court judge, 5
magistrates, and 10 magistrate courts located in police stations around
the country. Appeals can be made to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
and to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
The law provides for public trial before an independent, impartial
court. Criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty,
are allowed legal counsel, and have the right to appeal. Courts
provided free legal counsel to the indigent only in capital cases.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning
democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of
the press.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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 churches are not required to register, they must do so to
own property, and ministers of registered churches may have an easier
time obtaining long-term work visas. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints reported difficulties receiving official government
recognition. The Attorney General reportedly refused to register the
church after receiving an unfavorable report on the matter from the
Dominica Council of Churches. Despite evidence showing that the church
was registered in other countries in the region, the issue was not
resolved at year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
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.
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 must be held at least every 5 years,
although the Prime Minister can call elections at any time. The
unicameral House of Assembly is composed of 21 parliamentary
representatives and 9 senators. The representatives are elected by
popular vote. The President appoints the senators; five senators are
chosen with the advice of the Prime Minister and four with the advice
of the opposition leader.
In January 2000, the DLP won 10 seats in generally free and fair
elections, defeating the United Workers' Party. DLP leader Roosevelt P.
``Rosie'' Douglas forged a majority coalition and served as Prime
Minister until his death in October 2000. Pierre Charles subsequently
was appointed Prime Minister and served until his death on January 6.
On January 8, Parliament appointed Roosevelt Skerrit as the new Prime
Minister. New elections should be held by July 2005.
Corruption was a moderate problem, although the country had not
formulated an anti-corruption plan to address the problem.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information, and the Government did not provide such access in
practice.
There were 6 women in the 30-seat legislature: 2 elected
parliamentary representatives and 4 senators appointed by the
President. There were no women in the cabinet.
The Parliamentary Representative for Indigenous People was a Carib
Indian; he served concurrently as the Prime Minister's Parliamentary
Secretary with responsibility for Carib affairs.
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
Dominican National Council of Women, 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 Constitution includes provisions against racial, sexual, and
religious discrimination, which the authorities generally respected in
practice.
Women.--Domestic violence cases were common. There are no specific
spousal abuse laws; however, women could bring charges against husbands
for battery, and the police and the courts prosecuted cases of rape and
sexual assault. Rape cases were handled solely by female police
officers. The Department of Labor established a crisis response
mechanism to assist women who were victims of domestic violence. The
Welfare Department of the Ministry of Community Development assisted
victims of abuse by finding temporary shelter, providing counseling to
both parties, or recommending police action. The Welfare Department
reported all cases of abuse to the police.
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.
Police officers continued to receive training in dealing with domestic
abuse cases. The Dominica National Council of Women, a nongovernmental
organization, taught preventive education about domestic violence and
maintained a shelter where counseling and mediation services were
available daily and provided to approximately 150 persons. Due to a
shortage of funding, the organization only could permit persons to stay
at the shelter for several days at a time; however, if needed, further
housing was provided in private homes for up to 3 weeks. The Catholic
Church continued to be active in educating the public about domestic
violence.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it remained a
problem.
While there was little open discrimination against women, property
ownership continued to be deeded to heads of households, who were
usually males. 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 needs,
which partly resulted from continued declines in the banana export
industry.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Primary education is compulsory, free, and universal through the
age of 16. Approximately 90 percent of school-age children attended
school.
Primary health care was available throughout the island, and boys
and girls had equal access.
Chile abuse continued to be a problem. During the year, the Welfare
Department received reports of 114 cases of child abuse, including
child sexual abuse and incest, compared with more than 200 in 2003.
Enforcement of children's rights laws continued to be hampered by lack
of staffing.
Although the maximum sentence for sexual molestation (rape, incest)
is 25 years' imprisonment, the normal sentence given was 5 to 7 years
except in the case of murder. The age of consent for sexual relations
is 16 years.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country. Persons convicted of trafficking are subject to a
fine of $37,500 (EC$100,000) and/or up to 7 years in prison.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services; however, there is no
legal requirement mandating access to buildings for persons with
disabilities. Labor laws permit authorization of employment to 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 Carib Indian
population, estimated at 3,500 persons, most of whom lived on a 3,782-
acre reservation. Despite having a representative in the Government,
the Caribs believed that the Government could do more to protect their
civil and political rights. Approximately 65 percent of the Carib
population was between the ages of 18 and 35. There was a three-person
police station on the reservation, generally staffed by Carib Indians.
School, water, and health facilities on the reservation were
rudimentary but similar to those available to other rural citizens;
there were two primary schools and no secondary school on the
reservation. Unemployment on the reservation generally was higher than
in rest of the country, and average income was below the national
average. The government-financed Carib Model Village to showcase Carib
culture was still not formally open due to unresolved construction
issues; however the buildings were complete and open to the public.
The Carib Act states that any child of a Carib Indian is also
Carib. Non-Caribs may become Carib Indians if they are invited to live
on the reservation and continuously do so for 12 years. Carib Indians
over the age of 18 who reside there are eligible to vote for the Chief
and 6 members of the Council of Advisors (they also are eligible to
vote in national elections). Separate elections for council members and
the Chief are held every 5 years. 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.
Reservation building permits may be obtained from the Carib Council
and only were available to Carib Indians. Although the law permits
Carib men and women married to non-Caribs to continue living on the
reservation, in practice, Carib women married to non-Caribs had to move
off the reservation. An estimated 25 percent of the Carib Indian
population was believed to be in mixed marriages or relationships.
The law establishing the Carib reservation does not delineate
clearly the reservation boundaries, and, despite government efforts to
address this issue, Caribs continued to face increasing encroachment on
their territory by farmers, particularly on the southern side of the
reservation. Carib Indians also continued to report difficulties
obtaining bank financing, particularly since reservation land was
communal and therefore unavailable for use as collateral for loans.
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; however, unions were concerned that this law was not
being honored. The National Workers Union and the Waterfront and Allied
Workers Union pursued separate cases on behalf of shop stewards who,
the unions alleged, were dismissed for union activities in 2003. These
two cases remained unresolved at year's end.
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, and there also is recourse to mediation and arbitration by the
Government. There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. The banana, coconut, and citrus fruit
industries as well as port services are deemed essential services,
which effectively prohibits workers in these sectors from going on
strike. The International Labor Organization (ILO) considered this
definition overly broad and repeatedly urged the Government to redefine
essential services as those whose interruption would endanger the life,
personal safety, or health of the whole or part of the population, or
in the case of an acute national crisis. The ILO noted that existing
legislation made it possible to stop a strike by compulsory arbitration
and empowered the Minister to refer disputes to compulsory arbitration
if in his or her opinion it concerns serious issues. The Industrial
Relations Advisory Board, which is composed of union members,
government representatives, and private businessmen, advised the
Minister of Labor to amend this legislation and remove the coconut and
citrus industries from the definition of essential services.
In October, a court found in favor of the Government in the case
brought forward by the Public Service Union (PSU) concerning the
legality of government cost-cutting measures. The PSU appealed the
decision to the Privy Council in London, and a decision was pending at
year's end.
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. The ILO asked the
Government to repeal the National Service Act, on the grounds that it
is conducive to forced labor for economic development; however, the
Government took no action on the request.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although two acts prohibit employment of children, one act defines a
``child'' as under age 12 and the other under age 14. The Government
defined 15 years as the minimum age for employment and enforced this
standard in principle.
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 (e.g., 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 clerks. Minimum wages were not
sufficient to 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. By year's
end, the Government still had not acted on the 1998 recommendations of
the Minimum Wage Advisory Board to increase wage levels.
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 5 days. The law provides
overtime for work above the standard workweek; however, excessive
overtime is not prohibited.
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 conduct health and safety inspections. The rarely used
enforcement mechanism consists of inspections by the Department of
Labor, which prescribe specific compliance measures, impose fines, and
prosecute offenders. Workers have the right to remove themselves from
unsafe work environments without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Dominican Republic is a representative constitutional democracy
with an executive branch headed by an elected president, a bicameral
legislature, and a separate judiciary. In August, President Leonel
Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) retook office after a
generally free and fair presidential election, replacing President
Hipolito Mejia of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). The PRD
continued to control the Senate, with 29 of 32 seats, and held 72 out
of 150 seats in the Chamber of Deputies; the remaining seats in the
Chamber of Deputies were divided between the PLD (42 seats) and the
Social Christian Reform Party (PRSC) (36 seats). The Constitution
provides for an independent judiciary; however, internal corruption and
interference from outside authorities remained a problem.
The National Police, the National Department of Investigations
(DNI), the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), the Airport
Security Authority (CESA), Port Security Authority (CESEP), and the
armed forces (army, air force, and navy) form the security forces. The
National Police maintained internal security in conjunction with the
military. The military's domestic responsibilities include maintaining
public order and protecting persons and property. The police are under
the Secretary of the Interior and Police; the military, CESA, and CESEP
are under the Secretary of the Armed Forces; and the DNI and the DNCD,
which have personnel both from the police and from the military, report
directly to the President. While civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces, there were some
instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently
of government authority. Some members of the security forces committed
a number of human rights abuses.
The country has a diversified market-based economy and a population
of approximately 8.8 million, including an estimated 650,000
undocumented Haitians. Tourism, telecommunications, and exports from
Free Trade Zones (FTZs) were major sources of foreign currency and
providers of employment. Remittances from abroad exceeded $2.5 billion.
Economic growth for the year was estimated at 2 percent. Inflation was
estimated at an annual rate of 29 percent. Wages and benefits did not
keep pace with inflation.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were some improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained.
Members of the security forces continued to commit unlawful killings.
The police and, to a lesser degree, the military, tortured, beat, or
otherwise abused suspects, detainees and prisoners. Prison conditions
ranged from poor to harsh. Police arbitrarily arrested and detained
suspects and suspects' relatives. Lengthy pretrial detention and long
trial delays continued to be problems. The authorities sometimes
infringed on citizens' privacy rights, and police entered private homes
without judicial orders. Journalists and editors practiced self-
censorship. The Government restricted the movement of Haitian and
Dominican-Haitian migrants and forcibly expelled some of them. Other
serious problems included violence and discrimination against women;
child prostitution; abuse of children; discrimination against persons
with disabilities; and severe discrimination against and abuse of
Haitian migrants and their descendants. Trafficking in persons was a
serious problem, although the Government increased its investigations
of traffickers. There continued to be reports of forced labor. Some
workers were not able to organize freely and continued to face unsafe
labor conditions. Child labor was a serious problem.
The Government made some advances in improving respect for human
rights and worker rights. Notably, a new Criminal Procedures Code took
effect in September that provided suspects with additional protections.
A new Code for Minors took effect in October that provided for
additional protections and stiffer sanctions in cases of sexual or
commercial exploitation. The judiciary continued to consolidate its
independence and carry out reforms aimed at greater efficiency and due
process. Additional military and police units received training in
human rights. A new penitentiary school began training guards and
administrators. Congress passed a law allowing free access to public
information. The Government improved its capacity to fight trafficking
in persons and increased investigations of traffickers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces were involved in many killings that were
unlawful, unwarranted, or involved excessive use of force.
Security forces killed between 250 and 350 people during the year.
In the majority of killings by police, the police stated that the
deaths resulted from a gunfire exchange in the course of an arrest,
which required officers to act in self-defense. A number of eyewitness
accounts corroborated police reports; others did not. Many killings
were related to aggressive tactics on the part of the police.
The National Commission on Human Rights reported approximately 300
killings by security forces, 20 of which occurred after a new National
Police chief took control of the police department in August. A major
newspaper reported 360 deaths in ``exchanges of gunfire'' with police
during the year, including 74 such deaths from August until the end of
the year. The National Police reported 75 deaths at the hands of
officers between August and the end of the year, compared with 167 such
killings during the same time period in 2003. According to the National
Police, three of the post-August killings were unlawful. Accounts of
incidents varied, and some went unreported.
According to the National Police, authorities had referred 30 cases
to civilian courts for accusations of unlawful killings as of October.
However, human rights organizations stated that the police employed
unwarranted deadly force about as often against criminal suspects as in
previous years, and uniformed vigilantism persisted on a less-than-
deadly level (see Section 1.c.). The lack of qualified investigators
and the nontransparent conduct of investigations of killings in
``exchanges of gunfire'' resulted in impunity in a number of cases.
In January, Sergeant Major Pablo Valdez Perez, Sergeant Cesar
Troncoso Encarnacion, Corporal Wilson Aquino Garcia, and Corporal Nandy
Beltre Espinosa rushed a car parked in front of the passenger's house
at nighttime without identifying themselves as officers. The occupants
tried to drive away, and the policemen opened fire, killing the
passenger and injuring the driver. The case was referred to the
civilian Court of Instruction in the National District. At year's end,
three of the policemen were free on bail, and Beltre was awaiting a
bail hearing.
Police Lieutenant Reyes Santana, known as ``Tyson,'' and Sergeant
Medina Medina were sentenced to 8 years in prison and required to pay
indemnification of approximately $33,000 (1 million pesos) for a 2001
killing in which the officers claimed that there was an exchange of
gunfire with the victim.
Many cases previously referred to courts for investigation remained
unresolved or resulted in the release of the accused. The Supreme Court
investigation into the court-ordered release of police officer Cristino
Alvarez Ventura, who shot and killed a youth in September 2003,
remained pending at year's end.
There were no developments in the case of the September 2003
mistaken identity killing by police officer Rubio Blondy and another
officer. The case was sent to the civilian Court of Instruction in the
National District where it remained in the investigation phase.
In the case against off-duty police officers Abel Garcia and Luis
Castro Concepcion for the October 2003 killing of an advertising agent,
a court dismissed charges against Garcia but convicted Castro and
sentenced him to 4 months in jail.
Police lieutenant Juan Bautista Berroa and his accomplices were
free on bail pending trial for an unlawful killing in 2002 in San Pedro
de Macoris.
Pedro Encarnacion Baez, convicted of the 2001 killing of Carmelo
del Rosario, was sentenced to 15 years in jail but has been free on
bail since December 2002.
A significant number of deaths occurred in custody due to
negligence by prison authorities (see Section 1.c.).
There were reports of violence against demonstrators and protesters
by members of the security forces, including some deaths (see Section
2.b.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
There were no developments in the case of Narciso Gonzalez, a
university professor and critic of the Balaguer Government who
disappeared in 1994. In 2002, a judge ordered that former Secretary of
the Armed Forces Constantino Matos Villanueva be tried in a criminal
court in connection with the disappearance. The judge excluded two
other individuals, General Leonardo A. de Jesus Reyes Bencosme and Air
Force Colonel Manuel Concepcion Perez Volquez, from the case, although
the victim's family appealed this decision. That appeal and Matos
Villanueva's appeal of the decision to try him in criminal court
remained pending in Santo Domingo's Court of Appeals. There was no
action on the family's complaint to the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution and the law prohibit such practices;
however, some security forces personnel, primarily mid-level and lower-
ranking police officers, continued to torture, beat, and otherwise
physically abuse detainees and 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; mid-
level officers sometimes contested civilian jurisdiction (see Section
1.e.).
Senior police officials took the prohibition on torture and
physical abuse seriously, but lack of supervision, training, and
accountability throughout the law enforcement and corrections systems
exacerbated the problem. Human rights groups reported repeated
instances of physical abuse of detainees, including various forms of
torture, beatings, and sexual abuse. Certain police units, called ``the
surgeons,'' intentionally shot young men in the lower extremities
during nighttime patrols as part of a strategy to deter crime,
resulting in a number of serious injuries and amputations.
According to human rights organizations, both the National Police
and prison officials used forms of torture. The method most often used
was beating. Other forms included asphyxiation with plastic bags to
elicit confessions and a method called ``roasting the chicken'' in
which the victim was placed over hot coals and turned.
Police Colonel Francisco Beras Santos, accused in 2002 of torture
and sexual violation of a woman in his police station, was released for
lack of evidence.
According to the National Commission on Human Rights, military and
police officials reportedly beat, tortured, and randomly deported
Haitians living in the border towns of Pedernales and Elias Pina (see
Section 2.d.).
National District Prosecutor's lawyers monitored the investigative
process to ensure that detainees' rights were respected in high-volume
police stations and in several DNCD offices (see Section 1.d.). There
was some evidence that assistant prosecutors at times acquiesced in
traditional police practices rather than attempt to raise these
practices to constitutional standards. In some instances, authorities
interpreted the presence of prosecutors as meaning that detainees could
be held more than 48 hours after being transferred from police custody
to prosecutorial custody. However, with the implementation of the new
Criminal Procedures Code in September, detainees received additional
protections, and respect for detainee rights improved, including
through increased enforcement of time limits for pretrial detention
(see Section 1.d.).
Both the National Police and armed forces offered training courses
for human rights (see Section 1.d.).
Prison conditions ranged from poor to harsh. Reports of torture and
mistreatment in prisons were common. The prisons were seriously
overcrowded, health and sanitary conditions were poor, and some prisons
were out of the control of the authorities. The General Directorate of
Prisons is under the authority of the Attorney General and was
seriously underfunded. Budget allocations for necessities such as food,
medicine, and transportation were insufficient. Inmates said that the
food provided was unacceptable, and most sought to beg or purchase food
from persons in the vicinity of the prison or to obtain it from family
members. Prisoners and human rights groups alleged that prisoners were
not taken to their trials unless they paid bribes to the guards (see
Sections 1.d. and 1.e.). Visitors often had to bribe prison guards in
order to visit prisoners. Prison officials accepted money in exchange
for a recommendation that the prisoner be furloughed or released for
health reasons. Prisons often did not provide adequate medical care to
inmates. In Rafey prison, 30 percent of prisoners had skin problems
such as scabies, 15 percent had hypertension, and 10 percent had
respiratory problems. Prisoners immobilized by AIDS or who terminal
illnesses were not transferred to hospitals, although some terminal-
stage inmates were released to spend their last days at home.
According to the Directorate of Prisons, the police and the
military held more than 13,500 prisoners and detainees in 35 prisons
with a total intended capacity of approximately 9,000. Virtually all
prisons experienced extreme overcrowding. La Victoria prison, the
largest in the country, held more than 3,500 prisoners in a facility
designed for 1,000 and had only 354 beds for all of the inmates. Rafey
prison held approximately 1,200 prisoners, although it was designed to
hold only 600.
Although a warden who reports to the Attorney General was
responsible for running each prison, in practice, a police or military
officer (generally appointed for a period of only 3 to 6 months and
responsible for providing security) was usually in charge of the
prison. Some prisons were totally out of the authorities' control and
were, in effect, operated by armed inmates. Individual inmates could
secure a tolerable level of existence only by paying for food, sleeping
space, and medical care.
The press and human rights groups also reported extensive drug and
arms trafficking within the prisons, as well as prostitution and sexual
abuse, including abuse of minors. In February, the DNCD uncovered a
large cache of drugs, alcohol, and weapons in Rafey prison. In August,
three prisoners were burned to death during a riot in Mao that began as
a dispute over the control of the drug trade in the prison.
In August, the Government inaugurated the National Penitentiary
School in Santo Domingo. Graduates of the school served as career
prison guards (replacing military or police guards on temporary prison
duty assignment) and as prison administrators. The students received
training in human rights and nonviolent restraint methods, and, by
year's end, graduates had been posted to a new prison in Puerto Plata.
Female inmates were separated from male inmates, and about half of
the total female population was held in a female-only prison. In
general, conditions in the female prison wings were better than those
in male prison wings. There were some reports of guards abusing female
inmates physically and sexually. There were also reports that, in the
Najayo prison, guards forced women into prostitution in exchange for
food and protection. 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.
The law requires that juveniles be detained separately from adults;
however, juveniles often were mixed with the general population. The
authorities sometimes treated minors as adults and incarcerated them in
prison rather than juvenile detention centers.
Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners.
Inmates were not separated by crime within the prison population;
however, they could be put into solitary confinement for disturbances
while incarcerated.
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.--The Criminal Procedures Code
implemented in September prohibits detention without a warrant unless a
suspect is apprehended in the act or in other limited circumstances;
however arbitrary arrest and detention continued to present problems.
The Constitution provides that an accused may be detained for only 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; however, the police continued to violate
constitutional and legal provisions by detaining suspects for
investigation or interrogation beyond the prescribed 48-hour limit or
detaining suspects without a warrant. In particular, the police often
detained all suspects and witnesses in a crime and used the
investigative process to determine who were innocent and merited
release, and whom they should continue to hold. Additionally, police
continued to detain relatives and friends of suspects in order to
pressure suspects to surrender or to confess. These practices were
employed less often after the new Criminal Procedures Code came into
force.
The National Police, numbering more than 27,000, serve throughout
the country; there are no separate municipal forces. The Ministry of
the Interior and Police is responsible for making policy decisions
affecting the police force. The military is also charged with providing
internal security.
According to the National Commission on Human Rights, the military
and police collaborated with their Haitian counterparts at the border
to accept bribes from Haitians attempting to cross illegally. The
Institute of Human Dignity, a branch of the National Police which until
August was headed by new Police Chief General Manuel de Jesus Perez
Sanchez, monitors human rights abuses committed by members of the
National Police. The Institute held more than 100 courses, seminars,
and conferences, which were attended by more than 5,500 participants,
including members of the National Police, armed forces, and civilians.
Training for military and DNCD enlisted personnel and officers
included human rights courses. 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. Nearly 7,000 participants from the military and civil society
received training during the year.
Monitoring and sanctioning systems for abuses of human rights
remained ineffective.
Police officers were fired for violent attacks, extortion, drug
use, and trafficking. Significant problems of this nature remained, in
part, because of insufficient vetting of the backgrounds of police
recruits. It was alleged that many persons with prior criminal records
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,
had received inadequate training, and showed weak discipline, all
factors that directly contributed to unlawful or unwarranted killings
and to cruel or inhuman treatment (see Section 1.a.).
Police continued the practice of making frequent sweeps or roundups
in low-income, high-crime communities in which they arrested and
detained individuals arbitrarily, allegedly to fight delinquency.
During these sweeps, police arrested large numbers of residents and
seized property, including motorcycles, other vehicles, and weapons.
Following the indiscriminate arrests, police regularly detained
individuals for 20 days or more while they looked for a reason to
charge them. Police stated that they relied upon unlawful detention
without presentation to a court because some cases involved more
complicated investigations. However, there was a clear pattern of
police arrests of individuals before undertaking adequate
investigation, and reliance on confessions obtained under questionable
circumstances to make the cases (see Section 1.c.). Prosecutors
generally did not actively investigate cases; they often depended on
police reports, many of which were based on forced confessions.
A related problem was the police practice of arresting and
detaining individuals solely because of a familial or marital
relationship to a suspect. A suspect's parents, siblings, or spouse
particularly were vulnerable to this practice, the goal of which was to
compel an at-large suspect to surrender or to coerce a confession from
one already arrested. The National Commission on Human Rights reported
100 such cases as of August; however, it reported no additional cases
after the appointment of General Perez Sanchez as police chief.
Local human rights observers reported roundups of Haitian and
Dominican-Haitian construction workers. Officials allegedly took groups
of darker-skinned or ``Haitian-looking'' individuals to empty buildings
soon after they were paid, in order to extort money from them.
Due to the historical 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. In
general, few defendants were granted bail, although bail became more
prevalent following the implementation of the new Criminal Procedures
Code, which requires judicial review of detentions at an earlier point
in a criminal case.
Most detainees and prisoners could not afford adequate defense
services. Several NGOs offered limited free legal services. The
National Office of Judicial Defense, with foreign donor support,
provided legal advice and representation to indigent persons. As of
October, 22 lawyers had completed the Office's training program, and 21
were in training. These lawyers were the only full-time public
defenders in the country and served only Santo Domingo, Santiago, and
some smaller areas. The Supreme Court paid the public defenders'
salaries without additional funding from the Government. The Supreme
Court also paid 100 part-time defense lawyers across the country to
provide legal services to indigent defendants. These lawyers did not
provide the same level of service, often neglecting to communicate with
defendants prior to scheduled court appearances; however, in July, they
were incorporated into the National Office of Judicial Defense that
holds them to the same performance requirements as other public
defenders.
Many suspects endured long pretrial detention. According to several
reports, 70 percent of the inmates nationwide were held without being
charged or while awaiting trial. The average pretrial detention
throughout the country was more than 6 months. Time served in pretrial
detention counted toward a sentence. In an estimated 75 percent of all
cases, the suspects were detained without action until the statute of
limitations expired, leaving no action for the courts to take. Only 10
percent of those charged with a crime were actually convicted. The
remainder were acquitted or released without judgment.
Detainees at police headquarters in Santo Domingo reported that
they were held for 15 to 21 days. Juveniles held 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.
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. The authorities held some inmates even
though there were no formal charges against them.
A large backlog of criminal cases remained in the National District
and throughout the country. There were more than 300,000 cases pending
as of September 27, when the new Criminal Procedures Code took effect,
although many of these cases had exceeded the statutory limitation and
may be removed from the system (see Section 1.e.). The Supreme Court's
plans to unclog the court dockets proceeded slowly due to budget
constraints. Dockets were crowded with traffic infractions that, by
statute, should have been heard in traffic courts; these courts had not
been established, due to a lack of funds. Other complications in
clearing the backlog arose from the lack of funds for transporting
inmates to court. Many cases were rescheduled when the accused or key
witnesses did not appear. In some instances, a defendant would appear
before the judge on the scheduled trial date, but the trial would not
go forward due to the absence of one or more co-defendants. The
decision of the trial judge to decline to try co-defendant cases
separately prejudiced defendants who complied with the law.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, public and private entities persisted
in attempts to undermine judicial independence. The judiciary received
training to improve its ability to resist outside interference, but
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 has established 17
of the 25 tribunals provided for by law and 5 courts of appeals for
children and adolescents. The 2003 Code for Minors outlines the
judicial system for criminal cases involving juveniles and family
disputes.
Until recently, military and police tribunals enjoyed exclusive
jurisdiction over cases involving members of the security forces;
however, some cases of killings allegedly committed during the year by
members of the security forces were remanded to civilian criminal
courts (see Section 1.a.). The judiciary was slow to adjudicate these
cases. As of October, four such cases had been referred to civilian
courts.
Prior to September 27, the judicial system was based primarily on
the Napoleonic Code. Judges, rather than juries, rendered all verdicts.
During the investigative phase, following the arrest, suspects were
questioned repeatedly and urged to confess. The law established the
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
not to be a witness against oneself; and the right to a defense in an
impartial and public trial. The authorities commonly violated these
rights.
Under the pre-September 27 system, the most serious and common
violations of the rights of the accused occurred when police detained
suspects, sometimes for many days, without allowing them to contact
family members, while subjecting them to frequent questioning (see
Section 1.d.). Although entitled to have an attorney present, police
often did not permit accused persons to contact legal counsel. If an
attorney was engaged, a police officer might not permit him or her to
be present during questioning. Torture frequently was used to coerce a
confession during questioning (see Section 1.c.). The results of these
interrogations often constituted the only evidence presented at the
trial.
In September, a new Criminal Procedures Code replaced the old
system. The Code supports an accusatory system intended to accelerate
the processing of criminal cases. The Code also can be interpreted as
providing that any crime may be tried in civilian court; this would
imply that military or police tribunals should be used only for
disciplinary actions. The changes under the new Code include: The
requirement that police and prosecutors read defendants their rights
upon arrest; the creation of an alternative dispute resolution
mechanism to deal with certain crimes; the requirement that judges
issue public oral dispositions on petitions for bail and in cases in
which the maximum penalty is less than 3 years of incarceration; and
the physical relocation of the defendant and defense counsel within the
courtroom so that they are adjacent to the prosecutor and in front of
the judge. The Attorney General's office and the judiciary also
instituted ``on-call'' judges to provide 24-hour support to police who
require immediate attention in the issuance of arrest warrants.
Citizens have recourse to the remedy of ``amparo,'' an action to
seek redress of any violation of a constitutional right, including
violations by judicial officials.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution contains provisions against arbitrary
entrance into one's home except when police are in hot pursuit of a
suspect or when a suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime.
All other entrances require a judge to issue an arrest or search
warrant; however, the police conducted illegal searches and seizures.
The Dominican Human Rights Committee reported that police carried out
raids on private homes in many poor Santo Domingo neighborhoods.
Additionally, police continued to detain relatives and friends of
suspects to pressure suspects to surrender or to confess, although the
frequency of such incidents decreased significantly in the last quarter
of the year.
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 continued
interference. There was an active but 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 and did not restrict academic freedom; however, there were
instances of official intolerance of the media. Individuals or groups
generally were able to criticize the government publicly and privately
without reprisal.
Newspapers and magazines presented a diversity of opinion and
criticism. There were eight daily newspapers, a number of weekly
newspapers, and several online news outlets. Editors at times practiced
self-censorship, particularly when coverage could adversely affect the
economic or political interests of media owners.
There were many privately owned radio and television stations,
broadcasting a wide spectrum of political views. The Government
controlled one television station. The international media was allowed
to operate freely.
There was continued criticism of the 2003 judicial takeover of the
newspaper, radio, and television outlets owned by defunct bank
Baninter. Ramon Baez Figueroa, majority shareholder of Baninter, was
the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation for fraud and money
laundering. After the judicial takeover, all editors of the outlets
resigned and were replaced by government-appointed personnel. In
September, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling to return the
media outlets to the Baez family pending the outcome of a determination
on the merits of the asset seizure case.
The Government was criticized for firing popular reporters after
taking control of the Baninter media. A popular program on one of the
government-run radio stations was shut down in January, reportedly on
the orders of the Government. A television reporter was suspended
because his father, also a news personality, had appeared in a
commercial for the opposition PLD party.
There were several reports of harassment of journalists. In
February, authorities threatened reporters in Dajabon with detention
and arrest after they criticized the government's plan to provide
thousands of motorcycle taxi drivers with free or nearly free vehicles
in advance of the elections.
In September, journalist Juan Andujar was killed and a colleague
injured by gang members in Azua following a gun battle between the gang
members and police. Andujar and other journalists were targeted by the
gang, who reportedly believed that the journalists had instigated the
police action by publicly denouncing cooperation between the gang and
local police officials. In several shootouts, police killed five
persons who were suspected of involvement in the Andujar killing.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association; however, the
Government at times restricted these rights. Outdoor public marches and
meetings require permits, which the Government usually granted. Police
officers used force to break up demonstrations on several occasions
during the year, sometimes causing deaths and injuries. In January, at
least 6 persons were killed and more than 150 injured while protesting
during a national work stoppage. More than 250 protesters were
arrested.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Constitution 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 signed with the
Government in 1954. For example, the Cardinal has the rank of a
military general officer, and there is a Catholic church at the
Presidential Palace. The Catholic Church also received public funding
to cover some church expenses such as rehabilitation of church
facilities. A complete waiver of customs duties on imports was extended
to all religious denominations.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
travel, and the Government generally respected these provisions in
practice; however, there were some exceptions. For example, human
rights groups alleged that many Haitians were not allowed to leave the
sugarcane plantations where they worked (see Section 6.e.). Local and
international human rights groups cited discrimination against Haitian
migrants, who were subject to arbitrary and unilateral action by the
authorities.
Haitians continued to immigrate in great numbers to the country in
search of economic opportunity, and many of them were repatriated. In
some cases, the Government denied expellees the opportunity to
demonstrate that they were legal residents or to make arrangements for
their families or property.
The Constitution provides that anyone born in the country is a
citizen, except those in transit or children born to diplomats;
however, NGOs reported that children born of Haitian parents in the
country often were denied registration as citizens under the transit
exception, even if their parents resided in the country (see Section
5). It was estimated that more than 20 percent of Dominicans did not
have a birth certificate or other identity document.
While the Government had a policy of strictly enforcing documentary
requirements and repatriating those found lacking documents, it had a
more tolerant unofficial policy fueled by the reality of dependence on
Haitian labor for certain agricultural and construction work. An
individual stopped as a suspected illegal Haitian migrant might be
allowed to remain in the country despite lack of documentation, either
through bribery or if an account of employment satisfied the official.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports of its
use.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees or 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 had 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 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to improve receipt and adjudication of refugee claims. To help
the Government in this regard, in July 2003, the UNHCR strengthened its
protection activities in the country by re-establishing its presence in
Santo Domingo.
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
Commission, with responsibility for the final decision on the
application, 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.
As of October, the Migration Directorate reported 212 applications
awaiting decision, nearly all by Haitians. Some of these cases have
been pending since 2000, when the UNHCR temporarily stopped processing
cases. According to the UNHCR, there were as many as 600 recognized
refugees in the country, most of whom lacked sufficient documentation
to allow them to work legally and access other rights.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The President and the members of the Senate and the
Chamber of Deputies are elected freely by secret ballot in alternating
4-year cycles. The Central Electoral Board conducts all elections. The
Constitution was amended in 2002 to permit the president to be
reelected once.
In May, PLD candidate Leonel Fernandez won the presidency in an
election described as generally free and fair by the Organization of
American States (OAS), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), as well as by
the government electoral board and domestic NGOs. President Fernandez
took office in August.
There is universal adult suffrage for documented citizens, except
that active duty police and military personnel may not vote or
participate in partisan political activity. During the year, several
senior military officers publicly expressed their support for President
Mejia's reelection and were accused of illegal partisan activities, but
no legal action was taken against them.
The nation had a functioning multiparty system.
There were reports of, and a widespread perception of, corruption
in government. A number of investigations into corruption by government
officials were underway, including of former Attorney General Victor
Cespedes Martinez of the Mejia administration, who had ordered the
release of several drug traffickers on questionable grounds.
In July, Congress passed and the President promulgated a
comprehensive law providing public access to government information;
however, many of the requests remained pending. The law limits the
availability of public information only under specified circumstances
(such as to protect national security) and provides for a penalty of 6
months to 2 years in prison and a 5-year ban from positions of public
trust for government officials who obstruct access to public
information. A civilian court may review the decision of an agency to
deny access to information.
Women and minorities confronted no serious legal impediments to
political participation. By law, parties must reserve for women 33
percent of positions on their lists of candidates for city councils; in
practice, the parties often placed women so low on the lists as to make
their election difficult or impossible. A woman, Milagros Ortiz-Bosch
was Vice President and Minister of Education in the outgoing Mejia
administration. There were 2 women in the 32-member Senate and 24 women
in the 150-member Chamber of Deputies. There were 5 women on the 16-
seat Supreme Court and 3 in the PLD cabinet named in August.
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.
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.
In May, the OAS, NDI, and IFES monitored the presidential
elections, as did the local NGO Citizen Participation. The OAS mission
had full access to the electoral process (see Section 3).
A 2001 law created 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; however,
selection of an ombudsman remained pending at year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race and sex; however,
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.
Several newspaper articles alleged that society had become more
violent, and many government officials and NGOs publicly denounced the
problem. A local NGO estimated that between 10 and 15 women died
monthly from domestic abuse; however, many cases were unreported. Under
the Law Against Domestic Violence, the State can prosecute for rape,
incest, sexual aggression, and other forms of domestic violence.
Penalties for these crimes range from 1 year to 30 years in prison and
carry fines ranging from approximately $20 to $7,000 (500 to 200,000
pesos). The Secretariat of Women, as well as various NGOs, conducted
outreach programs on domestic violence and legal rights. The Non-
Violence Department of the Secretariat of Women received approximately
500 complaints of domestic violence cases during the year. A local NGO,
the Alliance for the Rights and Development of Women, which provided
services for victims of intrafamilial abuse, reported receiving more
than 3,000 calls to its abuse hotline. Female victims of abuse had few
resources, although the NGO Piedra Blanca opened 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.
According to the National Commission on Human Rights, 90 women were
killed in ``crimes of passion'' by their spouses or lovers, compared
with 140 such victims in 2003.
Rape was a serious and widely underreported problem. In 2002, the
last year for which official statistics were compiled, the Secretariat
of Women reported more than 3,300 complaints of sexual abuse. 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. The police were
reluctant to handle rape cases and often encouraged victims to seek
assistance from NGOs.
Prostitution is not prohibited by law, 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 grew
throughout the country as the number of international visitors
increased. Human rights groups reported increased prostitution in
sugarcane work camps. 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
considered a misdemeanor and carried a possible penalty of 1 year in
prison and a fine of up to $333 (10,000 pesos); however, the law was
not enforced and sexual harassment was a problem. The Dominican Labor
Foundation estimated that approximately 40 percent of female workers in
the free trade zones were victims of sexual harassment by supervisors
or coworkers and that women who resisted the unwanted advances of
supervisors were fired, threatened, or otherwise discriminated against.
Under the law, women enjoy the same legal status as men; however,
in practice, women experienced discrimination. Traditionally, women
have not enjoyed equal social and economic status or opportunity with
men, and men held the majority of leadership positions in all sectors.
In many instances, women were paid less than men in jobs of equal
content and equal skill level. Some employers reportedly gave pregnancy
tests to women before hiring them, as part of a required medical
examination. Union leaders and human rights advocates 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.
Active women's rights groups included Santiago-based NGO Nucleo de
la Mujer, the Collective for Women and Health, and Profamilia.
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, which was
implemented in October, recognizes the National Council for Children
and Adolescents (CONANI) as a noncabinet, decentralized public agency
to coordinate public policy to protect children's human rights and to
administer the Code. 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; however, this requirement was not met.
The General Education Law provides for a free, universal, and
compulsory education for all minors through the eighth grade, but legal
mechanisms provide only for primary schooling, which was interpreted as
through the fourth grade. The Ministry of Education reported a 97
percent enrollment rate in grades 1 through 8; however, a government
study also estimated that the average grade level achieved for children
in public schools was the fifth grade in rural areas and the sixth
grade in urban areas. Children of Haitian descent, and of undocumented
citizens experienced difficulties gaining acceptance to schooling due
to their lack of official status.
The Code for Minors empowers minors to denounce their parents or
guardians to the police in case of mistreatment. It also provides for
removal of a mistreated child to a protective environment.
Abuse of children, including physical, sexual, and psychological
abuse, was a serious problem. The Department of Family and Children
reported approximately 40 cases of abuse per month in Santo Domingo.
Few such cases reached the courts due to fear of family embarrassment,
lack of economic resources, or lack of knowledge regarding available
legal assistance. In 60 percent of the cases, the accused was a person
close to the child, such as a family member or close family friend. In
a highly publicized case in October, 7 individuals were accused of
sexually abusing at least 29 young children at a shelter in Higuey. At
year's end, all of the suspects were in detention awaiting trial.
According to local monitors, instances of child abuse were
underreported because of traditional beliefs that family problems
should be dealt with inside the family. The Code for Minors contains
strengthened provisions against the problem areas of child abuse,
including physical and emotional mistreatment, sexual exploitation, and
child labor (see Sections 5, Trafficking and 6.d.). The Code for Minors
provides for a penalty of between 2 and 5 years' incarceration and a
fine of 3 to 5 times the minimum wage for persons found guilty of abuse
of a minor. The penalty is doubled if the abuse is related to
trafficking.
Trafficking and sexual exploitation of children also was a problem,
particularly in popular tourist destinations (see Section 5,
Trafficking). Poor adolescent girls and boys sometimes were enticed
into performing sexual acts by the promise of food or clothing.
Child labor was a serious problem in the informal sector of the
economy (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The comprehensive Law Against Trafficking
in Persons and Alien Smuggling, enacted in August 2003, prohibits
trafficking of persons; however, trafficking in women and children
from, to, and within the country remained a serious problem.
Several laws may be applied to prosecute those who traffic in
persons. The new law against trafficking is the most comprehensive and
includes penalties for traffickers of 15 to 20 years' imprisonment and
a fine of 175 times the minimum wage. The Code for Minors penalizes
sexual abuse of children with 20 to 30 years' imprisonment and fines
from 100 to 150 times the minimum wage.
The Attorney General's anti-trafficking unit coordinated the
investigation and prosecution of all 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, composed of seven
governmental institutions, one professional association, two NGOs, and
a religious order. The Attorney General's office also created a unit
specifically to investigate electronic crimes, including sexual
exploitation of minors via the Internet. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs provided compulsory training at its Diplomatic and Consular
School on identifying the trafficking of citizens overseas and
assisting victims. The NGO Foundation for Institutionalism and Justice
conducted training for prosecutors and judges on how to implement the
new anti-trafficking law.
Government agencies that had a role in combating trafficking often
kept statistics only on illegal immigration, since they seldom
differentiated between trafficking and illegal immigration. Not all
illegal migrants were trafficked; many traveled willingly for economic
motives. NGOs such as the Center for Integral Orientation and
Investigation (COIN), and international organizations such as the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) formulated estimates
through interviews with individuals and through extrapolation. The IOM
estimated that 30,000 Dominicans were trafficked in 2003, of whom
approximately half were women trafficked for prostitution.
Women 18 to 25 years of age were at the highest risk of being
trafficked. Many victims were uneducated single mothers desperate to
improve the living conditions of their children. Principal destination
countries were in Europe and Latin America, and included Spain, Italy,
the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Greece, Panama,
Costa Rica, Argentina, and Australia.
Within the country, the prostitution of minors, primarily in the
tourist areas, was a serious problem. The press reported that up to
30,000 children and adolescents may be involved in the sex industry. An
official 2003 study estimated that 50 to 60 Haitian children were
trafficked into the country each week and that many Haitian girls age
12 and older were brought into the country to work as prostitutes.
In June, a raid in Boca Chica resulted in the rescue of 24
children, 1 of them only 7 years old, who were being sexually
exploited. The raid, which was based on a complaint filed by the NGO
International Justice Mission, resulted in five arrests. At year's end,
the case was in the Court of Instruction.
In October, police in Santiago closed down a child pornography ring
that posted explicit photos of young children on the Internet. Police
also closed down bars in Santiago and Montecristi that were being used
for child prostitution.
NGOs estimated that there were hundreds of alien smuggling and
trafficking rings operating within the country. According to COIN and
the IOM, trafficking organizations were typically small groups.
Individuals in the country recruited the persons to be trafficked and
obtained identification and travel documents. Traffickers were
frequently introduced to women through friends and family; they
promised some form of employment, obtained false or legitimate
documents for the women, and often retained their passport once in the
destination country. Trafficking organizations reportedly received
$5,000 to $8,000 (150,000 pesos to 240,000 pesos) for trafficking a
woman or child for purposes of prostitution.
Some elements within the tourist industry facilitated the sexual
exploitation of children. Particular problem areas were Boca Chica,
Puerto Plata, and Sosua. Foreigners overseas marketed tours by
suggesting that boys and girls could be found as sex partners.
In September, the Supreme Court resumed proceedings in the trial of
Congressman Guillermo Radhames Ramos Garcia (formerly a consul in Cap
Haitien, Haiti) on charges of alien smuggling. Because of Ramos
Garcia's status as a Congressman, the case was assigned directly to the
Supreme Court.
The Government provided limited assistance to trafficking victims
by 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. The Government continued specialized training for consular
officials posted in Europe on how to provide assistance to trafficked
persons. 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 Government made efforts to investigate, fire, and prosecute
when appropriate public officials who facilitated, condoned, or were
complicit in trafficking activities or migrant smuggling. 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 to work on sugar
plantations and construction sites (see Sections 2.d. and 6.c.). There
were also elements within the Office of Migration and the national
police that organized or facilitated the smuggling of aliens, including
Cubans and Asians, through the international airports. For example, in
September, two migration inspectors, a police captain, and an army
sergeant were fired for helping two undocumented Dominicans board a
flight to the United States. The matter was referred to civilian
authorities.
The Department of Family and Children was concerned about
kidnappings, especially of infants, for sale to foreigners who
deliberately sidestepped legal formalities, including those of their
own countries. The Government sought to protect children from being
victimized by such tactics by making adoptions by foreigners more
difficult.
COIN 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 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 various issues, including citizenship,
legal work requirements, dangers of trafficking, forced prostitution,
and domestic servitude. With IOM support, COIN also provided a minimal
level of clinical services and adult education classes for returned
women.
Persons With Disabilities.--Persons with disabilities encountered
discrimination in employment and in the provision of other services.
The law provides for physical access for persons with disabilities to
all new public and private buildings; however, the authorities did not
enforce this law uniformly. Some business owners voluntarily provided
access to buildings for persons with disabilities. The Dominican
Association for Rehabilitation, which has 17 branches around the
country, receives a subsidy from the Ministry of Public Health to
provide rehabilitation assistance to persons with disabilities. Little
effort was made to design public works so as to accommodate persons
with disabilities. For example, a new pedestrian bridge built over a
major intersection in Santo Domingo did not have any access except by
stairs.
Discrimination against persons with mental illness was common, and
there were few resources dedicated to the mentally ill.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were strong prejudices
against Haitians, which disadvantaged many Haitians and Dominicans of
Haitian ancestry, as well as other foreigners of dark complexion (see
Sections 1.d. and 2.d.). The Government rarely acknowledged the
existence of this discrimination.
Efforts by the authorities to stem the influx of illegal Haitian
immigrants made life more difficult for those Haitians already in the
country legally. Police regulations permit the confiscation of vehicles
offering transportation to illegal immigrants, thereby 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 legal Haitian residents (see
Section 1.d.).
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,'' which were harsh
environments with limited or no electricity, usually no running water,
and no adequate schooling. Human rights NGOs, the Catholic Church, and
activists described Haitian living conditions in bateyes as modern-day
slavery. In most bateyes, 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 10 feet square. Bathroom facilities, where they
existed at all, were generally unhygienic, and cooking facilities were
usually improvised. The availability of fresh food, including fruits
and vegetables, was severely limited. Clean water was often
unavailable.
Some individuals estimated that as many as 1 million Haitians lived
in the country, but several Haitian rights NGOs were concerned that
this estimate included Haitians born in Haiti with their offspring born
in the Dominican Republic. The Government refused to recognize and
document as citizens many individuals of Haitian ancestry born in the
country (see Section 2.d.). Since many Haitian parents never possessed
documentation for their own births, they were unable to demonstrate
their own citizenship or that of their children.
Lack of documentation sometimes deprived children of Haitian
descent of the opportunity to attend school, even where there was one
available. When permitted to attend primary school, the children of
Haitian parents rarely progressed beyond the sixth grade. A legal
ordinance allows undocumented children to attend school through the
fifth grade; however, some school administrators denied access to
school to undocumented children, particularly Haitians. The Central
Electoral Board agreed to facilitate acquisition of birth certificates
by parents who could produce identity cards so that all children might
have birth certificates to enroll in school; however, this did not help
children whose parents had no documentation or had only Haitian
identification papers. NGOs reported that undocumented Haitian children
were prevented from enrolling in school to a greater degree than were
similarly undocumented Dominican children.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons With HIV/AIDS,
particularly women, faced discrimination in the workplace and
elsewhere. An estimated 50 to 100 thousand people in the country were
infected with the disease. According to Human Rights Watch, workers in
many industries faced involuntary 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
healthcare. The law prohibits the use of HIV testing to screen
employees or for medical services unrelated to the disease; however,
the law rarely was enforced.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution 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 Labor Code calls for automatic recognition of a union if the
Government has not acted on its application within 30 days.
The law forbids companies to fire union organizers or members;
however, it was enforced inconsistently, and penalties were
insufficient to deter employers from violating worker rights. There
were additional reports of 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) continued to report anti-union activity at the FM
company in Santiago, 1 of 22 production facilities belonging to apparel
manufacturing firm Grupo M, the largest private sector employer in the
country. The 2003 case alleging that an FM supervisor beat an employee
for attending labor union organizing meetings remained pending before a
labor court in Santiago.
A court in Santiago fined the FTZ company Ramsa approximately $660
(19,700 pesos) for violating Labor Code protections when, in 2002, it
fired approximately 140 employees seeking a collective bargaining
agreement. Ramsa also was found guilty of violating laws regarding
maternity rights but appealed that sentence.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining is legal and must take place 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 Labor Code establishes a system of labor courts for dealing
with disputes. While cases did make their way through the labor courts,
enforcement of judgments was sometimes unreliable.
The Constitution provides for the right of workers to strike (and
for private sector employers to lock out workers). 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 but occasionally did. Brief
work stoppages and unofficial strikes were more common.
A few labor unions represented a small number of Haitian workers,
who are covered by the Labor Code regardless of legal status. Some NGOs
reported that the majority of Haitian laborers in the sugar and
construction industries did not exercise their rights under the Labor
Code, fearing deportation or job loss.
The Labor Code applies in the 40 established FTZs, which employed
approximately 190,000 workers. According to the National Council of
Labor Unions, only four of the unions that had achieved collective
bargaining agreements in the FTZs were active. 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 jobs for those who refused (see Section 6.c.).
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 (see Section 6.a.). FEDOTRAZONAS
estimated that less than 10 percent of the workers in the FTZs were
unionized. Employer resistance to union organization, especially in the
FTZs, increased in response to growing competitive pressure from firms
in Central American countries and China.
Many of the major manufacturers in the FTZs had voluntary codes of
conduct that included worker rights protection clauses that were
generally aligned with the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work. Workers were not always aware of such codes or the
principles they contained.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). Some young
children, particularly Haitians, were ``adopted'' by families and
worked under a kind of indentured servitude (see Section 6.d.). There
were also reports that workers in sugarcane plantations were prevented
from leaving during the harvest (see Section 6.e).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Labor Code and the new Code for Minors prohibit employment of children
less than 14 years of age and place restrictions on the employment of
children under the age of 16; however, child labor was a serious
problem. The ILO estimated that 18 percent of children between the ages
of 15 and 17 engaged in some sort of work. Regulations applying to
children between the ages of 14 and 16 limited the number of hours
worked daily to 6, prohibited employment in dangerous occupations or in
establishments serving alcohol, and limited nighttime work. Fines and
legal sanctions may be applied to firms employing underage children.
The high level of overall unemployment and the lack of a social
safety net created pressures on families to allow or encourage children
to earn supplemental income. Tens of thousands of children began
working before the age of 14. Child labor took place primarily in the
informal economy, small businesses, clandestine factories, sugarcane
fields, and for purposes of prostitution. Conditions in clandestine
factories were generally poor, unsanitary, and often dangerous. There
was evidence that poor Haitian and Dominican adolescents accompanied
their parents to work in the cane fields, with the tacit approval of
sugar companies. Children 12 years old and younger also worked planting
sugarcane, earning as little as $1 (30 pesos) for a full day of labor.
Some poor Haitian families arranged for Dominican families to
``adopt'' and employ their children, in hopes of assuring a more
promising future for them. The adopting parents usually registered 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 did not treat the adopted children as full family members and
expected them to work in the households or family businesses rather
than to attend school. This resulted in a kind of indentured servitude
for children and adolescents.
The Ministry of Labor, in collaboration with the ILO's Program for
the Eradication of Child Labor and other international labor rights
organizations, continued programs to combat child labor. These included
programs to eliminate child labor in the tomato-producing Province of
Azua, the coffee-growing Province of San Jose de Ocoa, and the
agricultural province of Constanza, and a program to combat the
commercial sexual exploitation of minors in popular tourist
destinations. The Ministries of Labor and Education continued to
support the Combating Child Labor through Education Program, which
established several camps that hosted more than 1,000 children and
adolescents. An ILO and Ministry of Labor program in Boca Chica against
the commercial sexual exploitation of minors provided psychological
support and medical assistance, returned children to classrooms, and
reunified children with their families and communities whenever
possible. The program also provided legal assistance to child victims
in order to arrest and convict exploiters. The Ministry of Education
earmarked approximately $17 (500 pesos) monthly to the poorest families
to keep their children in school and away from work. The Armed Forces
sponsored a program to rescue, supervise, and rehabilitate victims of
child labor or those at risk and operated several walk-in programs and
a permanent ``village'' that provided room, board, and educational
activities.
There were no confirmed reports of forced child labor in the formal
sector.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Constitution empowers the
executive branch to set minimum wage levels for public workers, and the
Labor Code assigns this task to the National Salary Committee 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 $119 (3,561 pesos) in the FTZs
and $164 (4,920 pesos) outside the FTZs. The minimum wage for the
public sector was approximately $64 (1,906 pesos) per month. The
minimum wage for farm workers who are covered by the minimum wage
regulations was approximately $0.43 an hour (13 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 Labor Code establishes a standard work period of 8 hours per
day and 44 hours per week. The Code stipulates that all workers are
entitled to 36 hours of uninterrupted rest each week. In practice, a
typical workweek was Monday through Friday plus a half day on Saturday,
but longer hours were common. The Code grants workers a 35 percent
premium for work totaling between 44 hours to 68 hours per week and
double time for any hours above 68 hours per week. Overtime was
mandatory at some firms in the FTZs.
The law prohibits the imposition of HIV tests to work; however,
many companies routinely tested workers or applicants for HIV as a
condition of employment and fired or failed to hire them on that basis
(see Section 5).
Conditions for agricultural workers were poor, particularly in the
sugar industry. Most sugarcane worker villages lacked schools, medical
facilities, running water, and sewage systems, and had high rates of
disease. Company-provided housing was usually sub-standard (see Section
5). Approximately 83 percent of sugarcane workers were Haitian or of
Haitian descent.
On sugar plantations, cane cutters usually were paid by the weight
of cane cut rather than the hours worked. Employers sometimes did not
provide trucks or carts to transport the newly cut cane at the
conclusion of the workday, causing workers to receive lower
compensation because the cane dried and then weighed less. The amount
of cane a worker could cut varied, but many cane cutters earned less
than $3 (75 pesos) per day, and some reported earning as little as
approximately $1.50 (40 pesos) per day. Workers were paid every 2 weeks
with tickets that were exchangeable for cash only in centers that often
were far away. Because workers earned so little and sometimes could not
wait to redeem their tickets, an informal barter system evolved in
which the tickets were used to purchase items at private stores located
on the plantations. These private stores made change by giving back a
combination of tickets and cash, but the stores often retained 10
percent of the cash due a customer as a ``service charge.''
In various sugarcane industry shantytowns, field guards reportedly
kept workers' clothes and documents to prevent them from leaving until
the end of the harvest. Employers also withheld wages to keep workers
in the fields. Sugarcane workers were paid less, worked longer hours,
and had fewer benefits than workers in other industries. One monitor in
a batey reported that laborers worked 14-16 hours per day--a violation
of the Labor Code. Many older sugarcane workers, who had lived in
sugarcane shantytowns for 50 years and longer, had not received
pensions for which deductions had been taken from their pay. Several
NGOs asserted that the privatization of the sugarcane industry was the
reason the Government did not enforce protection laws for cane cutters'
rights.
The San Pedro de Macoris Diocese, which had developed a proposed
model work contract and had submitted it to the Vicini Consortium and
other companies in 2001, continued to promote Haitian worker rights in
the bateyes and to seek a work contract for Haitian workers. The Vicini
Consortium undertook some initiatives to improve the living conditions
of sugarcane workers; for example, they demolished a number of barracks
that had provided unfit living space and replaced them with more modern
structures.
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 220 active inspectors. Inspector positions
customarily were filled through political patronage, and inspectors
often took bribes from businesses. The Labor Code requires that
employers provide a safe working environment; however, in practice,
workers could not remove themselves from hazardous working situations
without losing their jobs.
__________
ECUADOR
Ecuador is a constitutional republic with a unicameral legislature
that was chosen in free and fair elections in October 2002. The
National Congress is composed of 4 major parties, 5 minor parties, and
13 coalitions and independents spanning the spectrum from center right
to extreme left. In November 2002, voters elected Lucio Gutierrez
President, and he assumed office on January 15, 2003. The judiciary is
constitutionally independent but, in practice, was inefficient and
susceptible to outside pressure.
The Ministry of Government is in charge of the National Police,
which is responsible for domestic law enforcement and maintenance of
internal order. The military supplemented the police, in some cases
forming joint street patrols as an anti-crime measure. Some members of
the security forces committed serious human rights abuses. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, although the military continued to receive independent revenues
generated from civil aviation, shipping, and other commercial sectors.
The economy is based on private enterprise, although there
continued to be significant government involvement in key sectors such
as petroleum, utilities, and aviation. The country's population was
estimated at 12.8 million. The principal exports were oil, bananas,
shrimp, and cut flowers, which, together with emigrant remittances and
tourism, were the country's leading sources of foreign income, and the
country employs the U.S. dollar as currency. Most citizens were
employed in the urban informal sector or as rural agricultural workers;
rural poverty was extensive, underemployment was high, and there was
severe maldistribution of income. The annual real economic growth rate
was 2.7 percent, and inflation was 1.9 percent.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. There
were credible reports that security forces committed killings using
excessive force. Members of the security forces faced prosecution and
prison sentences for some violations. Police tortured and otherwise
mistreated prisoners and detainees. Prison conditions remained poor.
Persons were subject to arbitrary arrest, and prolonged detention was a
problem. Once incarcerated, persons without lawyers may wait up to a
year before being tried or released. The judiciary was susceptible to
outside pressure and corruption, and authorities often did not observe
due process rights for criminal defendants. More than 70 percent of the
detainees in jail had not been sentenced formally. The Government
prosecuted a few human rights abusers; however, in most cases there was
no prosecution or punishment. There was some self censorship in the
media. Violence and pervasive discrimination against women, indigenous
people, and Afro-Ecuadorians remained problems. Trafficking in persons,
sexual exploitation of minors, and child labor were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, there continued to be credible reports that security forces
used excessive force and committed killings. During the year, the
Ecumenical Committee for Human Rights (CEDHU) reported 21 killings by
security forces using unwarranted force.
In February, military security forces shot and killed a protester
at a demonstration (see Sections 2.b. and 5).
On March 7, while investigating a domestic dispute, a policeman
killed Luis Alfonso Ortiz Rodriguez. The policeman was imprisoned
pending an investigation to determine whether the killing was
accidental, and there was no further information at year's end.
On July 19, Erik Fabricio Lopez Yanez was shot and killed. The
victim's relatives claimed that an intoxicated off-duty policeman fired
several gunshots from his apartment at a group of local youths. The
policeman and his brother were jailed pending the outcome of the
investigation, and no further information was available at year's end.
In the November 2003 case in which police shot and killed eight
people in a drugstore in Guayaquil, a police court absolved all
officers involved except police sergeant Sergio Gaybor. On December 7,
the judge called for a hearing in a criminal court for Gaybor, who was
charged with disappearance (see Section 1.b).
In February, Maria Doraliza Lalbay died of a gunshot injury
sustained during a demonstration and confrontation with the military.
In December, a military court decided not to charge Major Jaime Serpa
on the grounds that he acted in a situation where the victim disrupted
public order.
On May 31, a provincial superior court in Los Rios Province
acquitted 12 members of the military charged in the June 2003 killing
of Julio Cesar Habil and the alleged torture of 3 of Habil's
companions.
In March, a police court ruled on an appeal in the 2002 killings of
David Delgado and Carlos Luna and found the policemen guilty. However,
the policemen were released from prison when the appeal process began,
and they were not detained again to serve their sentence.
There were no developments and none were expected in the case of
the 2002 killings of Damian Pena and Luis Pachacama, during
demonstrations.
The case of the 2002 killing of Marcelo Zambrano remained in the
court system. Six policemen were charged and imprisoned; their trial
has not begun pending a decision on their appeal of the call for a
trial. Another 11 policemen were not charged, a decision that
Zambrano's family appealed. Both appeals remained pending at year's
end.
There were no known developments in the case of Fausto Bosquez, the
policeman who escaped custody while being tried for the 2002 killing of
Congressman Eduardo Vasconez or in the case against a policeman charged
with the 2002 killing of Klever Abad.
A Supreme Court decision on the appeal of the conviction of four
policemen for the 2001 killing of Elias Elint Lopez Pita and of the
conviction of three policemen for the related killing of Luis Alberto
Shinin Lazo remained pending at year's end. On February 4, the Attorney
General recommended that the court find the policemen guilty.
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, Amnesty International (AI) reported that incidents of
mob violence had decreased. There were no known arrests or developments
and none were expected in the cases against those involved in lynching
deaths in 2002.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Three persons allegedly disappeared while in police custody (see
Section 1.b.). In November 2003, three men, Jhonny Gomez, Cesar Mata,
and Edwin Vivar, disappeared after being detained by police during a
drugstore robbery in Guayaquil. Although police denied holding the men,
newspaper photographs showed a policeman and a former policeman leading
a man away from the scene with his face covered. In April and May, the
widows of the three and a local journalist were threatened. A police
court acquitted all but one of the 21 suspects.
Criminal kidnapping for profit continued to be a problem throughout
the country. There were also reports of extortion and threats of
kidnapping of ranchers, farmers, and businessmen along the northern
border with Colombia. Through November, police registered 11
kidnappings; however, there were no reliable estimates of the total
number of such extortions or kidnappings often attributed to Colombian
armed gangs--since many victims did not report the crimes for fear of
retribution.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and similar forms of
intimidation and punishment; however, some police continued to torture
and abuse suspects and prisoners, often with impunity.
CEDHU published detailed accounts of suspects who reported being
tortured by specific police officers or members of the military. During
the year, CEDHU registered 48 alleged cases of torture involving 24
victims. In most cases, the security forces appeared to have abused
such persons during investigations of ordinary street crime or because
of a personal grudge. The victims reported that the security forces
beat them, submerged them in cold water, applied electric shocks, or
threatened them. In some cases, the victims' bodies had bruises, which
they claimed resulted from torture.
On June 22, members of the military allegedly tortured Carlos Brito
Cortez, who claimed that a wet pillowcase filled with tear gas was held
over his head and that he was given electric shocks because he stole
medical equipment from the military hospital. He reported the crime to
the Attorney General who did not open an investigation.
There were no new developments and none were expected in the case
of Rodrigo Ron, who died in prison in 2002 and whose body showed
evidence of a beating or in the investigation of four policemen for the
torture of five persons in the city of Cuenca in 2002.
The Popular Combatants Group (GCP) and the Peoples' Revolutionary
Militia continued to detonate small pamphlet bombs, principally in the
major cities. The GCP claimed responsibility for 15 pamphlet bombs that
were detonated in June during the General Assembly of the Organization
of American States (OAS). There were no reported injuries.
Conditions in prisons and detention centers generally were poor and
tended to be worse in the tropical coastal areas than in the temperate
highlands. Overcrowding was a chronic problem in most facilities.
According to the National Social Rehabilitation Board (NSRB), during
the year there were 10,203 prisoners nationwide in facilities built to
hold 6,800. A number of prisons experienced serious outbreaks of
disease, and medical care often was inadequate. The daily amount
allocated for prison rations was $0.75 per inmate.
There were no known developments, and none were expected, in the
prosecutor's investigation of an April 2003 case of a man who was
sexually abused by other prisoners.
As was the case last year, inmates in a number of prisons protested
a change in the detention law, the length of their sentences, and
prison conditions. In January, prisoners in Quito's Men's Social
Rehabilitation Center and in the Quito and Guayaquil women's prisons
temporarily blocked the departure of visitors to protest the detention
law. In February, for the same reason, prisoners at Penal Garcia Moreno
in Quito took control of the prison and held more than 400 visitors
hostage. In April, there were also protests regarding poor prison
conditions at Quito's women's prison, Penal Garcia Moreno, and Carcel
3.
In March, prison employees at the Litoral Prison went on strike to
demand payment of back wages.
The NSRB reported that 58 prisoners died during the year, compared
with 26 in 2003. Half of the deaths resulted from illness, and one-
third were attributed killings by other prisoners.
Women prisoners, who constituted 8 percent of the prison
population, were held separately from men, and conditions were notably
better in the women's prison in Quito than in other facilities.
Children of female inmates often lived in prison with their mothers.
There also were separate facilities for juveniles. Pretrial detainees
were not held separately from convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers in most instances; however, in some cases, human rights
observers were not permitted to visit prisoners who had been placed in
isolated cells after they allegedly had been beaten.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the authorities at times
violated these prohibitions in practice.
The National Police are under the authority of the Ministry of
Government. The effectiveness of the National Police was uneven, in
part, due to its insufficient training, supervision, and resources.
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 metropolitan police occasionally
used excessive force. Police corruption was sometimes a problem. The
director of the National Police was under investigation for allegedly
facilitating alien smuggling.
The National Police contracted with NGOs to provide human rights
training. A 2003 AI report criticized the use of the police court
system in cases involving possible human rights violations by police.
AI argued that the design of the police court system and the
appointment of active and retired police officials as judges prevented
the courts from acting impartially and independently and resulted in
impunity for police officers who commit human rights violations. In
November, AI issued a follow-up report, which concluded that there had
been ``no significant progress'' on cases of serious human rights
violations documented in 2003 and that there had been no apparent
efforts to address the impunity issues identified in 2003.
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 48 hours of arrest. All
detained persons may challenge the legality of their detention by
petition within 48 hours of their arrest, but, in practice, few such
petitions were brought forward. The senior elected official (usually
the mayor) of the locality in which the suspect is held reviews any
such petitions. In February, two policemen, Maximo Bustamente Santana
and Jose Quintanilla Estrada, were held on charges of arresting three
people in November 2003 without arrest orders. They were held for 2
days before paying a $4 pre-sentencing release fine.
Regardless of the legality of a detention, 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 before being released. Bail
generally was not available, and the law prohibits it in cases of
narcotics and major offenses (offenses that ``affect or put at risk''
the public, punishable by 3 to 35 years' imprisonment).
NGOs reported that the Government did not have an established
practice to enforce the law's provision that criminal detainees are
entitled to prompt access to lawyers and family members. Delays varied
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, those 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 Criminal Procedures Code
limits immediate detention to 24 hours for suspicion of committing a
crime and establishes investigative detention of up to 6 months for
minor offenses and 12 months for major offenses. However, the law
permits prisoners to be held for an indefinite period after their trial
has begun or indictments have been issued but before they have been
convicted or sentenced. More than 70 percent of the detainees in jail
had not been sentenced formally.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice, the judiciary was
susceptible to outside pressure and corruption.
The judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court, superior circuit
courts, other courts and tribunals that hear cases in accordance with
the Constitution and other laws, and the Judicature 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 supervised the selection by open
competition of all appellate judges.
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. The police court often did not pursue cases or announce
verdicts and punishments, reinforcing the strong impression that police
were immune from prosecution. The Constitution places both police and
military justice under the regular judicial system; however, the
systems were not yet integrated, although weak efforts to do so
continued.
On December 8, a majority in Congress voted to replace 27 of the 31
Supreme Court justices, claiming they should have been replaced in
January 2003 according to the new Constitution. Critics charged
Congress with overstepping its constitutional authority. The outgoing
justices appealed their dismissal to the Inter-American Court on Human
Rights.
Despite continuing 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. In July, the
Government began a corruption investigation of Supreme Court Justice
Olmedo Bermeo, who had allegedly acquired more than $1 million worth of
property since being appointed to the court. He fled to Colombia but
was returned to the country to face charges; at year's end, he was free
on bail pending a judgment. In October, prosecutors initiated
investigations into allegations that two other Supreme Court justices
had not properly declared all of their assets.
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.).
The law provides due process rights for criminal defendants, but
the authorities, including the Chief Prosecutor's office, often did not
observe these rights in practice. The Chief Prosecutor's office
investigates and prosecutes crimes. Prosecutors have wide discretion in
deciding which cases proceed. The National Police conducted
investigations under the direction of the judicial police. There were
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, there were only 30 attorneys
available to defend the large number of impoverished suspects.
Investigation of crimes is supposed to begin within 90 days of the
initial arrest of a suspect. The investigation phase can take up to 2
years before the initiation of a trial. The majority of the accused
remained in prison during the investigation phase. Nearly half of all
incarcerated persons had not been tried and sentenced. Accused
narcotics traffickers and suspects in major crimes cannot obtain bail
or be released on their own recognizance.
The Constitution explicitly recognizes the indigenous communities'
right to exercise their own system of justice, based on their
traditions and customs. However, the law does not yet specify how this
is to work in practice. This parallel system raised questions of both
jurisdiction and conformity to the right to a fair trial.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Wiretapping by the national police to investigate crimes is legal
with a court order; however, there is no specific procedural guidance
for obtaining such approval. Therefore, when members of the police did
conduct wiretapping in the course of criminal investigations, sometimes
it was not officially sanctioned.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, there were some
significant exceptions. Public figures brought criminal charges of
slander and libel against journalists and other public figures. The law
criminalizes slander and libel and provides jail sentences for
offenders.
There was a free and vigorous press. Ownership of the media was
broadly based, and editorials represented a wide range of political
views and often criticized the Government. However, some degree of
self-censorship in the print media occurred, particularly with respect
to politically sensitive issues or stories about the military and its
related industries. In addition, most elements of the media were
influenced by economic considerations and tended to reflect the narrow,
regional interests of their owners. Business and private interest
pressures on the media sometimes constrained freedom of the press.
All major media organs--newspapers, radio, and television--were
locally and privately owned, except for one government-owned national
radio station. The law limits foreign investment in broadcast media.
The Government invoked a law obliging the media to give it free space
or broadcast time to require television and radio to broadcast
government-produced programs, which featured the President and other
top administration officials.
In August 2003, President Gutierrez filed slander charges against
Guillermo Haro, a member of Congress who had accused the President and
members of the military of corruption. Traditionally, the speech and
activities of members of Congress have been protected by parliamentary
immunity; however, President Gutierrez's political party and the Armed
Forces attempted to build support in Congress for a vote to lift Haro's
immunity. On February 9, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice
also began the process for a penal judgment against Haro, but no
further steps were taken.
Newspaper columnist Rodrigo Fierro's appeal of a September 2003
court ruling that he had slandered former president Leon Febres Cordero
was denied, but his sentence was waived due to his age and the delay in
issuing judgment.
In January, the Supreme Court upheld Ricardo Noboa's 3-month
sentence for slandering a politician in 2002, and a judge ordered that
he be detained. However, CEDHU reported that Noba had filed a
countercharge to delay the process.
In September, President Gutierrez requested the Public Ministry to
conduct a formal inquiry into allegations by a prominent radio director
Diego Oquendo that Gutierrez accepted money from a Colombian guerilla
group. After an investigation, the Attorney General cleared Oquendo of
charges of offending the President and putting national security at
risk; however, the Public Ministry's inquiry remained open at year's
end.
The Government did not restrict Internet access or academic
freedom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these righs in practice; however,
security forces used force to quell some violent demonstrations,
resulting in one death and several injuries. Public rallies require
prior government permits, which generally were granted, although
exceptions occurred.
Numerous labor, indigenous, and student demonstrations took place
in the capital and the outlying regions during the year. In February,
the military shot four protesters (one of whom later died) who were
participating in a demonstration by indigenous people (see Section 5).
The military claimed the protesters were armed.
Protesters often blocked roads. In general, the security forces
intervened in demonstrations only when there was violence against
bystanders or destruction of property.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Government did not require religious groups to be
licensed or registered unless they engaged in commercial activity.
The majority of the population considered themselves to be Roman
Catholic, although many citizens either did not regularly practice the
religion or followed a syncretistic version that combines indigenous
beliefs with orthodox Catholic doctrine. The Government allowed
missionary activity and religious demonstrations by all religions.
Religious instruction was permitted in private but not in public
schools. There were no restrictions on publishing religious materials
in any language.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
Protesters often blocked roads (see Section 2.b.). The Government
requires all citizens to obtain permission to travel abroad, which was
granted routinely. Military and minor applicants must comply with
special requirements.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNCHR also
provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as
refugees under the 1951 Convention/1967 Protocol.
As of November 30, the Foreign Ministry reported 7,610 applications
for refugee status, of which 3,393 were denied, 1,713 granted, and the
remainder were pending. During the year, 99 percent of the refugee
applicants were Colombians; according to the UNHCR, the majority of
displaced Colombians were impoverished peasants fleeing fighting, but
some were adolescents escaping forced recruitment by illegal armed
groups in the Colombian states of Narino and Caqueta. Asylum seekers
whose requests have been approved are eligible to work. A few asylum
seekers were deported for working without authorization.
In May, the Government began requiring Colombian refugees to
present judicial and police records upon entering the country, which
resulted in a temporary sharp decrease in the number of 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 held on the basis of
universal suffrage. In October 2002, a new Congress was elected, and,
in November 2002, voters selected Lucio Gutierrez in the second-round
presidential election. Election observers from the OAS, the European
Union, the NGO Citizen Participation, and other international groups
termed the elections peaceful, free, and fair. On January 15, 2003,
President Gutierrez assumed office. The President's term is 4 years,
and the President may not serve consecutive terms. On October 17,
voters elected provincial and municipal officials in elections that the
OAS characterized as ``free and transparent.'' On November 9, an
opposition effort to create a special congressional commission to
impeach the President failed.
Deputies are elected to Congress for 4-year terms. Several parties
were represented in the 100-member Congress, and no party dominated.
The Social Christian Party had the most seats (26). Three other major
parties and six smaller parties also were represented in Congress. The
Constitution provides that if a political party fails to garner a
minimum of 5 percent of the votes in two open elections, it must be
eliminated from the electoral registry.
There was a widespread public perception of corruption in all areas
of the Government. In September, the National Police chief, several
other police officials, and members of the army were accused of
assisting alien smugglers. The Attorney General was investigating, and
no charges have been filed. On November 17, Congress formally censured
the Minister of Social Welfare on charges of misuse of public funds. In
August 2003, former president Gustavo Noboa fled the country and
obtained asylum in the Dominican Republic after a prosecutor filed
charges against him related to his renegotiation of debt while
President. Although government auditors cleared Noboa of wrongdoing,
the charges remained pending at year's end.
In May, the Government enacted the country's first freedom of
information legislation, the Transparency and Access to Information
Law; however, the law cannot be fully enforced until the President
issues regulations for its implementation. The law envisions freedom of
information web pages for each government institution and declassifies
all government information older than 15 years.
Although no laws prevented women or minorities from attaining
leadership positions in government, few women, indigenous persons, or
Afro-Ecuadorians occupied such positions. A 1998 law required that at
least 30 percent of the candidates for Congress and some local
positions in 2000 be women, and that, in each subsequent election, an
additional 5 percent of the candidates be women (for example, 40
percent in 2004) until 2008, when 50 percent of the candidates are to
be women. During the year's elections, the method used to calculate the
percentage of women candidates created some controversy, but the
election lists generally appeared to follow the law. There were 17
women in the 100-seat Congress, and there were two women in the
cabinet.
The indigenous movement formed the Pachakutik electoral movement
and has run candidates for national, provincial, and local office in
all elections. Pachakutik had 10 members in Congress and was associated
closely with the politically active Confederation of Ecuadorian Indian
Nationalities (CONAIE). There is one indigenous member of the cabinet.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated
without restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative with the
groups but often did not act on their views. Domestic human rights
groups, such as the CEDHU and the regional Latin American Human Rights
Association (ALDHU), were outspoken in their criticism of the
government's record on specific cases. The Government has contracted
with the ALDHU to provide mandatory human rights training to the
military and the police.
There is an office of the Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) to focus
on human rights problems; however, some observers criticized its lack
of independence in practice. Claudio Mueckay has led the office on an
acting basis for more than 4 years.
The Gutierrez Government continued to implement various aspects of
the National Human Rights Plan, first decreed in 1998, 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, sex, or
social status. Women, 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 Against
Violence Affecting Women and Children criminalizes spousal abuse,
including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse; provides penalties
of up to $25 or 7 days in prison; creates family courts; and gives
courts the power to remove an abusive spouse from the home. The law
also provides legal support to the Government's Women's Bureau in cases
of sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Office of Gender, in the Ministry of Government, reported
10,877 cases of sexual, psychological, or physical mistreatment of
women for the first half of the year, although the numbers were not
complete for all provinces. Women may file complaints against a rapist
or an abusive spouse or companion only if they produce a witness. Some
communities have established their own centers for counseling and legal
support of abused women. 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.
Many rapes were not reported due to the victims' reluctance to
confront the perpetrators. The penalty for rape is up to 25 years in
prison. In cases of statutory rape involving ``amorous'' sex with a
minor, if the rapist marries the victim, the charges against him, or
anyone else who took part in the rape, cannot be pursued unless the
marriage subsequently is annulled. The penalty for rape where death
occurred is 35 years in prison. During the year, 3,083 rapes were
reported; 656 persons were charged with rape; and 118 cases were
prosecuted.
Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 14 so long as the
businesses are registered with the Government and follow health
regulations.
Despite the legal prohibition of harassment, women's rights
organizations described sexual harassment in the workplace as common.
However, reports of sexual harassment did not appear in the press
during the year.
Discrimination against women was pervasive in society, particularly
with respect to educational and economic opportunities 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
65 percent of the pay received by men for equal work. The women's
movement 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, and pay discrimination against
women was common.
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. In addition, 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 Women's Political Coordinator, an NGO that operated in 22
provinces, promoted similar themes relating to women's rights, with
emphases 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. UNICEF reported that
approximately 65 percent of the country's 4.8 million children lived in
poverty and that malnutrition affected 15 percent of children under age
5.
The Constitution requires that children achieve ``a basic level of
education,'' defined as 9 years of school; 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 of books and uniforms for poor families, the
Government rarely enforced this requirement in practice. The Ministry
of Education reported that most children achieved a sixth grade
education. The National Statistics Institute reported in 2001 that one
out of six citizens between the ages of 13 and 20 had not completed the
sixth grade and that 90 percent of school-age children attended school.
Education was free through high school. The Constitution provides that
30 percent of the public budget must be devoted to education; however,
in practice, only half of that amount was spent, although government
spending on education increased by 9 percent during the year. The
Government has programs that provided families with educational
subsidies as an incentive to keep children in school, which assisted
approximately 50,000 children. Boys and girls had equal access to
education. 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.).
The Government provided free medical care to children under 6 years
of age. Boys and girls received equal access.
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 very active in programs to assist street
children. The children of the poor often experienced severe hardships,
especially in urban areas.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Constitution prohibits slavery and
trafficking in persons in all forms; however, there are no anti-
trafficking criminal laws that support the constitutional prohibition,
and there were reports that persons were trafficked within, to, from,
and through the country. The Code of Children and Adolescents
criminalizes the use of violence, abuse, or fraud to coerce a minor
into prostitution and the exploitation of a minor's earnings from
prostitution, but the Code does not establish penalties. Laws
prohibiting alien smuggling and other laws dealing with kidnapping,
labor, occupational safety, and slavery apply to and provide some
sanctions for trafficking in persons.
On August 18, President Gutierrez appointed the Minister of
Government as the country's coordinator of programs to combat
trafficking in persons. The National Police Unit for Children (DINAPEN)
has responsibility for responding to mistreatment and abuse of minors.
The immigration police, a division of the National Police, are charged
with combating alien smuggling. On August 5 and October 25, a couple
was convicted on four counts of trafficking-related charges of child
pornography and rape with sentences of 12 to 25 years.
There was no reliable estimate of the extent of the trafficking
problem in the country. A 2002 International Labor Organization (ILO)
report estimated that 5,200 minors were engaged in prostitution. During
the second half of the year, DINAPEN conducted almost 450 raids on
bars, brothels, and nightclubs and rescued 335 children, many of whom
were believed to have engaged in prostitution. In past years,
trafficking victims from the country had been identified in Spain,
Guatemala, Uruguay, Venezuela, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.
The country had a high rate of emigration, with a significant flow
bound for illegal entry to the United States and Spain. Illegal
emigrants paid between $8,000 and $12,000 per person to criminal
organizations to be taken to the United States, usually through Central
America. Due to the extreme poverty of most of the emigrants and the
high cost of such trips, emigrants were vulnerable to traffickers, and
women were susceptible to sexual abuse by smugglers.
Many of the victims of trafficking were child prostitutes
trafficked within the country. Some trafficking to Spain may have
occurred, but investigations were not conclusive.
On August 18, the President signed a decree establishing a national
committee to develop a national plan to fight trafficking, provide
social service to victims, and reform the Penal Code to raise the age
of a child to someone under 18 and criminalize trafficking in persons.
The committee had not met by year's end.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Constitution recognizes the rights
of persons with disabilities, and there was no official discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or the provision of other state services. Although the law
mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, the
Government did not generally enforce it.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population of the rural,
northern coastal area included large numbers of Afro-Ecuadorian
citizens. They suffered widespread poverty and pervasive
discrimination, particularly with regard to educational and economic
opportunity. There were no special government efforts to address these
problems.
Five major Afro-Ecuadorian organizations were active in the
country; the largest was the Afro-Ecuadorian Cultural Center, with
headquarters in Quito, which estimated that Afro-Ecuadorians accounted
for more than 1.1 million persons, or approximately 9 percent of the
total population. While the presence of Afro-Ecuadorians has grown in
the fields of sports and culture, their educational opportunities
continued to be limited.
The press focused on lingering racism among all strata of society.
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 underemployment was a large
problem, as employers would not interview persons whose job
applications carried Afro-Ecuadorian photos.
Indigenous People.--Estimates of those who maintained their
indigenous cultural identity and lived in indigenous communities varied
between 7 and 20 percent of the total 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.
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 Constitution 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 past years, in attempts to win a share of oil revenues
and a voice in natural resource and development decisions. The
Government tended to consult indigenous communities on natural resource
matters. Oil companies increased their efforts to minimize the
environmental and social impact of their oil projects in the Amazon but
faced criticism from indigenous groups that environmental damage
continued.
The Ombudsman's office established ombudsman 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.
On February 1, two unidentified individuals shot at Leonidas Iza,
president of CONAIE, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of
Ecuador, soon after he returned from Cuba where he attended a meeting
against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. Iza was not injured,
but his son, brother, and nephew received bullet wounds during the
attack and the assailants struck Iza's wife, Josefina Aguisaca in the
face. Iza and leaders of other indigenous groups described the attack
as politically motivated. Police have not arrested anyone in connection
with the attacks.
During subsequent demonstrations called by CONAIE, the military
shot four protesters, one of which, a 63-year-old woman, Maria Lalbai,
later died. The military claimed that the protesters were armed.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and Labor Code
provide most workers with the right to form and join trade unions of
their choice; however, legal protections of these rights were
inadequate, sometimes failing to deter employers from retaliating
against workers for organizing.
Approximately 2 to 3 percent of the workforce was organized.
Members of the police, the military, and most public sector employees
were not free to form trade unions.
The Labor Code 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 have taken advantage of the law that prohibits
unions from organizing at companies that have less than 30 employees by
sub-contracting with several shell companies, each of which has less
than 30 workers. Under the Labor Code, these subcontracted workers have
no legal right to freedom of association or right to bargain
collectively with the companies that ultimately benefit from their
labor, nor do they have legal protection against anti-union
discrimination.
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 some labor organization.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Labor Code
requires that all private employers with 30 or more workers belonging
to a union must negotiate collectively when the union so requests;
however, collective bargaining agreements covered only one-quarter of
the work force that was organized. 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.
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 anti-union activity but does require
compensation and fines. Workers were not protected against anti-union
discrimination in hiring under the Labor Code.
Employees also worked on temporary contracts, particularly in the
agricultural sector. While the Labor Code establishes a cap of 180
consecutive days for each contract, it does not prohibit the use of
consecutive 180-day contracts. Some ``temporary'' workers may work for
the same company (often for different sub-contractors of the same
company) for an extended period under a series of short-term contracts.
In practice, it was difficult to organize temporary employees on short-
term contracts. Since the Labor Code does not recognize temporary
workers, they do not enjoy the same level of protection offered to
other workers.
There are few restrictions on the right of workers to strike,
although a 10-day cooling-off period is required before a strike can be
declared. The Labor Code limits solidarity strikes or boycotts to 3
days, provided that the Labor Ministry 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 Labor Code 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. The Labor Code prohibits an employer from
contracting substitute workers during a strike, although, in practice,
this law was not enforced. The employer must pay all salaries and
benefits during a legal strike; the Labor Code 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 2
and 5 years in prison; however, there were frequent ``illegal''
strikes, including by public school teachers and health workers. Public
workers under the Civil Service Law are not covered by the Labor Code
and were prohibited from bargaining collectively.
In August, the Supreme Court upheld a January appeals court
decision in favor of more than 50 employees of the public petroleum
company, whom the Government had fired for going on strike in June
2003. While several of the workers filed claims for indemnification,
some continued to pursue reinstatement.
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. Many such zones have been
established; most were relatively small and were dedicated to textiles
and fish processing.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution and
the Labor Code prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by
children; however, there were reports that children were trafficked for
labor (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace
and policies regarding acceptable working conditions; however, the
Government did not effectively implement these laws and policies in
practice, and child labor remained a problem.
The law sets the minimum working age for minors at 15 for all types
of labor and the maximum hours a minor may work at 6 hours per day and
5 days per week. The law prohibits minors from working in hazardous
conditions, including in mines, with toxic or dangerous substances, or
with dangerous machinery. Employers are required 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. In cases of repeated infractions, the employer's business
can be closed.
The Ministry of Labor and the Minors' Tribunals failed to enforce
child labor laws, and child labor was prevalent. The Ministry estimated
that there were 300 thousand child laborers; however, a UNICEF study
released in March estimated that approximately 756 thousand children
worked full-time, 39 percent of whom did not attend school. UNICEF
estimated that 44 percent of these children began working between ages
10 and 14 and that 70 percent did not reach secondary school.
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.
A report completed by the ILO in 2002 estimated that there were
5,200 minors engaged in prostitution (see Section 5).
In July, the Ministry of Labor created a three-officer Division for
Child Labor, which meets monthly with the Ministry of Labor and the
National Committee for the Progressive Eradication of Child Labor,
which includes government agencies, business, and labor organizations.
The Division of Child Labor planned and implemented the national system
of child labor inspections. It created and broadcast two television
spots to raise awareness of child labor issues. It also played a key
role in forming the Banana Social Forum in Guayaquil, which brings
together various sectors including business, labor, and NGOs to find
solutions to the child labor issue. In addition, it held workshops
among the flower business community to raise awareness of child labor
issues.
In 2003, the Ministry of Labor, working with UNICEF, began a
program of systematic child labor inspections of banana and flower
plantations. As of December, the Ministry of Labor employed 16 child
labor inspectors. The Ministry of Labor stated that child labor
inspectors conducted 800 inspections, 10 of which resulted in fines. It
found 120 children under age 15 and 780 adolescents age 15-18 working.
The Ministry worked to regulate the employment of the adolescents
found. On some occasions, large banana plantations reportedly fired
child workers when they received notice that labor inspectors were
arriving.
The Ministry of Labor designated a ``Social Service Directorate''
to monitor and control child labor in businesses such as factories;
however, 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 5 or 6 years often sold newspapers or candy on the
street to support themselves or to augment family income.
The Government, through the National Children's and Family
Institute, spent approximately $3.5 million per year on the Program for
the Schooling and Protection of Child Workers. The Child Worker Program
run by the Central Bank with a fund of $275,600, supplemented by
private support, developed a workshop program in five cities to work
with families and schools on the issue of child labor; the Program also
administered a $40 thousand scholarship program for child laborers.
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
December, the minimum wage plus mandated bonuses provided a gross
monthly compensation of approximately $166, or $0.95 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,
the majority of workers worked in the large informal and rural sector
without recourse to the minimum wage or to legally mandated benefits.
The Labor Code provides for a 40-hour workweek, a 15-day annual
vacation, a minimum wage, and other employer-provided benefits, such as
uniforms and training opportunities. Employers are required to give
workers 2 consecutive days of rest per week. If required to work beyond
the standard work week, workers must be paid overtime. A higher
overtime rate is set for working at night. The Ministry of Labor did
not deploy sufficient resources to enforce labor laws.
The Labor Code 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 come to
the workplace and confirm the hazard; that inspector then may close
down the workplace. Response time for inspectors ranged from a few days
in major cities to much longer in the countryside.
The Social Security Institute enforces 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 the mining sector.
__________
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador is a constitutional, multiparty democracy with a
unicameral legislature, an independent judiciary, and an executive
branch headed by a president. In March, voters elected as president
Elias Antonio Saca of the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) to a
5-year term. International election observers reported that the
presidential election was generally free and fair, without violence or
notable irregularities. The judiciary is constitutionally independent;
however, many judges were still susceptible to political and outside
influence.
The National Civilian Police (PNC) maintains public security; the
Ministry of Defense is responsible for national security. The military
provides support for some PNC patrols in rural areas and also provides
support to the law enforcement agencies for specific activities such as
a new antigang program, antinarcotics efforts, and reform-school
training for juvenile convicts. A law passed in July created a Rural
Police Department to coordinate and evaluate strategies and plans for
rural areas of the country. Civilian authorities maintained effective
control of the security forces. Some members of the police committed
human rights abuses.
The country has a market-based economy focused on services and
light manufacturing, while simultaneously opening its markets. The
country's population is over 6.9 million. Remittances from abroad are
the largest single source of foreign income, equivalent to
approximately 15 percent of GDP, and they continue to grow in value.
Agriculture remained the largest source of employment. Coffee and sugar
are the principal export crops. The rate of real economic growth
changed little during the year and was estimated at 1.8 percent, with
inflation at 5.4 percent. According to the Ministry of Economy's
statistics and census office, in 2003 approximately 36.1 percent of the
population lived below the poverty level, compared with 38.8 percent in
2002.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were significant problems in some areas. There
were no politically motivated killings during the year; however, courts
dropped charges from some 2003 cases. Some police officers used
excessive force and mistreated detainees; at times police arbitrarily
arrested and detained persons without adequate cause. Prison conditions
remained poor, and overcrowding was a continuing problem. During the
year, the Government took steps to improve prison conditions. Lengthy
pretrial detention remained a problem. The judiciary remained generally
inefficient and hampered by corruption, although the Supreme Court and
the Attorney General's office (AG) took some steps during the year to
address both inefficiency and corruption. Impunity for the rich and
powerful remained a problem, as did violence and discrimination against
women. Abuse of children, child labor, forced child prostitution, and
trafficking in women and children remained problems, as did
discrimination against disabled persons. The Government took steps to
provide adequate protection of workers rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces killed 29 persons. At year's end, authorities
were adjudicating whether police officers had acted criminally or in
the line of duty.
The Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDDH) received one
complaint of attempted and/or completed unlawful killings by police
during the year.
In June, in San Jose Villanueva PNC officers Neftaly Osmin Soriano
and Santos Claudio shot and killed Carlos Aldredo Paniagua Martinez
during a scuffle with 15 persons. According to witnesses, the officers
shot Paniagua Martinez three times at point-blank range as he assaulted
them. The initial hearing took place in October. In December, a judge
dismissed the charges against the PNC officers.
In January, a court acquitted gang member Francisco Zarceno
Rodriguez, but convicted nine other persons in the 2003 death of Alvaro
Centeno Calvio in Ahuachapan during the legislative and municipal
election campaign. Carlos Alexander Sanchez Andino and Jose Geovani
Galeano Portillo were each sentenced to 30 years in prison for the
murder of Centeno.
On November 5, gunmen shot and killed foreign labor activist Jose
Gilberto Soto in Usulutan. Six persons, including Soto's mother-in-law,
were charged in the killing.
There was no information available from government sources
regarding the trial of persons for the 2002 shooting death of Darwin
Lopez.
As of October, the AG had not reported any new developments and
none were expected in the 2002 killing of Nelson Alfonso Amaya Argueta,
president of the National Federation of Demobilized Members of the
Civil War Era Militia.
On August 27, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the
decision of a lower criminal court that the 2001 beating and killing of
cadet Erick Mauricio Pena Carmona was first-degree murder. Air Force
flight school cadets Carlos Mauricio Melara and Cesar Humberto Dorat
were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and $5,714 in punitive
damages. According to the Human Rights Institute of the University of
Central America (IDHUCA), this was the first instance in which a court
found the armed forces responsible for Pena Carmona's death. In
September, the IDHUCA presented the case before the Criminal Chamber of
the Supreme Court and in November, they presented the case to the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
In September, the Catholic Church called for the Government to
reopen the investigation into the 1980 killing of Archbishop Oscar
Romero.
Transvestites were targeted and several were killed during the year
(see Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances or of police involvement in kidnappings during the year.
Most disappearances were kidnappings for ransom. According to
police statistics, eight persons were kidnapped during the year, the
same number as in 2003.
Since its inception, the Association for the Search for Children
Who Disappeared as a Result of the Armed Conflict (Pro-Busqueda) has
investigated 250 cases (out of 712) and organized 156 family
reunification meetings between children who disappeared during the
armed conflict and their biological parents. Children have been located
in El Salvador, the United States, France, and Italy. In August, Pro-
Busqueda met with the Family Committee of the Legislative Assembly to
lobby for a bill to create a national commission to investigate the
cases of children missing since the 1980-92 civil war. In May, the U.N.
Committee for Children's Rights urged the Government to create a
national commission.
On October 5, the President passed an executive decree to create,
for a 4-year period, the Salvadoran Inter-Agency Committee for the
Search for Children Who Disappeared as a Result of the Armed Conflict.
The Committee is composed of representatives from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Governance, the Ministry of Defense,
the PNC, the Salvadoran Institute for Children and Adolescents (ISNA),
the Solicitor's office, and the Attorney General. During the year, the
committee developed its internal organization and regulations, and met
with representatives of Pro-Busqueda, who announced plans to join the
Committee.
In September, the PDDH found that the 1982 disappearance of sisters
Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz in San Antonio de la Cruz,
Chalatenango during an armed forces operation occurred in an area where
many civilian casualties resulted from fighting between government
forces and guerrillas, and that in its investigation of the case,
prosecutors, judges, and the Supreme Court had denied justice to the
Serrano family. In June 2003, Pro-Busqueda presented the sisters' case
to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In December, the Court
resolved legal issues relating to statutes of limitation; a final
sentence will be announced in 2005.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices. During the
year, the PDDH received one complaint alleging torture by police
officers. There were allegations that some members of the PNC used
excessive force or otherwise mistreated detainees.
During the year, the Inspector General (PNC/IG) received a total of
152 complaints for police negligence, 165 complaints for crimes
allegedly perpetrated by police agents, 721 complaints regarding
inadequate police procedures, 100 complaints for violations of human
dignity, and 116 complaints for violation of freedom of transit.
During the year, the PDDH resolved a total of 104 complaints
against the PNC for all categories of human rights violations. It found
PNC officers responsible for violations in 91 cases and absent of
responsibility in 9 cases; a settlement was negotiated in 1 case, and
the PDDH made recommendations in 3 cases. Of all complaints resolved,
15 of 33 were for PNC violations of the right of personal integrity.
During the year, the IG received 548 petitions to investigate cases of
alleged personal integrity violations. Human rights awareness is a
standard component of police officers' basic training.
In July, street vendors in downtown San Salvador rioted in response
to enforcement of a municipal decree limiting the locations of their
stalls. The vendors attacked Municipal Police (CAM) officers, who
responded with rubber bullets. According to the AG, CAM officers
threatened Red Cross workers. FESPAD, a legal nongovernmental
organization (NGO), criticized the role of the municipal police and
stated that they had used excessive force in quelling the riot. Passing
commuter Melvin Guadalupe died from a stray bullet, the source of which
remained under investigation at year's end.
In October, the Administrative Dispute Chamber of the Supreme Court
ordered the payment of indemnifications totaling more than $600,000 to
PNC officers who were dismissed illegally through an expedited
procedure for combating corruption known as Decree 101. Additionally,
the Court ordered the reinstatement of Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, who was
accused of collecting fraudulent evidence.
Prison conditions remained poor. Overcrowding constituted a serious
threat to prisoners' health and lives. In May, prisoners at the Santa
Ana Penitentiary went briefly on a hunger strike to protest limits on
women visitors' access to prisoners. The director of the Santa Ana
Penitentiary stated that the security measures were necessary to
prevent women from smuggling drugs into the prison. In September, 65
prisoners in the Metapan Penitentiary, in the country's northwestern
zone, suffered food poisoning. Overcrowding in individual facilities
continued as the prison population increased for the fourth consecutive
year. At year's end, 12,073 prisoners were held in 24 prison facilities
with a combined design capacity of 7,312, and there were 31 men and 9
women in 2 secure hospital wards with a combined design capacity of 75
persons. During 2003, the prison authorities instituted a new system to
reward prisoners who exhibited good behavior and fulfilled all legal
requirements with weekend ambulatory privileges. On the other hand,
those prisoners who displayed dangerous or violent behavior were
restricted to maximum security. In August 2003, the authorities
inaugurated a maximum security prison with a capacity of 400.
A private contractor provides prisoners' food based on professional
dieticians' recommendations; clinics in each prison provide medical
care.
Gangs continued to exercise influence within the prisons and
judicial system, and prisoners reportedly continued to run criminal
activities from their cells. In May, the Director of Prisons found that
members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang supervised criminal activity while
incarcerated. Additionally, the Director discovered that gangs
encouraged criminal activity by children to take advantage of lower
maximum sentences for persons under the age of 18.
Prison authorities reported that there were 59 deaths from violence
and natural causes in the prison system during the year. On August 18,
a riot between gang members and nongang members at the La Esperanza
Penitentiary, better known as ``Mariona'' prison, left 31 prisoners
dead and 28 injured. In September, Director of Prisons Rodolfo Garay
Pineda transferred all Mara Salvatrucha gang members to the
Quezaltepeque and Ciudad Barrios prisons and all Mara 18 gang members
to Chalatenango and Cojutepeque. In the wake of the riot, the
Government initiated a public dialogue on prisons among judges,
prosecutors, human rights NGOs, and others; new procedures were
subsequently implemented to better segregate hardened violent offenders
from other prisoners. In November, Prisons Director Garay Pineda
resigned; Mariona Prison Warden Jose Antonio Guzman Blanco was indicted
in December for negligence in preventing and reporting drug trafficking
at the facility.
Women prisoners are incarcerated separately from men at an all-
women's facility. The law requires that all juveniles be held
separately from adults, both prior to trial and while serving a prison
sentence, and the Government generally observed this requirement in
practice. At year's end, 363 minors were housed in a juvenile prison
under the supervision of the ISNA. Gang violence in juvenile holding
facilities was a problem. Members of the armed forces provided reform
school training for juvenile convicts. Most criminal cases involving
juveniles were brought to trial or conciliation proceedings within 3
months.
Because of a lack of holding cells, pretrial detainees were often
sent to regular prisons, where they could be placed together with
violent criminals.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, NGOs, and the media, who in practice monitored prison
conditions during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were complaints that at
times the PNC arbitrarily arrested and detained persons. The IG
received 495 petitions alleging arbitrary arrest and detention during
the year.
The PNC maintains public security; the Ministry of Defense is
responsible for national security. The military provides support for
some PNC patrols in rural areas and also provides support to the law
enforcement agencies for specific activities, including antinarcotics
efforts and reform-school training for juvenile convicts. In September,
the Government created the AntiGang Task Force with a total of 333
military personnel to be deployed in high crime areas.
There were charges that PNC officers were involved in criminal
activities. For example, in 2003, the authorities arrested 27 PNC
officers on alien smuggling charges and fraud. Only 7 of the 27
officers could be apprehended when an appeals court revoked the
decision; the remainder had fled. In September, the authorities
captured the last officer at large, Carlos Alberto Salmeron Mejia,
considered a key element in the perpetration of the crimes. A lower
court dismissed the charges against the PNC officers, but an appeals
court revoked that decision. In November, a court dismissed charges
against National Judicial Branch Security Chief Carlos Adolfo Flores
Hernandez, Security Supervisor Gerbert Heriberto Munoz Chicas, and
Judicial Protection Agent Fredy Alvarado on charges of facilitating the
escape of 14 members of an organized crime group named Banda Tacoma,
which operated in Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador, perpetrating
homicides, kidnappings, bank robberies, and other crimes.
During the year, the PDDH received 30 complaints alleging
violations of personal liberty, compared with 778 complaints in 2003
and 205 in 2002. The courts generally enforced a ruling that
interrogation without the presence of counsel is coercion, and that any
evidence obtained in such a manner is inadmissible. As a result, police
authorities generally delayed questioning until a public defender or an
attorney arrived.
The Constitution requires a written warrant for arrest, except in
cases where an individual is arrested in commission of a crime. The law
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 Penal Code 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 have been
incarcerated longer than the maximum legal sentence for their crimes.
In such circumstances, a detainee may request a review by the Supreme
Court of his or her continued detention.
Generally, criminal detainees have prompt access to counsel of
their own choosing or to an attorney provided by the state.
Criminal detainees may be visited by family members.
The law permits the police 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 could be placed together with
violent criminals (see Section 1.c.). The law permits a judge to take
up to 6 months to investigate serious crimes before requiring either a
trial or dismissal of the case. In exceptionally complicated cases, the
prosecutor or either party may ask the appeals court to extend the
deadline for 3 to 6 months, depending on the seriousness of the crime.
However, many cases were not completed within the legally prescribed
time frame. The Penitentiary Directorate reported that 4,247 inmates
were in pretrial detention at year's end, compared to 4,514 in 2003
(see Section 1.c.). According to the Supreme Court, during the year the
judicial system received an average of 22.8 criminal cases per day,
compared with an average of 19 per day in 2003.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. However, the judiciary suffered from
inefficiency and corruption. During the year, the SCJ took some steps
to address these problems.
Impunity from the country's civil and criminal laws continued,
particularly for persons who were politically, economically, or
institutionally well connected. Corruption in the judicial system
contributed to impunity.
In October, a court released from house arrest Nelson Garcia,
former President of the Salvadoran Bar Association and 2003 candidate
for the Supreme Court. Garcia was accused of child pornography and
abuse after hundreds of pornographic videos were found in his house.
After 8 months, the authorities apprehended Garcia and put him under
house arrest rather than jailing him. A judge later released Garcia due
to legal technicalities; women's organizations, including CEMUJER and
DIGNAS, condemned the decision. In November, the AG announced that he
could not find legal grounds with which to appeal Garcia's release.
In August, research by the Evangelical University of El Salvador
concluded that the judicial system was susceptible to political and
economic influence.
In March, criminal court legal clerk Gracilea Roque was charged
with providing confidential judicial information to the attorney of
defendant Raul Garcia Prieto, who was under house arrest following his
indictment for bank fraud. According to investigators, on learning that
the judge in the case had drafted a sentence directing that Garcia
Prieto be incarcerated, Roque advised Garcia Prieto's attorney,
facilitating the defendant's flight from justice. The Supreme Court
ordered the dismissal of the judges that had granted house arrest to
Garcia Prieto but reinstated them in July. The Supreme Court also
ordered the prosecution of Roque, but a criminal court released her in
October due to lack of evidence.
In July, a judge exceeded her authority by ordering that Fernando
Palacios Luna, accused of kidnapping and organized crime, be
transferred from a maximum to a medium security prison. By law, only
the Criminal Council, a multidisciplinary group attached to the
Ministry of Governance, can grant prison transfers. The Director of
Prisons refused to transfer Palacios Luna to a common prison. However,
in August, an appellate court upheld the judge's decision.
The court structure 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 entire court system and
selects justices of the peace, trial judges, and appellate judges from
a list of nominees proposed by the National Judicial Council (CNJ). The
CNJ is an independent body provided for in the Constitution to
nominate, train, and evaluate justices. The Legislative Assembly
elects, by a two-thirds majority, Supreme Court magistrates from lists
provided by the CNJ and the National Association of Lawyers. In
September, the CNJ denounced the Supreme Court for not respecting the
law and illegally designating a magistrate of a family court in San
Miguel.
In September, the President of the CNJ proposed that the judicial
branch be reconfigured to address the disparity in workloads among the
various courts in the country.
Magistrates serve for periods of 9 years and may be reelected.
There are separate court systems for family matters and juvenile
offenders; they stress conciliation as an alternative to adjudication.
The system also has criminal sentencing courts and penitentiary
oversight courts. The former consider the evidence and testimony that
have been gathered throughout the trial proceedings, judge innocence or
guilt, and determine sentences. The latter monitor the implementation
of sentences.
Through its Department of Judicial Investigation, the Supreme Court
regularly receives and investigates public complaints about judicial
performance. This department also reviews the findings and
recommendations of the CNJ, which evaluates justices on an ongoing
basis. The Supreme Court imposes penalties when warranted. As of
September, the Judicial Investigation Section of the Supreme Court had
received 152 petitions. It investigated 19 cases and sanctioned judges
in 3 cases. During January and June 2003, the National Judiciary
Council evaluated 645 judges and magistrates, and recommended sanctions
against 47 judges, mostly for violations of due process.
NGOs and knowledgeable observers claimed 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
Supreme Court emphasized that its Department of Judicial Investigation
and the CNJ performed that function by scrutinizing judicial
performance on an ongoing basis.
In practice, the Court imposed few sanctions upon judges based upon
the recommendations from the CNJ and the Department of Judicial
Investigation.
In May, legal clerks of a Santa Ana Court asked the Supreme Court,
to the dismissal of a Justice of the Peace for violating labor
standards and legal procedure. They alleged that the Justice of the
Peace forced them to substitute for him at hearings without appropriate
authorization, a violation of constitutional rights and due process. In
addition, the Justice of the Peace compelled his staff to work extra
hours at his residence. At year's end, the case remained under
investigation by the Supreme Court's Judicial Investigation Unit.
As of September, the Supreme Court was investigating more than 300
cases of irregular law diplomas. In May, the Supreme Court reconfirmed
the dismissal of one sentencing judge for having an irregular law
diploma. The Ministry of Education presented a list of 199 lawyers,
including the sentencing judge, who did not fulfill the legal or
administrative requirements to obtain a law diploma.
Judges rather than juries decide most cases, although juries are
used in particular phases of the prosecution. Most cases start with a
preliminary hearing by a Justice of the Peace court, then proceed to
the trial court, which determines if there is enough evidence to
continue the prosecution, and whether a jury or a sentencing court
should hear the case. Juries hear only those cases that the law does
not assign to sentencing courts. After the jury's determination of
innocence or guilt, a tribunal decides the sentence. A jury verdict
cannot be appealed; however, a judge's verdict may be appealed.
The Juvenile Legal Code requires that minors from 12 to 17 years of
age be tried only in juvenile courts, limits sentences for minors to a
maximum of 7 years, and includes alternatives to incarceration. In
July, the Legislative Assembly modified the Criminal Code, Criminal
Procedure Code, Juvenile's Offender Law, and Penitentiary Law in
response to an April Supreme Court decision that the October 2003
antigang law was unconstitutional. Penalties were increased for
conspiracy cases, and the maximum period allowed to investigate a crime
when the defendant is a minor was reduced to 60 days. When a child is
arrested, police must inform the child's parents or guardians, the
solicitor's office, the Attorney General, and the PDDH.
The Constitution provides for the presumption of innocence,
protection from self-incrimination, legal counsel, freedom from
coercion, and compensation for damages due to judicial error. In
practice, compensation for damages due to judicial error was seldom
applied. Defendants also have the right to be present in court. These
rights were not always respected fully in practice. The Constitution
and law require the Government to provide legal counsel for the
indigent; however, this requirement also was not always implemented in
practice.
In June, a 7-year-old girl in Ahuachapan testified in the case of
her own rape while the alleged perpetrators were present in the
courtroom. The AG had failed to request that the court excuse her from
testifying in their presence, a standard procedure to protect a child
from being compelled to offer testimony under such circumstances. The
court released the defendants for lack of evidence, which the AG
appealed to the Supreme Court. The Judicial Investigations Unit of the
Supreme Court denied the appeal and declined to sanction the judges
involved in the case.
Police, prosecutors, public defenders, and the courts continued to
have problems with criminal investigations. Inadequate police coverage
(due to limited resources) and intimidation of victims and witnesses
(especially by gangs) made it difficult to identify, arrest, and
prosecute criminals, thus diminishing public confidence in the justice
system.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
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. Print and broadcast journalists
from all major media outlets regularly and freely criticized the
Government and reported opposition views. Opposition figures were
interviewed routinely in the press and on television and radio.
There are 5 daily newspapers, with a combined daily circulation of
more than 250,000, and 16 television stations. Five independent and one
government-owned and operated VHF television stations reach most areas
of the country, and eight independent UHF stations serve San Salvador.
Approximately 150 licensed radio stations broadcast on the FM and AM
bands.
According to practitioners and observers, some newspaper editors
and radio news directors practiced self-censorship by discouraging
journalists from reporting on topics or presenting views that the
owners or publishers might not view favorably.
In April, Social Security (ISSS) workers attacked journalists with
stones and burned media vehicles during a demonstration against the
Government's dismissal of ISSS workers. The Salvadoran Radio
Association and the Ombudsman for Human Rights Office condemned the
ISSS workers' actions (see Section 6.a.).
On October 22, San Salvador's Third Court sentenced political
activist and director of the NGO Liberty Foundation Rafael Menjivar to
3 years in prison for slander in television and radio spots during the
lead-up to the March 21 presidential election that outlined FMLN
presidential candidate Schafik Handal's alleged participation in
kidnappings and murders during the country's 1980-1992 civil war. The
sentence was commuted to monitored house arrest, public retractions by
Menjivar of his statements, and probation. In November, related charges
were dropped against television journalist Moises Urbina, who had
discussed Menjivar's case on the air.
At year's end, reforms to Article 187 urged by October 2003 General
Assembly of the Inter-American Press Society had not been passed.
The new Legislative Assembly did not reconsider the 2003 bill
presented by the NGO Human Rights for the Americas and APES before the
previous Assembly to strengthen freedom of speech in accordance with
international law.
In 2002, the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) identified
freedom of press problems in several areas, including the absence of
laws protecting journalists' right to maintain the confidentiality of
sources. In October 2003, the IAPA reported that both political and
government organizations blocked journalists from having access to
information of public interest.
A provision in the Criminal Code allows judges to close court
proceedings if public exposure could prejudice the case. The media and
the IAPA have claimed that the provision abridges press freedom.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
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. Some NGOs asserted that
the Ministry of Governance delayed approval of legal status for
controversial NGOs with human rights or political agendas.
In October, the Ministry of Governance denied legal status to ``En
Nombre de la Rosa,'' a homosexual and transvestite association. The
association presented a constitutional petition before the Supreme
Court of Justice, that was ongoing at year's end.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Constitution specifically recognizes the Roman Catholic
Church and grants it legal status. In addition, the Constitution
provides that other churches may register for such status in accordance
with the law.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
The law provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum in
accordance with the definition in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees 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's 1967 Protocol.
During the year, the Government granted refugee status to 24
Colombians.
In August, the UNHCR liaison officer publicly complained about the
Government's attitude toward dozens of Nicaraguans who had moved to the
country during the 1980s, but who had never completed application
procedures for refugee status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The president and vice president are elected every
5 years by secret ballot. The Constitution bars the president from
election to consecutive terms.
Three political parties and a two-party coalition fielded
presidential candidates in the March presidential election, which
witnessed an unprecedented voter turnout of 63 percent. Most observers
reported that the election was free and fair, with few irregularities.
Voters elected, with 58 percent of the vote, ARENA party candidate
Elias Antonio ``Tony'' Saca. Under the law, parties that receive less
than 3 percent of the vote (less than 6 percent in the case of a two-
party coalition) must be dissolved; however, a December Supreme Court
ruling rescinded the ordered dissolution of the Party of National
Conciliation and Christian Democratic Party. An October final report on
the March election by the OAS praised the new Sole Identity Document
(DUI), and encouraged the Government to institute residential voting
procedures.
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that an article of the electoral
code that assigned a specific number of legislators to each department
of the country violated the constitutional requirement for
representation proportional to the population. One day before the Court
announced its decision, the Legislative Assembly modified the law by
allocating the number of legislators based on ranges of population.
During the year, there were new efforts to amend election law in
keeping with this ruling.
Corruption in the executive and legislative branches was a problem.
In an August poll published by the University of Central America's
Public Opinion Institute (IUDOP) respondents defined corruption not
only as a government official's use of public office for personal gain
but also as gang violence, common crime, sexual harassment, and other
phenomena. Respondents placed most trust in the PNC to fight corruption
while identifying the Comptroller's Office and the courts as the
government organizations most subject to corruption.
Laws provide for public access to government information; however,
in practice, government budget figures and information involving
investigations by the Comptroller's Office are difficult to obtain.
There are no laws or overt practices that prevent women from voting
or participating in the political and governmental systems. The
country's Vice President is a woman. Nine of 84 legislators were women,
with 22 women serving as elected alternate legislators. Two members of
the six-person Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly were
women. In the Judicial Branch, 2 out of 15 Supreme Court justices were
women. Of the 13 executive branch ministries, 3 constitutionally
independent agencies, and 4 special presidential commissioners, 6 were
women. Women held a substantial number of vice- and sub-ministerial
jobs. An estimated 40 percent of the country's judges were female;
however, the majority held positions in the lower-level courts.
No one who identifies himself or herself as a member of a minority
held a leadership position in the Government or the Legislative
Assembly.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. However, it
was sometimes reluctant to discuss worker rights issues with NGOs, and
it refused to discuss the topic with the PDDH. Domestic and
international NGOs are required to register with the Government, and
some reported difficulties (see Section 2.b.). However, in January, the
Government granted legal status to the Independent Monitoring Group of
El Salvador, an NGO that monitors labor standards in the maquila
sector.
Prior to the March presidential election, immigration authorities
at the international airport at Comalapa detained on arrival several
international election observers (and other travelers mistaken for
observers). Their detention was apparently a result of the Ministry of
Governance's interpretation of the Constitution, which specifically
prohibits foreigners from participating in the country's internal
politics. The detained individuals were released after 1 day and
allowed free access to observe the election.
The principal human rights investigative and monitoring body is the
PDDH, who is elected by the Assembly for a 3-year term. The Peace
Accords specifically created the PDDH, which was established formally
by an amendment to the Constitution that defined its role. In June, the
Legislative Assembly re-elected the incumbent Ombudsman, attorney
Beatrice Carrillo, for an additional 3-year term.
During the year, the PDDH accepted 634 complaints of human rights
violations, compared with 2,479 in 2003 (see Sections 1.a. and 1.c).
The rights most frequently alleged to have been violated included
personal integrity, due process, and labor laws. During the year, the
PDDH issued 296 resolutions involving 345 complaints filed during the
year and previous years. Some of the resolutions addressed multiple
complaints with similar characteristics, such as mistreatment by
police. The PDDH upheld charges in 190 resolutions, found the accused
not to have been responsible in 59 resolutions, resolved 29 cases using
its good offices, verified fulfillment of recommendations in 6 cases
received during the year, and issued recommendations in 12 cases. In
the remaining cases received during the year, the PDDH had not
determined whether the facts substantiated the allegations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution states that all persons are equal before the law
and prohibits discrimination based on nationality, race, or sex. In
practice, discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, and
indigenous people occurred in salaries and hiring. There were some
instances of violence against homosexuals.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, was a
widespread and serious problem. The law prohibits domestic violence and
provides for sentences ranging from 6 months to 1 year in prison.
Convicted offenders are prohibited from using alcohol or drugs and from
carrying guns. The law also allows the imposition of restraining orders
against offenders. Once a taboo social subject, domestic violence
increasingly was recognized publicly and has become a topic for
national debate. Government institutions such as the PDDH, the AG's
office, the CSJ, the Public Defender's office, and the PNC coordinated
efforts with NGOs and other organizations to combat violence against
women through education, government efforts to increase enforcement of
the law, and NGO support programs for victims. The National Secretariat
for the Family, through the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of
Women (ISDEMU), defined policies, programs, and projects on domestic
violence and maintained a hotline and a shelter for victims of domestic
abuse. In August, legislation was passed authorizing judges to allow
NGOs to assist victims of domestic violence.
At year's end, ISDEMU had received 4,329 complaints of domestic
violence, compared with 4,609 complaints in 2003. The Appellate Family
Courts received 25 cases of domestic violence from January through
July. Incidents of domestic violence and rape continued to be
underreported for several reasons: Societal and cultural pressures
against the victim, a fear of reprisal, poor response to victims by the
authorities, fear of publicity, and the belief that cases were unlikely
to be resolved. In August, the women's NGOs Cemujer, IMU, and AMS
conducted a public awareness campaign on violence against women. During
this campaign, they revealed that 56.4 percent of the population
thought it normal for a man to hit a woman.
In 2003, the decapitated bodies and severed heads of two young
women were found at separate locations; the murders fit the pattern of
Central American gang ritual slayings. No suspects had been charged at
year's end.
The Criminal Code permits the AG to prosecute in the case of a
rape, with or without a complaint from the victim, and a victim's
pardon may not nullify the criminal charge. The penalties for rape are
6-10 years in prison. The law does not address specifically spousal
rape; however, it may be considered a crime if the actions meet the
Criminal Code's definition of rape. According to PNC reports, gangs
raped 26 women during the year.
The law does not prohibit a person from working as a prostitute;
however, it prohibits any person from inducing, facilitating,
promoting, or giving incentives to a person to work as a prostitute.
Prostitution was common, and there were credible reports that some
women and girls were forced into prostitution (see Section 6.c.).
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 3
to 5 years for those convicted of harassment, or 4 to 8 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. In October, the AG presented
charges of sexual harassment against a regional PNC Deputy Commissioner
Wilfredo Avelanda. Four women filed charges against Avelanda; the PDDH
has registered four additional cases against Avelanda in the past.
Some factories in the EPZs required female job applicants to
present pregnancy test results, and they did not hire pregnant women
(see Section 6.b.).
The Constitution grants women and men the same legal rights, and
the Penal Code establishes sentences of 1 to 3 years in jail for public
officials who deny a person's civil rights based on gender. The law
prohibits pregnant women from performing strenuous activities in the
workplace after the fourth month of pregnancy (see Section 6.e.). All
women are entitled to 84 days of maternity leave.
Women suffered from cultural and societal discrimination and had
reduced economic opportunities; men often received priority in
available jobs and promotions. In particular, women were not accorded
equal respect or stature in traditional male-dominated sectors such as
agriculture and business. A 2002 U.N. Development Program (UNDP) study
reported a literacy rate of 79 percent for women and 85 percent for
men. One of the factors that contributed to girls leaving school was
teenage pregnancy. According to the Health Minister, 18,574 girls ages
10 to 19 years were pregnant as of October.
The Penal Code establishes a sentence of 6 months to 2 years for
employers who discriminate against women in labor relations; however,
it was difficult for employees to report such violations because they
feared reprisals. In February, the Legislative Assembly criminalized
the practice, common in financial and commercial sectors, of asking a
woman to take a pregnancy test before hiring her. A 2003 UNDP study
showed that women earn on average $3,350 per year, compared with $7,381
for men. The one sector in which there was an exception to this
practice was in the EPZs and maquilas, the largest source of new jobs,
where women made up 85 to 90 percent of the workforce (see Section
6.b.). However, even in this sector, men held the majority of positions
in management and in departments where employees received higher wages,
such as cutting and ironing. 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. According to the same UNDP study, women held 25.7 percent
of higher-level positions and 19.7 percent of municipal seats.
Women's organizations such as CEMUJER, Las Dignas, and the Melida
Anaya Montes Movement were engaged in promoting women's rights and
conducted several rights-awareness campaigns during the year.
Children.--The Government worked through state institutions and
with UNICEF to promote protection and general awareness of children's
rights; however, children continued to be victimized by physical and
sexual abuse, abandonment, exploitation, and neglect. The ISNA, an
autonomous entity, has responsibility for protecting and promoting
children's rights.
Education is compulsory through the ninth grade and nominally free
through high school. On average, children in the country attend school
through 5.5 grades. The Constitution prohibits persons from impeding
children's access to school for failure to pay fees or wear uniforms.
In practice, some schools continued to charge students fees to cover
budget shortfalls, and the inability to pay these fees or pay for
required books, uniforms, and activities prevented some poor children
from attending school. In 2003, the Legislative Assembly modified the
law so that schools are prohibited from charging students any fees. The
Ministry of Education continued to operate a hotline for the public to
report school administrators who violated these laws. As of August, the
Ministry had received 895 complaints of illegal school fees. Rural
areas fell short of providing a ninth grade education to all potential
students, in part because of a lack of resources and in part because
many rural parents often withdrew their children from school by the
sixth grade to work.
Infant malnutrition continued to be a problem, particularly in the
coffee-producing zones of Ahuachapan and Sonsonate. During the year,
the Government implemented a national plan for infants designed to
increase access to potable water, iodized salt, and micronutrients and
encourage breast-feeding, but progress was slow, particularly in rural
regions.
At year's end, ISNA reported 390 cases of negligence in which
children were victims. At year's end, ISDEMU had 1,639 cases of child
abuse and mistreatment on file. The ISNA reported 207 cases of child
sexual abuse during the year, compared with 143 cases in 2003 and 173
in 2002. A majority of the victims were female. The Olaf Palme
Foundation reported that it registered 5 cases of police abuse and
mistreatment of street children during the year. Olaf Palme reported 5
cases of sexual abuse (including rape), 13 cases of domestic violence
against children, and 8 cases of unpaid child support orders. All cases
were reported to the PDDH and to the Attorney General's office. (The
NGO reported that in previous years children feared reprisals if they
reported abuse.)
Child prostitution was a problem. According to a 2000 UNICEF
report, between 10 and 25 percent of visible prostitutes were minors,
and an estimated 40 percent of the hidden prostitutes who cater to
upper class clients were believed to be minors.
Children, especially those living on the streets, have been
trafficked to other countries and for the purpose of sexual
exploitation (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country. There was no evidence that the Government or
individual government officials participated in, facilitated, condoned,
or were otherwise complicit in trafficking in persons.
In 2003, the Legislative Assembly penalized trafficking in persons;
the law covers all forms of trafficking. The two statutes that dealt
most specifically with trafficking assessed criminal penalties ranging
from 4 to 8 years imprisonment. However, if the victim is under 18,
suffers mental or physical disease, suffers violations to his 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.
In October, legislators modified the Criminal Procedure Code to
require that crimes against sexual freedom, including trafficking in
persons, be heard during the plenary and public stage by a special
collective tribunal composed of three judges, rather than a jury to
prevent the release, long common among judicial authorities, of
traffickers.
There were no civil penalties for trafficking. During the year, the
Government prosecuted eight persons accused of trafficking. Government
agencies directly responsible for combating trafficking are the Alien
Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons unit of the Attorney General's
Office (FGR), the PNC, ISNA, and the Directorate General of Immigration
(DGM). However, these units were new and poorly funded.
The country was a point of origin and destination for international
trafficking in women and children, particularly the harboring of child
prostitutes. Anecdotal information suggested it was also a transit
country for international trafficking for the same purpose. 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. Most international trafficking victims came from Nicaragua,
Honduras, and South America. 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 International Labor
Organizations (ILO) stated that children were most vulnerable to
becoming victims of trafficking. The ILO's International Program for
the Elimination of child Labor (IPEC) developed a database for children
involved in prostitution and trafficking that revealed that 125
children in the downtown San Salvador area were involved in sexual
exploitation.
There was evidence that San Salvador was a transit point for girls
trafficked to Mexico, the United States, and other Central American
countries. Some children also were trafficked internally to the port
city of Acajutla and to bars and border regions. Children from
Nicaragua, Honduras, and South America were trafficked to work in bars
in major cities, specifically in San Miguel.
In May, the country's Consul in Chiapas, Mexico, asserted that
approximately 200 Salvadoran women worked as prostitutes in Mexico. The
Coordinator of the Public Security unit of the municipality, Angel
Mateos, asserted that dozens of Salvadoran girls ages 13 to 19 worked
as prostitutes in Chiapas. He also linked them with gangs.
In July, authorities arrested Sara Elizabeth Galdamez de Orellana
for prostituting three girls ages 14 to 16 in Metapan. However, she was
acquitted by a Justice of the Peace for lack of evidence. As of
October, the AG was trying to obtain additional evidence to reopen the
case.
On October 16, Border Police, acting in cooperation with ISNA,
conducted a nationwide sting operation against traffickers. Thirteen
traffickers were arrested, and 15 minors were rescued from forced
prostitution.
According to police, the most common methods of recruitment were
lucrative job offers; inducement into prostitution by family, friends,
and smugglers; and kidnapping.
The Salvadoran Network Against Trafficking, composed of the ILO,
Catholic Relief Services, Las Dignas, CONAMUS, Flor de Piedra, FESPAD,
and CARITAS, provided legal counseling and human rights awareness to
victims of trafficking.
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 old and did not request
assistance or express fear for their lives, they were deported as a
matter of policy. Minors were not immediately deported but were instead
repatriated, with ISNA cooperating with the counterpart organization in
the victim's country of origin. The police encouraged national
trafficking victims to press charges against traffickers. A foreign
trafficking victim may file a criminal case, but in practical terms,
illegal migrants, including foreign victims of trafficking, were
deported before they had the opportunity to do so. Victims could apply
for temporary residency or refugee status if they were likely to face
persecution in the country of origin. Access to legal, medical, and
psychological services was accessible on request. Victims of
trafficking were not treated as criminals unless they were undocumented
workers of legal age. The Government provided assistance to its
repatriated citizens who were victims of trafficking.
The Government funded foreign and domestic NGOs that provided
services to illegal migrants who might also have been trafficking
victims. ISNA provided protection, counseling, and legal assistance to
abused, homeless, and neglected children, including those who might
also have been trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment and education. The law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, but in practice, the
Government often did not enforce these provisions. Although efforts
increased to combat discrimination and increase opportunities for those
with nonwar-related disabilities, they were still inadequate. The
Ministry of Labor promoted compliance with a 2000 law that requires
that 1 of every 25 employees hired by private businesses be disabled,
an increase from the previous requirement of 1 in 50. There was no
reliable data on the actual number of persons with disabilities
employed, but the unemployment rate among the disabled was
significantly higher than that of the general population.
During the year, the National Secretariat of the Family (SNF)
estimated that 7 to 10 percent of the population had some form of
disability. A 2000-01 study by the World Health Organization in
conjunction with local and international partners found that the
majority of persons with disabilities were young, lived in rural areas,
and had little access to rehabilitation services. It also found that
many of the causes of disability were preventable.
Efforts to combat discrimination and increase opportunities for
those whose disabilities were unrelated to the war were growing but
remained inadequate. The Ministry of Labor promoted voluntary
compliance with a 2000 law that requires businesses to employ 1 person
with a disability for every 25 employees, an increase from the
preexisting requirement of 1 for 50. The Ministry's limited resources
and decentralization of its records meant that there were no reliable
data on the number of persons with disabilities who were employed;
however, the unemployment rate was significantly higher than that in
the general population.
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.
In February, the Legislative Assembly debated and let stand a
previously enacted special statutory law authorizing persons with
disabilities to be members of municipal boards of directors. However,
the National Committee for Disabled Persons (CONAIPD), the Independent
Group for a Comprehensive Rehabilitation (ACOGIPRI), and the Salvadoran
Association for Blind People alleged that this provision is not
enforced in practice.
In May, SNF began a housing project design for disabled persons
selected by the CONAIPD.
There were several organizations dedicated to protecting and
promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, but funding was
insufficient. Foreign funds for badly needed rehabilitation services
channeled through the Telethon Foundation Pro-Rehabilitation, a local
private voluntary organization, helped address numerous rehabilitation
issues and provided alternatives for the education and rehabilitation
of persons with disabilities. The Government and national and
international NGOs provided funding for the Salvadoran Rehabilitation
Institute for the Disabled, which had 10 centers throughout the country
and offered medical treatment, counseling, special education programs,
and professional training courses.
Indigenous People.--There were no special rights for indigenous
people; however, they were allowed to make decisions regarding their
communal lands just as any other landowners under the Constitution. The
Constitution states that native languages are part of the national
heritage and should be preserved and respected. There were no national
laws regarding indigenous rights. According to research done during the
year by the NGO Native Land, Jose Matias Delgado University, the
Environmental Ministry, and National Geographic, the country has three
different classes of indigenous people: Nahua-Pipiles (western and
central areas of the country), Lencas (eastern region), and Cacaoperas
(eastern region). This research concluded that indigenous people had
lost their traditional relationship with the land, that people living
in the capital believed that the country did not have an indigenous
population, and that in general indigenous people were considered
peasants.
Most indigenous people have adopted local customs and assimilated
into the general population, from which they now are generally
indistinguishable. There were a few very small communities whose
members continue to wear traditional dress and maintain traditional
customs to a recognizable degree; they did so without repression or
interference. These small indigenous groups existed in the poorest
parts of the rural countryside where employment opportunities were few
and domestic violence was a problem.
Indigenous people reportedly earned less than other agricultural
laborers. Indigenous women in particular had little access to
educational and work opportunities due to cultural practices, lack of
resources, and rural underdevelopment. As with the poor rural sector in
general, access to land was a problem for indigenous people. Few
possessed titles to land, and bank loans and other forms of credit were
extremely limited.
There were some small, active indigenous associations. The best
known was the National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In April, sex workers
charged that the January criminal reforms on sexual exploitation were
misunderstood by PNC officers and the Municipal Police (CAM). According
to the workers, PNC agents arrested transvestites working as
prostitutes, although prostitution per se is not a crime in the
country.
On March 23, the body of transvestite Jose Natividad Flores Duran
was found next to the Catholic church in Cerro Grande, San Vicente;
Flores apparently died after having been hit with stones. The same
night, unknown persons killed David Antonio Andrade Castellano in a
similar fashion in the El Santuario neighborhood, near San Vicente
cemetery.
In October, the Ministry of Governance denied legal status to ``En
Nombre de la Rosa,'' a homosexual and transvestite association (see
Section 2.b.).
In 2003, the human rights NGO named Entre Amigos reported that
unknown persons killed three transvestites, Jose Cornado Galdamez,
Reyes Armando Aguilar, and Jose Roberto de Paz, as they walked down the
main street of Santa Tecla, La Libertad.
Entre Amigos presented a petition before the AG's office;
investigations were ongoing at year's end.
In a 2003 program sponsored by the Government of the Netherlands,
Entre Amigos trained police officers in respecting the rights of
homosexuals; the program ended in February.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides for the
rights of workers and employers to form unions or associations, and
workers and employers exercised these rights in practice; however,
there were some problems. There were repeated complaints by workers, in
some cases supported by the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association
(CFA), that the Government impeded workers from exercising their 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 the Ministry of Labor (MOL), 30 per cent of the country's
workforce was unionized.
In May 2003, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) denied registration to the
communications union SITCOM for failing to meet the legally prescribed
minimum number of 35 affiliated employees. The MOL refused to include
radio station workers as part of the communications industry and two
union-affiliated workers whom their employer considered management
employees, which made them ineligible for union membership. In March,
the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the MOL to
present a report regarding its denial.
Public agencies that provide essential services have the right to
form unions. Military personnel, police, and government workers may not
form unions but are allowed to form professional and employee
organizations. The Labor Code does not require that employers reinstate
illegally dismissed workers. The Labor Code specifies 18 reasons for
which an employer can legally suspend workers. The employer can invoke
11 of them unilaterally without prior administrative or judicial
authorization. In practice, some employers dismissed workers who sought
to form Unions. The Government generally ensured that employers paid
severance to these workers. However, in most cases, the Government did
not prevent their dismissal or require their reinstatement. Workers and
the ILO reported instances of employers using illegal pressure to
discourage 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.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution and the Labor Code provide for collective bargaining
rights for employees in the private sector and for certain categories
of workers in autonomous government agencies, such as utilities and the
port authority.
The MOL oversees implementation of collective bargaining agreements
and acts as a conciliator in labor disputes in the private sector and
in autonomous government institutions. In practice, ministers and the
heads of autonomous government institutions often negotiated with labor
organizations directly, relying on the MOL only for such functions as
officially certifying Unions. The Ministry often sought to conciliate
labor disputes through informal channels rather than attempt to enforce
regulations strictly, which has led to charges that the Ministry was
biased against labor. 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.
(The employer, the workers, and the Labor Ministry each name one
representative to a panel.)
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Fifty-one percent of all 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. The Union must name a strike committee to serve
as a negotiator and send the list of names to the MOL, which notifies
the employer. The Union must wait 4 days from the time the Ministry
notifies the employer before beginning the strike.
Public workers who provide vital community services are not allowed
to strike legally; however, the Government generally treated strikes
called by public employee associations as legitimate.
There were approximately 240 maquila plants, the majority of which
were located in the country's 15 Export Processing Zones (EPZs). The
Labor Code applies in the EPZs, and there are no special EPZ labor
regulations.
There were credible reports that some factories dismissed union
organizers, and there were no collective bargaining agreements with the
18 unions active in the maquila sector. As of September, there were 11
unions in the maquila sector. At year's end, the Ministry of Labor
reported that the country had 147 active unions and 156 registered
unions, 17 labor federations, and 2 labor confederations.
Workers in a number of plants reported verbal abuse, sexual
harassment, and, in several cases, physical abuse by supervisors. The
MOL had insufficient resources to cover all the EPZs. Allegations of
corruption among labor inspectors continued to surface (see Section
6.a.).
In March, Mirna Suyapa Gomez presented a petition before the Deputy
Ombudsman for Labor Rights and the Ministry of Labor. Gomez alleged
that the maquila Leader Garments dismissed her despite her status as
financial secretary of the Salvadoran Textile Industry Union. In
September, the MOL confirmed that Gomez had accepted severance payment
instead of reinstallation.
The ICFTU reported persistent problems facing female employees in
EPZs, including mandatory pregnancy tests and firing of workers who
were pregnant (see Section 5).
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,
and the Government generally enforced this provision; however,
trafficking in persons, primarily women and children, was a problem
(see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Constitution prohibits the employment of children under the age of 14;
however, child labor was a problem. According to ILO/IPEC research,
more than 220,000 children between the ages of 5 and 13 worked, with
30,000 children employed in hazardous activities. IPEC and MOL programs
have helped over 5,000 children depart the workplace and reenroll in
school. In September 2003, the Minister of Labor asserted that 67 out
of 100 children were engaged in some form of work, including family
household work. Minors age 14 or older may receive special Labor
Ministry permission to work but only where such employment is
indispensable to the sustenance of the minor and his or her family.
This is most often the case with children of peasant families who
traditionally work during planting and harvesting seasons. The law
prohibits those under the age of 18 from working in occupations
considered hazardous (see Section 6.e.).
The MOL was responsible for enforcing child labor laws; in
practice, labor inspectors focused almost exclusively on the formal
sector, where child labor was rare, and in the past few labor
inspectors have dealt with child labor cases. The MOL 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. The law limits the workday to 6 hours
(plus a maximum of 2 hours of overtime) for youths between 14 and 16
years of age and sets a maximum normal workweek for youths at 34 hours.
The constitutional provisions apply to all sectors of the economy.
However, there is a large informal sector where it was difficult to
monitor practices or enforce labor laws. Orphans and children from poor
families frequently worked for their own or family survival as street
vendors and general laborers in small businesses, mainly in the
informal sector. Children in these circumstances often did not complete
schooling. There were no reports of child labor in the industrial
sector.
In January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that thousands of
girls, some as young as age 9, worked as domestics, making them
vulnerable to physical or sexual abuse. In May 2003, ILO/IPEC'
published a research paper entitled ``Understanding Child Labor in El
Salvador.'' According the IPEC data, 1 out of 10 children worked.
Children's participation in work activity increased with age; while
less than 2 percent of children aged 5 to 9 work, approximately 13
percent of children aged 10 to 14 worked. Child labor was more common
in rural areas (15.7 percent) than in urban areas (7.7 per cent).
Approximately 60 percent of children worked in the informal sector in
micro-agricultural and nonagricultural family enterprises, and they did
not receive a salary.
In September, the MOL convened the first meeting of the National
Committee Against Child Labor, which, in addition to the MOL, included
representatives from the Ministries of Education, Agriculture, and
Governance, the private sector, labor groups, and civil society NGOs.
In September, an MOL report on the eradication of child labor indicated
that 7,000 child laborers had been removed from the worst forms of
child labor and reenrolled in school since 1999.
According to a June HRW report, up to one-third of sugarcane
workers were children under the age of 18. The same report also
revealed that medical care was often not available on the sugarcane
farms, and children frequently had to pay for the cost of their own
medical treatment.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is set by
executive decree based on recommendations from a tripartite committee
(which includes government, labor, and business). In 2003, the
tripartite committee agreed to raise the minimum daily wage to $5.28
for service employees, $5.16 for industrial laborers, and $5.04 for
maquila workers. The agricultural minimum wage remained $2.47, with
$3.57 for seasonal agriculture industry workers. The minimum wage with
benefits did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family.
The MOL is responsible for enforcing minimum wage laws and
generally did so effectively in the formal sector. However, some
maquila plants underpaid workers and failed to compensate them in
accordance with the law for mandatory overtime, and did not pay legally
mandated contributions to health and pension programs. As of September,
the MOL received 816 complaints alleging that the minimum wage was not
paid. The MOL issued 541 sentences that favored workers; the remaining
cases were pending. Corruption among labor inspectors and in the labor
courts continued to be a problem, although the MOL received an
increased budget to hire more inspectors, offer increased training to
existing inspectors, and perform more labor inspections.
The law sets a maximum normal workweek of 44 hours. It limits the
workweek to no more than 6 days for all workers and requires bonus pay
for overtime. By law, a full-time employee is paid for an 8-hour day of
rest in addition to the 44-hour normal workweek and receives an average
of 1 month's wage a year in required bonuses plus 2 weeks of paid
vacation. Many workers worked more hours than the legal maximum; some
were paid overtime but others were not.
The Constitution and the Labor Code require employers, including
the Government, to take steps to ensure that employees were not placed
at risk to their health and safety in their workplaces. These laws
prohibit the employment of persons under 18 years of age in occupations
considered hazardous or morally dangerous, such as bars and pool halls;
the prohibition also applies to hazardous occupations such as
agricultural work with poisonous chemicals or factory work with
dangerous equipment. The Labor Code prohibits pregnant women from
engaging in strenuous physical exertion at the workplace after the
fourth month of pregnancy. Health and safety regulations were outdated,
and enforcement was inadequate. The MOL attempted to enforce the
applicable regulations but had restricted powers and limited resources
to enforce compliance. Workers in some maquilas expressed concerns
about unhealthy drinking water, unsanitary bathrooms and eating
facilities, and inadequate ventilation (problems with dust and heat).
__________
GRENADA
Grenada is a parliamentary democracy, governed by a prime minister,
a cabinet, and a unicameral legislature, with a governor general as
titular head of state. In November 2003, Prime Minister Keith
Mitchell's New National Party (NNP) won 8 out of 15 parliamentary seats
in generally free and fair elections. The judiciary is independent.
The Royal Grenada Police Force is responsible for maintaining
internal law and order and external security. Civilian authorities
maintained effective control of the security forces. Some members of
the security force committed occasional human rights abuses. Following
Hurricane Ivan, the Regional Security Service (RSS) sent soldiers and
police officers from other Caribbean nations to assist the police force
with maintaining law and order. The RSS was present from September to
December.
The free-market economy was based on agriculture and tourism.
Grenada and 2 smaller islands, Carriacou and Petit Martinique, had a
population of approximately 102,000. Hurricane Ivan damaged an
estimated 90 percent of island houses, destroying 40 percent totally,
and damaged 91 percent of the rain forest and the agricultural sector.
The Caribbean Development Bank estimated that the economy contracted by
3.6 percent during the year.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas, particularly
continued 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 of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
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. Flogging, a legal
form of punishment, was rare but was used as punishment for sex crimes.
The Police Commissioner continued to speak out strongly against police
use of unlawful force.
Prison conditions generally met international standards, the
Government permitted visits by independent human rights observers, and
such visits occurred during the year. The main prison was damaged
during Hurricane Ivan, and the authorities permitted some prisoners,
including 15 of the ``Grenada 17,'' to leave. The 15 prisoners returned
at the end of each day, and the prison was repaired by year's end.
In September, RSS personnel reportedly used excessive force to stop
a riot at the prison. According to press reports, inmates complained
about beatings, broken limbs, and humiliation. A local attorney called
upon the Government to investigate the charges.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
The 830-person national police force, including an additional 200
rural constables, had a hierarchical structure and was generally
effective in responding to complaints; however, lack of resources was a
problem. While individual cases of corrupt or abusive police have been
reported, there was no generalized problem of police corruption. In
September, authorities accused five police officers of looting after
the passing of Hurricane Ivan, and an investigation continued at year's
end. The police investigated allegations of police brutality
internally. 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. For several months following the
passing of Hurricane Ivan, a temporary curfew was enacted, and RSS
troops provided internal law enforcement assistance. By year's end, the
curfew had been lifted, and all foreign troops had left the country.
The law permits 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. 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 was a functioning system of bail,
although persons charged with capital offenses were not eligible.
Persons charged with treason may be accorded bail only upon the
recommendation of the Governor General. In practice, detainees were
provided access to a lawyer and family members within 24 hours.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary was a part of the Eastern Caribbean legal system.
There were three resident judges who heard cases in the Supreme Court.
An appeals court, staffed by a chief justice who traveled between the
Eastern Caribbean Islands, heard appeals cases. Final appeal may be
made to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
The law provides for the right to a fair public trial, and the
authorities generally observed this right in practice. 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. A defense lawyer has the right to be present
during interrogation and may advise the accused how to respond or not
to respond to questions. The accused has the right to confront his
accuser.
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.
Assizes are held three times a year for a 2-month period. With the
exception of persons charged with a killing and foreign-born drug
suspects, the courts granted most defendants bail while awaiting trial.
In March, the Grenada High Court ruled unconstitutional the
sentences given to 14 of the ``Grenada 17,'' who were convicted for the
1983 murder of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. In 1986, the 14 had been
sentenced to death, which was commuted to life imprisonment in 1991.
The High Court was set to re-sentence and possibly free the 14 until
the Government appealed the decision to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme
Court; a decision was pending at year's end. A separate appeal was
filed for the three individuals convicted of the murder who were not
sentenced to death and who had been ordered released by the High Court
in 2002. In 2003, Amnesty International (AI) classified the Grenada 17
as political prisoners based upon its findings that their original
trial was unfair, and subsequent appeals manipulated for political
reasons.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were four weekly newspapers, seven
radio stations, and a private television station.
In May, the Government reportedly attempted to intimidate members
of the press who reported on allegations of corruption against the
Prime Minister. One journalist reportedly was threatened and later
detained by the police after attempting to report the incident. The
Media Workers Association of Grenada reported that the Government
threatened to sue media outlets if they reprinted an article from an
Internet journal on the corruption allegations. Both the Association of
Caribbean Media Workers and the international Committee to Protect
Journalists criticized the Government for seeking to intimidate the
media.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
movement within the country.
The Constitution does not address forced exile, but the Government
did not use it.
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. Although the Government provides temporary
protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the
1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967
Protocol, no one sought such protection during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. General elections must be held every 5 years. In
November 2003, the incumbent NNP administration of Prime Minister Keith
Mitchell retained power by winning 8 of the 15 seats in Parliament in
elections generally considered free and fair, but with some
irregularities noted by the Organization of American States in several
very close races. On March 19, the court ruled that one contested
Parliament seat remain with the NNP.
There were several allegations of corruption during the year. In
August, a Commission of Inquiry began to investigate whether Prime
Minister Mitchell accepted money from a German citizen, reportedly in
exchange for receiving a diplomatic title in the Government. The Prime
Minister claimed the money was approved by the cabinet and was for
legitimate trade promotion expenses. At year's end, the German citizen
was imprisoned in a foreign country on fraud charges.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, government and opposition
politicians criticized each other for attempting to politicize the
distribution of relief supplies.
There was no law providing for public access to government
information; however, citizens may request access to any information
that is not deemed classified.
There were 4 women in the 15-seat Parliament; there were 4 women
among the 12 appointed senators. There were six female ministers of
government. Women filled 8 of the 13 permanent secretary posts, the
highest civil service position in each ministry.
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 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, launched in 2001 to
investigate the period between the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, had
still not presented its final report to the Government. There was
public perception that the report never would be issued. The report was
due to have been delivered in June. The Government did not react to
AI's 2003 claim that the trial and sentencing of the 17 convicted
leaders of the 1983 Revolutionary Government was flawed.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, place of
origin, political opinion, color, creed, or sex, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions.
Women.--Women's rights monitors believed 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. In practice, the court enforced
the law.
In September, RSS personnel reportedly traded hurricane relief
supplies for sexual favors with women. The police confirmed receiving
credible reports that such incidents occurred, including from the
Grenada National Organization of Women.
The law prohibits rape and stipulates a sentence of 15 years'
imprisonment for a conviction of any nonconsensual form of sex.
Sentences for assault against a spouse varied according to the severity
of the incident. A shelter accommodating approximately 20 battered and
abused women and their children operated in the northern part of the
island, staffed by medical and psychological counseling personnel.
Prostitution is illegal.
The law prohibits sexual harassment; there were no reported cases
during the year.
Women generally enjoyed the same rights as men, and there was no
evidence of official discrimination in health care, employment, or
education. Women frequently earned less than men performing the same
work; such wage differences were less marked for the more highly paid
jobs. There were a number of active community based and political
women's groups, such as the Grenada National Organization of Women.
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.
Boys and girls had equal access to medical care.
Government social service agencies reported a decrease in the
number of reported child abuse cases, including sexual abuse. Abused
children were placed either in a government-run home or in private
foster homes. The Criminal Code suggests penalties ranging from 5 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 law does not address trafficking in
persons specifically; however, there were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not protect job seekers
with disabilities from discrimination in employment. The law does not
mandate access to public buildings or services.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join independent labor unions. Although employers are not legally
obliged to recognize a union formed by their employees, they generally
did so in practice. Labor Ministry officials estimated that 45 percent
of the work force was unionized.
All major unions belonged to one umbrella labor federation, the
Grenada Trades Union Council, which was subsidized by the Government.
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.
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.--
Child labor is illegal; however, children sometimes worked in the
agricultural sector on family estates. The statutory minimum age for
employment of children is 18 years. Inspectors from the Ministry of
Labor enforced this provision in the formal sector by periodic checks;
however, enforcement in the informal sector remained a problem.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is a tripartite Wages
Advisory Committee, composed of union, business, and government
representatives. The Labor Ministry prescribes minimum wages, which
last were updated 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. All agricultural workers must be paid for a minimum of 5
hours per day. The minimum wage for domestic workers was set at $148
(EC$400) monthly. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Most workers, including nonunionized
workers, received packages of benefits from employers set by collective
bargaining agreements between employers and labor unions. Many families
received remittances from relatives abroad and also helped support
themselves through garden-plot agriculture.
The Constitution provides for a 40-hour maximum workweek. The law
does not prescribe a standard workweek; however, public sector workers
are expected to work a 40-hour week Monday through Friday. The normal
workweek in the commercial sector included Saturday morning work but
did not exceed 40 hours. The law requires a premium for work above the
standard workweek.
The Government sets health and safety standards, but the
authorities enforced them unevenly. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from dangerous workplace situations without jeopardy to
continued employment.
__________
GUATEMALA
Guatemala is a democratic republic with separation of powers and a
centralized national administration. The Constitution provides for
universal suffrage to elect a one-term president and a unicameral
congress. Elections for president, considered by international
observers to be free and fair, were held in 2003, and Oscar Berger of
the three-party coalition Grand National Alliance (GANA) won a 4-year
term, which started in January. The judiciary is independent; however,
it suffered from inefficiency, corruption, and intimidation.
The Minister of Government (Interior) oversees the National
Civilian Police (PNC), which has primary responsibility for internal
security. There are no active members of the military in the police
command structure; however, the Government occasionally tasked the army
with providing personnel to support the police. The law subordinates
army personnel to police control during joint patrols or operations.
The military is responsible for external security, and the Constitution
requires that the Minister of Defense be a military officer. The
influence of organized crime remained pervasive but waned considerably
within the executive branch. Some members of the security forces
committed human rights abuses. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The economy is market-based, and the population is approximately
12.1 million. Apparel, nontraditional agricultural exports, and tourism
grew rapidly, earning more than traditional exports of coffee, sugar,
and bananas. Remittances from citizens abroad, approximately $2.5
billion, constituted the largest source of foreign exchange, and more
than 30 percent of the population depended on remittances to raise the
family income above the poverty line. Foreign aid also was significant.
The economic growth rate was approximately 2.5 percent. More than 50
percent of the work force and 60 percent of the poor were engaged in
some form of agriculture. Inflation was about 9.3 percent. Land
distribution was highly skewed: 1 percent of farms contained more than
one-third of all cultivated land. There was a marked disparity in
income distribution, and poverty was pervasive, particularly in the
large indigenous community. Approximately 57 percent of the total
population and 71 percent of persons in rural areas lived in poverty;
22 percent of the population lived in extreme poverty. Combined
unemployment and underemployment reached an estimated 18 percent, and
70 percent of the population was employed in the informal sector.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, very serious problems remained in some areas. There
were credible reports of unlawful killings by security forces. There
were no substantiated reports of politically motivated killings. The
U.N. reported that ``social cleansing'' continued. The number of
reported lynchings remained approximately the same as the previous
year. On January 19, the Supreme Court reinstated the 30-year sentence
of Colonel Juan Valencia Osorio for the 1990 murder of anthropologist
Myrna Mack Chang, which had been previously overturned by an Appeals
Court in 2003.
There were credible reports of individual police officers'
involvement in kidnappings for ransom. Security forces tortured,
abused, and mistreated suspects and detainees. Prison conditions
remained harsh. In most cases, the prosecutorial and judicial systems
did not ensure full and timely investigations, fair trials, or due
process. Arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detentions were
problems. Judges and other law enforcement officials were subjected to
intimidation and corruption. Impunity was pervasive, although efforts
to reform the judiciary continued. Members of the media were targets of
attacks and intimidation. The number of attacks on members and
employees of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights
workers by unidentified persons decreased slightly during the year,
although one organization received a significant threat. Violence
increased, and discrimination against women persisted, as did societal
abuse of children and discrimination against persons with disabilities
and indigenous people. Trafficking in persons was a problem. There were
reports of retaliation by employers against workers who sought to form
unions and participate in union activities, and the Government did not
enforce consistently laws to protect workers who exercised their
rights. There was widespread employment of minors in the informal
sector.
During a February 25 ceremony for the National Day for the Dignity
of Victims of Violence, President Oscar Berger ``re-launched'' the 1996
Peace Accords as a national agenda and symbolically apologized to the
citizens on behalf of the State for human rights violations committed
during the 36-year civil conflict.
In June, the Berger Administration reduced the size of the military
from an authorized strength of 27,214 to 15,500 personnel, eliminated 7
major military commands and units, and reduced the military budget to
0.33 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), far below the ceiling
required by the 1996 Peace Accords. In August, the military made public
a new doctrine, a core part of which addresses the importance of
protecting and promoting human rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces committed a number of unlawful killings. The
Government arrested and prosecuted some of those responsible; however,
as in 97 percent of all homicide cases nationwide, the weak
investigative, enforcement, and prosecutorial system prevented the
Government from adequately investigating killings and other crimes or
arresting and successfully prosecuting perpetrators (see Sections 1.c.
and 1.e.). The U. N. Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) reported several
cases in which military and police officials were responsible for
killings, usually for criminal motives. During the year, the PNC Office
of Professional Responsibility (ORP) investigated 51 reports of police
involvement in killings.
In December 2003, two military personnel, Marvin Juan Luis and
Floridalma Paz Gallardo, acting on orders from Colonel Luis Carvajal,
former head of the Army's protocol office, shot and killed his wife
Ingrid Lima de Carvajal. All three were in prison awaiting trial at
year's end. Other members of the military allegedly threatened the
victim's mother and sister if they acted as co-plaintiffs in the case.
There were other reports of military or police involvement in unlawful
killings.
On January 26, David Ixcol Escobar, a former gang member,
complained to the press that two police cars had blocked him, and
several officers had threatened his life. The next day, he and a friend
were found shot to death. The following day, a witness to the killing
was shot multiple times and killed. The Public Ministry created a case
file regarding the threats against Escobar; however, neither it nor the
ORP had any record of an investigation into the killings.
On July 22, unknown individuals shot and killed Jesus Mendoza, a
cousin of Otoniel de la Roca Mendoza (a witness in the 2000 Inter-
American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) case on the 1992 disappearance
of guerilla leader Efrain Bamaca Velasquez). Some human rights leaders
alleged that the killing was related to De la Roca's 2000 testimony
before the IACHR. By year's end, the authorities had not arrested
anyone for the killing.
On August 31, members of the PNC entered the Nueva Linda plantation
in Champerico, Retalhuleu to execute a court order to evict over 1,000
peasants who illegally occupied the land. In the ensuing conflict, 3
police and 7 workers were killed and more than 20 were injured,
including 1 police officer who subsequently died from his wounds (see
Section 1.c.).
The Special Unit for Human Rights charged two persons for the July
2003 killing of Josue Israel Lopez, Auxiliary Human Rights Ombudsman
for Chimaltenango Province. Both were in prison awaiting trial at
year's end.
On October 6, the Quiche Penal Court convicted and sentenced Miguel
Xon Morales to 15 years in prison for the April 2003 killing of his
cousin, human rights activist and Mayan priest Diego Xon Salazar.
In September, the case of the May 2003 killing of Mayan priest
Gerardo Cano Manuel was closed after the only witness was killed.
There were no developments and none were expected in the following
cases: The 2002 shootout between members of the Criminal Investigative
Service (SIC) of the PNC and military intelligence personnel; the 2002
alleged police killing of Rudy Castillo and Erick Garcia in Sumpango,
Sacatepequez, or the 2002 killing of William Ruano Mayen.
Most cases of political killings from past years remained
unresolved in national courts, such as those of former presidential
candidate Jorge Carpio in 1993 and, in 2001, of Luis Garcia, a witness
in the 1998 Gerardi case. There was some progress in cases of past
extrajudicial killings by members of the security forces; however, in
many other cases, there was little or no progress.
On January 19, the Supreme Court reinstated the 30-year sentence
against Colonel Juan Valencia Osorio for the 1990 killing of
anthropologist Myrna Mack Chang. However, on January 22, Valencia
Osorio escaped from police custody while under house arrest pending the
reinstatement of his sentence. Military officers allegedly aided with
the disappearance, and Valencia remained a fugitive at year's end. On
April 22, President Berger made a formal apology to the Mack family.
The Government had not allocated funds to pay the $779,000 (6.2 million
quetzals) reparations to the Mack family ordered by the IACHR by year's
end.
On April 19, the Government held a ceremony to honor Jose Merida
Escobar, the primary investigator in the Mack case, who was killed in
2001 after presenting evidence against Noel de Jesus Beteta.
During the year, prosecutors in the 1998 murder of Bishop Juan
Gerardi, the Coordinator of the Archbishop's Office on Human Rights
(ODHAG), investigated 10 or more suspects thought to be involved in the
killing, while awaiting a decision on an appeal filed with the Third
Appeals Court in January that requested that the Fourth Penal Court be
recused from hearing the case. The appeal became moot when the members
of the Penal Court were replaced after the October election of a new
Supreme Court.
According to MINUGUA, in 90 percent of the over 600 massacres
committed during the 36-year civil conflict, the Government never
investigated or prosecuted anyone. However, there was progress on three
cases during the year.
In April, during an IACHR hearing, the Government accepted
responsibility for the 1982 massacre in Plan de Sanchez, Baja Verapaz,
in which the army and armed paramilitary groups (PACs) allegedly killed
268 people. The Court ruled against the Government and ordered it to
pay $8 million (64 million quetzals) in reparations to the survivors.
On July 9, the Coban Sentencing Trial sentenced 14 military
personnel, 1 lieutenant and 13 enlisted troops, to 40 years in prison
each for the murder of 11 and injury to 35 civilians during the 1995
Xaman massacre.
The trial of six former PACs for their suspected participation in
the 1982 Rio Negro massacre in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz was scheduled to
begin in October (see Section 1.e.); however, it was delayed until
early 2005 due to minor procedural errors. At year's end, police
continued to search for former Army Captain Jose Solares Gonzalez for
his alleged participation in the massacre.
The case of the 1982 military massacre of 250 civilians at Dos
Erres, Peten, remained stalled in court by 36 motions of appeal by the
defense.
Unlike 2003, exhumations of secret mass graves continued throughout
the year without major threats. Forensic scientists have exhumed more
than 2,857 remains from more than 321 sites since exhumations began in
1992. During the year, forensic scientists exhumed 433 remains from 71
different sites. Exhumation teams have increased their productivity
tenfold since commencing operations in 1992 but noted that demand for
exhumations increased in recent years, and the work could continue for
several decades. Most of the bodies recovered were those of civilian
victims of military or paramilitary killings in the early 1980s.
Forensics groups used the information obtained from the exhumations to
verify eyewitness reports of massacres--of which the Commission for
Historical Clarification recorded 669--and to assign responsibility.
Forensic research and DNA testing identified some of the remains and
were used in some criminal cases.
On April 21, Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon submitted a request to
the Government to have a judge depose retired General and former de-
facto president Efrain Rios Montt, retired General Benedicto Lucas
Garcia, retired General and former president Fernando Romeo Lucas
Garcia, retired General Angel Anibal Guevara, and five others about the
deaths in the 1980 takeover of the Spanish Embassy and the
disappearance of four Spanish priests during the early 1980s. On
December 1, the Supreme Court named criminal court Judge Saul Alvarez
to the case. On December 13, a Mexican court issued an arrest warrant
at the request of the Spanish government for former Minister of
Government Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz, who has been living in Mexico since
General Lucas Garcia left power in 1982.
Following an April 2003 first payment to the ex-PACs, in September
the Congress approved a series of three additional payments. The
Congress agreed to pay each former PAC member approximately $665 (5,241
quetzals) by the end of 2006. Civil society and international human
rights observers protested the indemnification, noting that former PACs
were implicated in human rights abuses committed during the internal
armed conflict and that the payments would further detract from other
spending priorities. On November 2, former PAC members protested the
lack of payment by closing highways, airports, seaports, and other
transportation infrastructure. On November 24, the Public Ministry
issued arrest warrants for 15 persons implicated in organizing the
protests and restricting public movement. Several human rights
organizations submitted a joint injunction to the Constitutional Court,
questioning the legality of the payments. On December 8, the
Constitutional Court issued a second provisional ruling (the first was
September 21) that suspended the payments. The Court's final decision
was pending at year's end. PAC leaders publicly threatened the human
rights organizations for their opposition. In response to the threats,
the Government provided police protection to the organizations.
On July 6, President Berger formally installed Rosalina Tuyuc, head
of National Coordinator of Widows (CONAVIGUA) (which represents widows
and orphans from the civil conflict), as President of the National
Reparations Commission. The Commission also included seven members of
civil society and numerous government agencies. Berger presented Tuyuc
with a check for $3.75 million (30 million quetzals) the first payment
of up to $37.5 million (300 million quetzals), that the Government
committed to distributing annually to victims of the civil conflict
over a 13-year period maximum of $487 million (3.9 billion quetzals)
total). MINUGUA issued a report during the year that identified the
Government's continued support for appropriate financing of reparations
as an important indicator of its commitment to human rights.
In some cases reported in 2003, evidence was not sufficient to
conclude whether the killing was politically motivated. In October
2003, two persons shot and killed National Unity of Hope (UNE) party
member Miguel Salvador Aguilar while attending a political meeting at
the UNE headquarters in Jalapa. Two suspects were arrested and
convicted; however, the convictions were overturned on appeals. On
October 15, the Second Penal Court found former FRG mayor of San
Cristobal Verapaz Hugo Cal Cojoc guilty for the May 2003 murder of
Unionista party member Byron Vladimir Jom Cal. Cojoc was sentenced to
15 years in prison.
There was no progress and none was expected in the 2002 killing of
Jorge Rosal, a regional leader of the Patriot Party.
On June 24, a court sentenced Ever Lopez Gomez and Billy Rene
Barrios, to 9 and 29 years' imprisonment, respectively, for the 2002
killing of Menchu Foundation accountant Guillermo Ovalle (see Section
4).
In August, the U.N. reported that acts of ``social cleansing''
continued to occur. Violence against street children decreased
significantly (see Section 5). There were multiple reports of women
tortured, disappeared, and killed (see Section 5).
The PDH reported that during the year, there were 17 attempted
lynchings, in which 5 victims died and 12 were injured, compared with
18 such attempts resulting in 14 deaths in all of 2003. The majority
took place in heavily indigenous, rural areas where the justice system
was least accessible. Human rights activists attributed the decrease in
lynchings in 2003-04 (down from an average of 147 a year from 2000-02)
to the intervention of individuals or government officials who had
received training on the rule of law.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, there were credible allegations of police
involvement in kidnappings for ransom. During the year, the ORP
investigated 11 police officers for involvement in kidnappings. One
officer was found guilty and dismissed. Criminal charges were pending
against him at year's end. The investigations of other officers were
ongoing at year's end. The Organized Crime Unit of the Prosecutor's
Office reported that PNC elements were involved in 11 kidnapping cases,
at times in cooperation with large criminal organizations.
On May 4, PNC officers arrested former police official Rudy Arnulfo
Giron Lima on charges of involvement with kidnapping the nephew of
Lizardo Sosa, President of the Bank of Guatemala. The ORP also
investigated six other officers in connection with the case. Giron Lima
was still under investigation at year's end (see Section 5).
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the 2002
illegal detention by DOAN agents and subsequent disappearance of
Humberto Orellana Sis.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were credible reports of torture, abuse, and other mistreatment by
members of the PNC during the year. These complaints typically involved
the use of excessive force during police operations and harassment or
arbitrary imprisonment of commercial sex workers, suspected gang
members, and others targeted during extortion schemes. There were
credible reports of SIC detectives torturing and beating detainees
during interrogation to obtain confessions. During the year, the PNC's
ORP investigated 2,088 cases of police misconduct. The PNC dismissed
506 officers for misconduct. However, the Attorney General's office, or
Public Ministry, rarely has prosecuted fired officers for criminal
misconduct.
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.
On January 31, 8 agents of Station 12 in Guatemala City threatened,
robbed, and violently beat Sergio Vasquez Hernandez. The ORP's internal
investigation found the commander of the Station and three agents
responsible for the theft and assault. At year's end, one agent had
been convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison; however, there was
insufficient evidence to charge the others involved.
Four men claimed that on March 6, two police officers from Station
16 illegally detained and mistreated them after they refused to pay
extortion money to the officers. The ORP conducted an internal
investigation; however, it found no evidence to substantiate the
allegations. The police allegedly involved were promoted and
transferred
On March 8, three police officers in Station 12 detained and beat
Mynor Alvarado de Leon, a human rights defender from the Center for
Legal Action on Human Rights (CALDH). According to MINUGUA, Alvarado de
Leon was accused of murder and remained in prison for almost 5 months,
although ballistic evidence and other proof demonstrated his innocence.
The agents involved have not been investigated. In October, CALDH
presented a report to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission on
Alvarado's case and human rights violations in the national prison
system.
Though the Public Ministry investigated some cases of police
involvement in assaults, they did not receive any reports of and
therefore did not investigate specific cases of police involvement in
torture.
Casa Alianza reported that the number of incidents of killing and
abuse of street children had decreased during the year (see Sections
1.a. and 5).
From January to June 8, the Government carried out 30 court orders
for forced evictions of plantations that were illegally occupied.
During at least 12 of these evictions, there were credible reports that
police used excessive force, including hitting civilians, burning homes
and crops, and killing animals. Seventy-six percent of the evictions
were conducted in Alta and Baja Verapaz, heavily agricultural areas. In
45 percent of the evictions, civilians cited labor conflicts as the
reasons for their illegal invasions of the farms. Private security
forces, working for plantation owners, also participated illegally in
several evictions. On June 8, thousands of peasants conducted a
nationwide protest against the country's land distribution and violent
evictions. The Government agreed to suspend all evictions for 90 days,
pending an in-depth analysis of existing land disputes and invasions.
By year's end, none of the existing 89 cases of land invasions pending
eviction had been resolved, though the Maria Lourdes conflict was in
negotiation. The National Commission for Land Conflicts had resolved
121 land conflicts, 22 of which involved invasions, by year's end.
On August 31, members of the PNC entered the Nueva Linda plantation
in Champerico, Retalhuleu, to execute a court order to evict over 1,000
peasants who illegally occupied the land. The peasants had invaded the
plantation in October 2003 to protest the lack of investigation into
the September 2003 disappearance and suspected killing of their
supervisor, Hector Reyes Perez, the farm's administrator. An attempt at
mediation by civilian and police officials ended when members of the
peasant group opened fire on the police. In the ensuing conflict, 3
police and 7 workers were killed and more than 20 were injured,
including 1 police officer who subsequently died from his wounds.
During the eviction, police officers attacked some journalists covering
the event (see Section 2.a.).
Journalists claimed to have witnessed the police commit at least
three unlawful killings during the eviction. Following Nueva Linda, the
Congressional Human Rights Committee, the Human Rights Ombudsman's
office, and the Office of Professional Responsibility of the National
Police all conducted investigations and issued reports on the
operation. In its report, the Human Rights Committee stated that it
could neither confirm nor deny accusations of unlawful killings,
because the forensic specialist was not able to determine the causes of
death of the peasants killed. The Committee faulted all persons
involved in the incident: The Public Ministry, or Attorney General's
office, for failing to investigate the administrator's disappearance;
the PNC, for their poor preparation for the eviction; the peasant
leaders, for exacerbating the conflict for personal motivations; and
the Governor of Retalhuleu, Carlos Quintana Saravia, for favoritism
toward landowners and abuse of power.
Prison conditions remained harsh. The prison system continued to
suffer from a severe lack of resources, particularly in the areas of
prison security and medical facilities. According to the registry
maintained by the prison system, there were 8,698 persons being held at
40 prisons and jails designed to hold 6,974. Eighteen of the 40 centers
were national prisons, which accommodated 7,854 of the total convicts
and detainees; the other 22 were pretrial centers run by the PNC.
Approximately 60 percent of the national penitentiary system population
was held in pretrial detention. The average guard-to-prisoner ratio was
1 to 18.
Prisoners continued to complain of inadequate food and medical
care. Corruption, especially drug-related, was widespread. Prison
officials reported frequent escape attempts and other manifestations of
prisoner unrest. The military continued to provide perimeter security
for various prisons.
Media reported that prison authorities kept 1 prisoner in a 45
square-feet cage for 18 months. The prisoner was kept without a bed and
only allowed out once a day. Following a visit by an Organization of
American States (OAS) Rapporteur to the prison system, the prisoner was
released into a larger room, but remained in isolation.
From January until October 1, the Penitentiary System reported 2
deaths due to unnatural causes and 11 due to natural causes (including
AIDS, chronic hepatitis, and tuberculosis).
The 442 female prisoners in the penal system were held in
facilities separate from men; however, the conditions were equally
poor. Some prison facilities allowed the minor children of detainees to
reside with their mothers, although the children were provided with
minimal care. Immigration detention facilities did not always hold
female detainees separate from the male population.
Juvenile offenders were held separately from adults. The
Secretariat for Social Welfare runs four Centers for the Treatment and
Orientation of Minors: One for girls and three for boys. Prison
officials reported that at least two riots took place in the juvenile
facilities to protest issues ranging from a change in management to
demands for improved food quality.
PNC detention centers were designed to hold only pretrial
detainees; however, sometimes pretrial detainees were kept in the
national penitentiaries where they were not always separated from
convicts. There were sections of national prisons designated to hold
only individuals convicted of misdemeanors, but those serving sentences
for minor infractions were held sometimes with those who had committed
serious offenses. Approximately 22 prisoners being held in pretrial
detention for high-level corruption cases, primarily former officials
of the previous administration, were held in separate facilities where
they had more living space than the average prisoner.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, public defenders, religious groups, and family members, and
such visits took place throughout the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, 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 failed to satisfy legal requisites, particularly with minors
and suspected gang members.
The country is divided into 6 police districts, each subdivided
into 28 precincts. There are four special units, headed by police
officers for: Information and intelligence; counter-narcotics;
investigations; and environmental enforcement. The Director General,
appointed by the President, leads the PNC. Since its inception, the
21,400-member PNC has been understaffed, poorly trained, and severely
underfunded. On July 22, 2,500 PNC officers, gathered from around the
country at the Police Academy to begin 24-hour patrols with the
military in dangerous areas of the capital, protested the poor living
conditions at the Academy (where officers from outside Guatemala City
were supposed to be housed indefinitely) and alleged poor logistical
planning for the patrols. During the protests, one officer allegedly
committed suicide, though some evidence suggested that he was killed.
Police corruption was a problem, and there were credible
allegations of involvement by individual police officers in criminal
activity, including rapes, killings, and kidnappings. Rather than
prosecute its officers, the PNC often transferred them to a different
part of the country. Police impunity remained a serious problem.
Police sometimes threatened commercial sex workers with false drug
charges to extort money or sexual favors. Police sometimes harassed
homosexuals or transvestites with similar threats of false charges.
Suspected gang members sometimes were imprisoned without charges or
with false drug charges. Detainees were not always promptly informed of
the charges filed against them.
Immigration and police officials often subjected persons attempting
to enter the country illegally to extortion and mistreatment. Many
observers believed this mistreatment is underreported.
All PNC members must meet minimum education requirements, pass an
entrance examination, and undergo screening to detect suspected human
rights violators and involvement in criminal activities. During the
year, training for new recruits was extended from 6 to 11 months. The
Ministry of Interior also increased the monthly allowance for students
at the police academy, from $62.50 to $100 (500 to 800 quetzals).
Police training incorporated courses on human rights and professional
ethics in the curriculum; however, none of the 20,000 officers trained
since 1997 has received refresher training. The military continued to
incorporate human rights training into its curriculum and developed
human rights courses with the Human Rights Ombudsman. Civil Affairs
Officers at each command were required to plan and document human
rights training provided to soldiers. A separate human rights office
within the Office of the Minister of Defense was open to active
participation by the human rights community.
There were 21,382 PNC officers or 1 for every 560 persons. Presence
outside of the capital improved; however, approximately two-thirds of
those police districts remained understaffed. A 2003 U.N. Development
Program (UNDP) report calculated that only 5,000 police officers were
on duty at any given time, country-wide, after accounting for officers
suspended, on medical leave, on vacation, or on embassy or personal
protection assignments. The PNC reported that 3,015 of its officers
were indigenous.
According to the Ministry of Government, approximately 110,000
private security guards, of which at least 60,000 were unauthorized,
worked in the country. According to the Gremial Federation and Security
Association, approximately half worked for firms that had not completed
legal requirements and were owned by former soldiers and former
policemen. On October 9, Minister of Interior Carlos Vielmann suspended
the authorization of new security companies.
The PNC ORP performs internal investigations of misconduct by
police officers. The ORP has a strong corps of investigators and has
shown considerable improvement in professionalism; however, its
independence and effectiveness were hampered by the lack of material
resources and the absence of cooperation from other PNC units. In
isolated cases, ORP investigators appeared to participate in cover-ups
of police misconduct. The ORP reported that it received 2,088
complaints, which included: 51 cases of homicide, 306 cases of abuse of
authority, 360 thefts, 343 cases of corruption or bribery, 145 threats,
and 69 illegal detentions. Cases with sufficient evidence to indicate
that criminal acts were committed were forwarded to the Public Ministry
for further investigation and prosecution, but cases rarely went to
trial. Throughout the year, ORP closed 1,062 cases, and its
investigations resulted in the dismissal of 506 and exoneration of 433
police officers.
MINUGUA commended the January establishment of the PNC Disciplinary
Tribunal as an advance in the control and supervision of police
activities and professional ethics. By September 1, the Tribunal had
resolved 19 of 26 serious police abuse cases, applied sanctions to 18
police officers, and exonerated 19 officers following ORP
investigations.
No active members of the military served in the police command
structure. The Government did employ the military to support the police
temporarily in response to the rising rates of violent crime. In July,
Minister of Government Carlos Vielmann ordered joint police and
military operations in 40 red zones, areas with the highest crime
rates, in the capital. Human rights organizations noted that the
Government could do more to strengthen police institutionalism instead
of deploying military in joint patrols.
The Constitution requires that a court-issued arrest warrant be
presented to a suspect prior to arrest unless he is caught in the act
of committing a crime. Police may not detain a suspect for more than 6
hours without bringing the case before a judge. Once a suspect has been
arraigned, the prosecutor generally has 3 months to complete his
investigation and file the case in court or seek a formal extension of
the detention period. The law also provides for access to lawyers and
bail for most crimes.
There were no reliable data on the number of arbitrary detentions,
although most accounts agree that police forces routinely ignored writs
of habeas corpus in cases of illegal detention. Police reportedly
detained street children and suspected gang members to remove them from
the streets for the 3-month period allowed for imprisonment during
investigations. Most of these detainees did not have sufficient funds
to post bail and therefore were forced to remain in prison.
The law sets a limit of 3 months for pretrial detention; however,
prisoners often were detained past their legal trial or release dates,
sometimes for years. During the year, 60 percent of those incarcerated
were in pretrial detention. 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.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judicial system often failed to
provide fair trials due to inefficiency, corruption, insufficient
personnel and funds, and intimidation of judges, prosecutors, and
witnesses. MINUGUA's final report noted, ``judicial impunity continues
being more the norm than the exception.'' The large majority of serious
crimes still are not minimally investigated or punished. Many high-
profile human rights cases remained pending in the courts for long
periods as defense attorneys employed numerous dilatory appeals and
motions. Courts sometimes took months to resolve even patently
frivolous appeals. There were numerous credible allegations of
corruption, manipulation, and intimidation in the judiciary. There were
credible reports of the killing and threatening of witnesses, which
continued to be a problem (see Sections 1.a. and 1.c.). Less than 3
percent of crimes committed were prosecuted, and significantly less
received convictions.
The Supreme Court 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 112 of 535 complaints of
wrongdoing that it had received, with the result that 65 claims were
found to be baseless, 17 magistrates received written or verbal
warnings, 22 judges were suspended, and the remaining cases were still
under investigation at year's end.
In its efforts to investigate crimes and prosecute offenders, the
Public Ministry has been hampered by inadequate training and equipment,
excessive caseloads, and insufficient numbers of qualified
investigators. Prosecutors remained susceptible to intimidation and
corruption. In addition, the law's failure to delineate the
responsibility for investigating crimes between the PNC and the Public
Ministry led to rivalries between these organizations, as well as the
duplication of investigative efforts. Only an estimated 3 percent of
approximately 250,000 complaints filed with the Public Ministry
annually were prosecuted. The Public Ministry's budget for the year was
$57 million (458 million quetzals), which amounted to a 22 percent
increase from 2003, though Attorney General Juan Luis Florido stated
the amount was still insufficient.
On February 24, President Berger dismissed Attorney General Carlos
De Leon for poor performance. Many human rights leaders applauded the
removal of De Leon, who had been suspected of corruption, but have
continuing concerns about the weak justice system. Under new Attorney
General Juan Luis Florido the Public Ministry opened a series of
investigations into corruption schemes involving government civilian
and military officials from the previous Administration.
The government's Public Ministry and the Judiciary continued
efforts to reform the judicial system. Twenty justice centers, which
bring together judges, public defenders, prosecutors, private law
practitioners, police, municipal representatives, and civil society in
a team approach to dispute resolution and problem solving, provided
efficient public service. Clerk of Court offices streamlined case
processing, increased transparency, improved customer service, and
virtually eliminated corruption in local case management. An analogous
system was inaugurated in Guatemala City in the Prosecutor's Office
Case Intake Unit. At the Prosecutor's Office Victim's Unit in the
capital, doctors and nurses were on call 24 hours a day to assist rape
and other crime victims and to gather evidence for their cases (see
Section 5). Similar units operated in every department of the country.
The judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court, appellate courts,
trial courts, and probable-cause judges (who function like grand
juries). There also are courts of special jurisdiction, such as labor
courts and family courts, which also are under the jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court, which reviews legislation and
court decisions for compatibility with the Constitution, is independent
of the rest of the judiciary. There are several community courts in
indigenous rural areas.
The Constitution requires that Congress elect all Supreme Court and
appellate court magistrates every 5 years from lists prepared by panels
composed of active magistrates, representatives of the bar association,
law school deans, and university rectors. The elections were held in
October.
Judges and prosecutors continued to receive threats designed to
influence pending decisions or to punish past decisions. Death threats
and intimidation of the judiciary were common in cases involving human
rights violations. Witnesses often were too intimidated to testify.
Plaintiffs, witnesses, prosecutors, and jurists involved in high-
profile cases against members of the military or police reported
threats, intimidation, and surveillance. Those involved in government
corruption cases also were targeted.
Some judges were denied private health and life insurance because
their jobs were too dangerous. Between January and August, the Public
Ministry had approximately 50 persons in its witness protection
program. By October, the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Judicial
Personnel had investigated 80 cases, compared with 114 in 2003, but
lacked the personnel and resources necessary to carry out his mission.
From January to October, four justice workers, including two judges,
were killed, another six were victims of attempted killing, and two
were seriously injured by firearms.
In July, witnesses to the 1982 Plan de Sanchez massacre who had
testified before the IACHR, began to receive death threats (see Section
4.).
Witnesses to the 1982 Rio Negro massacre and lawyers on the case
received numerous threats in the months leading up to the October 19
opening of the trial for six former PACs (three were convicted in 1998
(see Section 1.a.).
Throughout the summer and fall, the Special Prosecutor for Human
Rights' office indicted 20 persons for inciting the July 2003 Black
Thursday riots in support of former General Efrain Rios Montt's
presidential candidacy. Journalist Hector Ramirez died of a heart
attack during the riots. Rios Montt, Secretary General of the FRG,
remained under house arrest for his suspected role in the riots. In
addition, the Supreme Court said that it would determine whether to
strip immunity from four congressional representatives and two mayors.
Many witnesses refused to testify out of fear of reprisal (see Section
4).
On March 11, a former Special Prosecutor for Human Rights was
followed and stopped by two individuals, who identified themselves as
members of the military and threatened her in relation to the
investigation of Black Thursday.
The Law on Judicial Careers regulates the income, terms of office,
promotion, training, disciplining, and other activities of judges and
magistrates and mandates a 6-month training course for all newly
appointed judges. The Judicial Career Council reviews performance
evaluations of judges and complaints against persons in the judicial
system. The Council is responsible for selecting judges as well as
disciplining them in accordance with the law's criteria for sanctions.
On July 22, Jesus Mendoza, cousin of Bamaca case witness Otoniel de
la Roca Mendoza, was shot and killed (see Section 1.a.).
The Criminal Procedures Code provides for the presumption of
innocence, the right to be present at trial, the right to counsel,
plea-bargaining, and the possibility of release on bail. Trials are
public, allowing victims, family members, and human rights groups to
observe the process. Three-judge panels render verdicts. The Criminal
Procedures Code provides for oral trials; however, only those attorneys
who have graduated since 1994 have had any real training in oral
trials. The Code also provides for language interpretation for those
who require it; however, this provision was honored rarely due to
budgetary and other constraints (see Section 5). The Public Ministry,
which is 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 co-
plaintiffs. Lengthy investigations and frequent procedural motions by
both defense and prosecution often led to excessively long pretrial
detention (see Section 1.d.). Courts showed little willingness to
exercise discretion in dismissing apparently frivolous or patently
invalid motions. As a consequence, parties used such motions as
delaying tactics, frequently holding up trials for months or even
years.
The Supreme Court's budget for the year was $106 million (852
million quetzals), which was a 9.1 percent increase from 2003.
There were no political prisoners. On August 19, a court acquitted
of all charges of involvement in a Social Security Institute
embezzlement scandal union leader Rigoberto Duenas, who had been
imprisoned for more than 14 months. Several former government
officials, imprisoned on corruption charges, including former Vice-
President Reyes Lopez and former Minister of Finance Weymann, claimed
that the charges against them were politically motivated.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however,
there were reports that the authorities sometimes disregarded these
prohibitions. There were unsubstantiated claims that some military and
former military personnel continued to monitor private communications.
Former members of security forces were suspected of participating in a
number of illegal entries into the homes of human rights defenders
during the year. 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 provides for
freedom of speech and press, and the Government generally respected
these rights in practice; however, there were credible reports that
members of the media were targets of attacks, threats, and intimidation
from unidentified persons. The Human Rights Ombudsman reported 40
reports of intimidation against journalists through October, compared
with 90 during 2003.
In addition to regular and open criticism of government policies,
the print media publicized communiques from human rights organizations,
unions, and groups opposed to the Government and its policies. The
press criticized the military and other powerful sectors and also
regularly published stories on reputed drug traffickers, official
corruption, and clandestine intelligence networks.
During the August 31 land eviction of Nueva Linda, police beat at
least three journalists from Nuevo Diario and Xcable and confiscated
media equipment (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 4).
In May, Hector Ramirez and David Hernandez Rubio, sons of
journalist Hector Ramirez, who suffered a fatal heart attack during the
July 2003 riots, petitioned the IACHR for personal protection following
a series of threats against their family (see Sections 1.a. and 4). At
year's end, the brothers were pressing charges against retired General
Rios Montt and former government officials for their father's death. On
May 19, two men attacked and beat Hernandez.
The Public Ministry charged two suspects with the June 2003 home
invasion of daily El Periodico publisher Jose Ruben Zamora. The case
was scheduled to be tried in 2005.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
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.
Peaceful demonstrations were common. There were numerous protests
by a wide variety of groups around the country to demonstrate on a wide
variety of issues; however, on at least one occasion, the demonstration
became violent. Police usually acted with restraint; however, there
were some allegations of unnecessary use of force or, at times,
inaction.
On August 13, over 5,000 persons participated in a nationwide
``March Against Violence,'' organized primarily by the office of the
Human Rights Ombudsman and the Catholic Church.
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
explicitly recognizes the separate legal status of the Catholic Church.
The Government did not subsidize religious groups. Members of a
religion need not register to worship together. However, the Government
requires religious congregations (other than the Catholic Church), as
well as other nonreligious associations and NGOs, to register as legal
entities to transact business.
Practitioners of Mayan spirituality were sometimes the victims of
discrimination and aggression from other religious denominations,
particularly conservative protestant denominations in rural areas.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it. However, self-imposed exile was an occasional response by
citizens who feel threatened or intimidated.
The Constitution provides for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage for those 18 years of age and older. Ballots are
secret. Members of the armed forces and police may not vote.
In the second-round runoff presidential election in December 2003,
Oscar Berger of the GANA coalition won a 4-year term with approximately
54 percent of the vote. In the period leading up to the elections, at
least 29 candidates for lower offices were killed, and many incidents
of violence occurred (see Section 1.a.). Despite some minor
irregularities in the electoral registry, the OAS international
observation mission categorized the elections as free and fair, with a
56 percent voter turnout in the first round and 49 percent in the
runoff.
Voters elect the 158-member, unicameral Congress every 4 years.
Deputies are elected both from districts and from a nationwide list,
the latter providing an element of proportional representation.
Congress can and does act independently of the Executive.
On April 22, Congress approved legislation that provides for the
establishment of a single national identification and voting
registration document and the establishment of voting centers outside
of the biggest municipalities to increase indigenous participation.
The Government pursued prosecutions of numerous members of the
former administration in relation to corruption and money laundering.
In May, the authorities arrested Eduardo Weymann, former Minister of
Finance, for his alleged role in embezzlement of the Tax Administration
(SAT). On July 14, the authorities arrested former Superintendent of
the SAT, Marco Tulio Abadio, for embezzlement and money laundering. On
July 28, the authorities arrested former Vice President Reyes Lopez on
charges of fraud. At year's end, Oscar Dubon Palma, former Controller
General, was in prison awaiting trial on fraud charges.
The military budget, traditionally classified, has been vulnerable
to embezzlement since there was no public scrutiny of spending. Since
February, numerous high-ranking military officers, including three
former Ministers of Defense, have been arrested or investigated for
misuse of military funds. The Berger administration declassified 80
percent of the military budget.
In February, former President Alfonso Portillo fled the country to
Mexico after allegations were made that he laundered money stolen from
the defense budget. At year's end, the Government had not charged
Portillo or requested his extradition from Mexico.
In general, there were no mechanisms in place to provide access to
official information; however, on January 6, a judge ordered the
Ministry of Defense to make available all files from the now-defunct
Presidential Military Staff (EMP) to the office of the Human Rights
Ombudsman (see Section 4). The Ombudsman, with assistance from several
human rights NGOs, copied thousands of EMP documents for future
analysis to assist in locating children who disappeared during the
civil conflict and to learn more about the military's operations in
that time period (see Section 4).
There were no legal restrictions on the participation of women in
the political process. Approximately 44 percent of the 5 million
registered voters were women. In November 2003, voters elected 14 women
to the 158-member Congress. Women held two seats on the Supreme Court
and one rotating alternative position on the Constitutional Court.
There were two female ministers in the cabinet, the Minister for
Finance and the Minister of Education. There were two female
presidential secretaries, one for Women's Issues and one for Social
Welfare. Only 8 of 331 mayors were women.
The Constitution provides for equal rights for indigenous people,
who make up approximately 43 percent of the population. Some attained
high positions as judges and government officials, but indigenous
people still were underrepresented significantly in politics due to
limited educational opportunities and pervasive discrimination (see
Section 5). There was one indigenous member in the Cabinet. One of 12
presidential secretaries was indigenous. Of 158 members of Congress, 9
were indigenous. There were 111 indigenous mayors, out of 331. Most
indigenous mayors were elected in the northern and western departments
of the country.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. However, many
NGOs and human rights workers received threats or were intimidated by
unidentified persons. Senior government officials met with
international human rights monitors; however, some government officials
questioned the credibility of both domestic human rights workers and
international monitors. While many international human rights
organizations and their workers did not enjoy formal legal status, they
continued to operate openly.
During the year, several U.N. and OAS representatives visited the
country: The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women; the
U.N. Special Rapporteur on Racism and Discrimination; the OAS Special
Rapporteur on Guatemala and Violence against Women; the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food; the OAS Special Rapporteur on Prison
Conditions; and the OAS Special Rapporteur on Children. During her
visit, the OAS Special Rapporteur on Guatemala noted that the country
had made considerable improvement during the year, as evidenced by the
willingness shown by the authorities to protect and promote human
rights.
Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales, elected by Congress in 2002
for a 5-year term, reports to Congress and monitors the rights provided
in the Constitution. The Ombudsman's rulings do not have the force of
law. The budget assigned to the Ombudsman by Congress, unchanged in
2003 and during the year, was approximately $5 million (40 million
quetzals). Upon the expiration of the MINUGUA's mandate in December,
the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office assumed MINUGUA's human rights
verification function.
The President's Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEH) is charged
with formulating and promoting the Government's human rights policy,
representing the government for past human rights abuse cases before
the IACHR, and negotiating amicable settlements in those cases before
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. At the beginning of his
administration, President Berger named human rights leader Frank LaRue
as the Director of the COPREDEH. With the support of the President,
COPREDEH accepted responsibility on behalf of the State for all three
cases that were heard by the IACHR during the year: The 1982 Plan de
Sanchez massacre (see Sections 1.a. and 1.e.); the 1993 murder of Jorge
Carpio Nicolle; and the 1981 disappearance and presumed murder of youth
Marco Molina Theissen. The OAS noted that the country took steps to
increase cooperation on human rights violation committed by the
Government in the past. COPREDEH implemented IACHR orders to provide
police protection to seven human rights activists.
The number of threats against human rights defenders decreased
slightly from 2003, threats against justice workers remained
approximately the same as 2003, and threats against journalists
decreased by almost half. There were few threats against human rights
defenders from January until June. In early July, the number of
intimidations increased dramatically and remained high until October,
when it fell again. The National Movement for Human Rights, which
registers and tracks intimidations against human rights workers and
journalists, reported that there were approximately 122 threats and
break-ins during the year, in comparison with 125 incidents in 2003.
MINUGUA's final report noted, ``though human rights defenders work with
much more liberty than previously, reports of intimidation continue,
although to less of a degree than during the previous administration.''
During the year, the Special Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights
received 47 new cases. Acts of intimidation included anonymous
telephoned or written threats, break-ins, and surveillance of
workplaces, residences, and vehicular movements. Prosecutors, judges,
and witnesses in various human rights cases, notably in the Black
Thursday and Plan de Sanchez cases, also reported being the targets of
various acts of intimidation (see Section 1.e.). Some of the attacks
showed sophistication and technical expertise. Like most prosecutions,
the majority of human rights cases remained pending for lengthy periods
without being investigated or languished in the courts as defense
attorneys filed numerous motions and appeals to delay trials.
In February, unknown persons threatened the life of Eloida Mejia
Samayoa, President and Legal Representative of Asociacion Amigos del
Lago Izabal (Friends of Lake Izabal), which opposed the reactivation of
mining activities in Izabal Department. The threats followed the
February 10 killing of environmental activist Enrique Alcantara in
Puerto Barrios. The Public Ministry was investigating the threats and
the death at year's end.
The Legal Center for Human Rights (CALDH) and the Plan de Sanchez
community reported approximately 20 incidents of intimidation during
the year. CALDH, which provides legal support in human rights cases,
supported the members of the Plan de Sanchez community at April 23 and
24 IACHR hearings on the 1982 massacre. In March, a CALDH driver was
carjacked and questioned before being released. On September 7, the
police captured a suspect for the theft, who remained in prison while
the Prosecutors requested a police line-up to enable the driver to
identify his assailant. However, in November, a judge denied the
request and the Public Ministry planned to release the suspect because
of insufficient evidence. CALDH requested police protection from the
IACHR, which was approved and coordinated by COPREDEH. In July,
intruders twice broke into the home of a CALDH director and, in a
separate incident, broke into a CALDH office annex in Guatemala City.
In July and September, several witnesses in the IACHR case reported
receiving bomb threats and another CALDH employee was carjacked.
On July 7, Lesbiradas, an organization for the promotion of the
rights of lesbians, received at least six threatening phone calls. The
Public Ministry was investigating the case at year's end.
The Ombudsman received threats throughout the year. On August 9,
its Auxiliary Office in Coatepeque closed for 3 days after armed men
threatened its personnel regarding the investigation of the recent
killing of the mayor of Genova. According to the Ombudsman's
spokesperson, the threatened individuals received police protection and
reopened the office on August 12.
From August to September, ANN Congresswomen Nineth Montenegro,
President of the Human Rights Committee and former director of the
Mutual Support Group, received 20 threatening phone calls. Unknown
individuals broke the windows of her vehicle, broke into her home,
followed her car, and loitered in front of her home.
On October 6, the Quiche Penal Court convicted and sentenced Miguel
Xon Morales (cousin of the victim) to 15 years in prison for the April
2003 murder of human rights activist and Mayan priest Diego Xon Salazar
(see Section 1.a.).
The only witness to the May 2003 killing of Mayan priest Gerardo
Camo Manuel was unable to identify a suspect, and the case was closed
in September (see Section 1.a.). There was no progress in the
investigation of the July 2003 home break-in of Norma Maldonado, an
activist working with Mama Maquin, a rural indigenous women's group.
A trial of four former security guards and one other suspect for
the August 2003 burglary of the Ombudsman's Department of Investigation
remained pending at year's end.
In March, the PNC captured Jeronimo Chicoj Saquic, a suspect wanted
for the September 2003 killing of Eusebio Macario, a community
organizer and founding member of the Council of Ethnic Communities. The
Public Ministry theorized that Macario's killing was related to a land
conflict. On September 28, the Quiche Penal Court absolved the detainee
because of insufficient evidence. While in prison, he allegedly
threatened Macario's family.
On June 24, Ever Lopez Gomez and Billy Rene Barrios were sentenced
to 9 and 29 years' imprisonment, respectively, for the 2002 killing of
Menchu Foundation accountant Guillermo Ovalle (see Section 1.a.).
On March 11, a court acquitted three suspects of the 2002 torture
and killing of Manuel Garcia de la Cruz, a member of CONAVIGUA.
On February 25, the National Day for the Dignity of Victims of
Violence, President Berger publicly announced his support for a 2003
proposal by the Human Rights Ombudsman to establish a U.N. commission
(CICIACS) to investigate and prosecute clandestine groups. After two
Congressional Committees issued recommendations against CICIACS in
early May, President Berger formally requested that Congress return the
proposal to the Executive. The President then asked the Constitutional
Court to review the proposal. On August 31, the Court ruled that
several of CICIACS's elements, principally the provisions for
independent investigations and prosecutions by other than designated
legal authorities, were incompatible with the Constitution. In
September, President Berger met with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
to explore possibilities for a CICIACS reconfigured to meet
Constitutional Court concerns. On November 19, Vice President Stein
sent a letter to Kofi Annan stating that the Government would fight
clandestine groups through the Public Ministry and by continuing to
seek opportunities to implement CICIACS.
In August, the Attorney General named Betty Gudiel as Special
Prosecutor for Crimes against Human Rights Defenders. The staff of the
office was cut by more than half during the year. Despite these
cutbacks, the office made significant progress on numerous proceedings
and won several convictions during the year (see Section 1.e.). The
unit's staff reported receiving support for cases from the Public
Ministry leadership.
On December 31, MINUGUA closed its offices after 10 years of
monitoring implementation of the human rights provisions of the Peace
Accords. Its final report in August concluded that the country had
``laid a firmer foundation on which to construct a better future.'' In
recent years, MINUGUA staff had trained the Ombudsman to take over many
of its monitoring functions, especially on agrarian and discrimination
issues.
At year's end, Congress had not ratified the December 2003
agreement to establish a local office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR). The agreement went to Congress
for ratification in March. Though the Human Rights Committee
recommended the establishment of the office, the Foreign Relations
Committee recommended against the project. To overcome Congressional
objections, the Executive renegotiated the agreement with the UNHCHR in
December. If ratified, the UNHCHR office would monitor the general
human rights situation in the country and report annually on its
activities and make recommendations to the Commission.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution states that all persons are free and equal in
dignity and rights and that the State must protect the life, liberty,
justice, security, peace, and development of all citizens. However, in
practice, the Government frequently was unable to enforce these
provisions, due to inadequate resources, corruption, and a
dysfunctional judicial system (see Sections 1.c. and 1.e.).
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence,
remained common among all social classes. There was a significant
increase in reports of women tortured, disappeared, and killed (see
Sections l.a. and l.c.). The Law on Domestic Violence provides that the
Public Ministry, the national police, family courts, legal clinics, and
the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office may receive complaints of domestic
violence. However, domestic abuse itself is not punishable by prison
sentences, and Public Ministry prosecutors noted that the law allowed
them to charge 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 the victims, and the law requires the PNC to intervene
in violent situations in the home. However, women's groups noted that
few officers had any training in victim' assistance or working with
domestic violence. The Program for Prevention and Eradication of
Intrafamily Violence (PROPREVI), a government program under the First
Lady's Secretariat of Social Work, reported that it received
approximately 12 calls a day via its emergency hotline from battered
women and children.
The Public Ministry reported receiving almost 10,000 complaints of
family violence against women and children in Guatemala City during the
year; only approximately 370 cases went to trial. In accordance with
the Law on Domestic Violence, 1,364 orders of restraint against
domestic violence aggressors and police protection for victims were
issued. Full investigation and prosecution of domestic violence and
rape cases usually took an average of 1 year, and prosecutors noted
that half of victims of domestic violence who filed complaints never
returned to pursue their cases after their initial visit to the Public
Ministry. The Network for Non-violence Against Women estimated that 90
percent of incidents went unreported.
The office of the Ombudsman for Indigenous Women, led by Maria
Zapeta Mendoza, provided social services for victims of domestic or
social violence, as well as mediation, conflict resolution, and legal
services for indigenous women. It also coordinated and promoted action
by both government institutions and NGOs to prevent violence and
discrimination against indigenous women; however, it lacked the human
resources and logistical capacity to perform its functions on a
national level. The Ombudsman's budget was $221,250 (1.77 million
quetzals). Like most government agencies, it was forced to reduce
spending by 20 percent because of fiscal constraints. The office
handled 440 cases from January until August and 3,159 cases since 2002,
including labor conflicts and domestic violence.
Sexual offenses remained a problem. The Prosecutor's Office
reported receiving 749 cases of rape and sexual assault between January
and October in Guatemala City. Eighty four of these cases went to
trial: 68 aggressors were convicted and sentenced to an average of 6 to
20 years in prison; 11 persons were absolved; and 5 cases were settled
out of court. Over 3,000 rapes were reported countrywide. The Supreme
Court received 1,777 rape cases country-wide from January until
September. UNICEF observed that rape victims sometimes did not report
the violations for lack of confidence in prosecutions and fear of
reprisals.
The Penal Code defines rape and aggravated rape as crimes and
establishes penalties of 6 to 50 years. The Penal Code does not define
sexual assault as a crime. Prosecutors from the Special Unit for Crimes
against Women noted that reports of rapes had increased by 30 percent
over the past 4 years. Some observers believed that increases in
reported rapes over the past 5 years did not reflect an increase in the
number of rapes committed but rather an increased willingness on the
part of victims to come forward and improved record-keeping of crime
statistics. Police have little training or investigative capacity for
investigating or assisting victims of sexual crimes.
Sexual harassment is not illegal, so there were no accurate
estimates of incidents. However, human rights and women's organizations
reported that harassment was widespread, especially in industries in
which workers are primarily women, such as the maquila sector.
Prostitution is not illegal; however, procuring and inducing a
person into prostitution are crimes that can result in either 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 more broadly recognized problem (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
The PNC reported that approximately 527 women were killed during
the year, compared with 383 in 2003. The percentage of killings of
women in comparison to total killings rose from 11.5 percent in 2003 to
12 percent during the year. Some victims were tortured before death,
and others had their corpses mutilated. In April, then Minister of
Government Arturo Soto created a PNC taskforce to investigate killings
of women.
The Constitution asserts the principle of gender equality; in
practice, however, women faced job discrimination and were less likely
to hold management positions. The 2002 National Study on Income and
Spending showed that indigenous women earned 58 percent of what
indigenous men earned and nonindigenous women earned 71 percent of what
non-indigenous men earned. Some women were subjected to pre-employment
pregnancy tests. Women were employed primarily in low-wage jobs in the
textile and apparel industries, agriculture, retail businesses, and the
public sector. More women than men were employed in the informal sector
of the economy, where pay and benefits generally were lower. Women may
legally own, manage, and inherit property on an equal basis with men.
More than 50 percent of urban girls and 81 percent of rural girls
dropped out before completing high school, and an estimated 70 percent
of adult women never received formal education. UNICEF's 2003 report
indicated that the female adult literacy rate was 80 percent that of
males. Over 10,000 women were enrolled in universities in the pursuit
of degrees in medicine and law.
The Secretariat for Women's Affairs advises the President on the
coordination of policies affecting women and their development.
Children.--The Constitution charges the Government with protecting
the physical and mental health, as well as the moral well-being, of
minors; however, the Government did not devote sufficient resources to
ensure adequate educational and health services for children. While
fiscal considerations forced the Government to cut overall spending by
30 percent, it managed to increase spending on education; health
spending remained approximately the same. Approximately 2 percent of
the country's GDP was devoted to education, and less than 1 percent to
health.
The Constitution provides for compulsory education for all children
up to the sixth grade. However, less than half the population has
received a primary education. According to the Ministry of Education,
in 2003, only 11 percent of children who registered for primary school
passed their respective grade. The UNDP's 2003 Human Development Report
estimated that only 40 percent of children who enter primary school
finish their third year and only 30 percent are promoted beyond sixth
grade. Completion rates were even lower in rural and indigenous areas.
The average education level attained varied widely based on background
and geographic region. The average non-indigenous child received 5.6
years (boys received 6 years compared with 5.3 years for girls).
Indigenous children, who are also more concentrated in rural areas,
received an average of 2.2 years (boys 2.8 and girls 1.6). The Ministry
of Education attempted to improve these indicators by granting special
scholarships to girls and working or orphaned children.
UNICEF's 2003 Report estimated the under-5 mortality rate at 58 per
1,000 live births. Public health analyses showed that 60 percent of the
cases of infant mortality and 76 percent of the cases of maternal
mortality were preventable through attention to basic health and
environmental measures that have been neglected. In 2003, the Ministry
of Health provided services to 87 percent of children under 15 and 58
percent of women over 15. According to the UNDP, an estimated 20
percent of the population did not have access to any type of
institutional health services. Boys and girls had equal access to
medical care. In December, the U.N. reported that 24 percent of the
population suffered from malnutrition, up from 16 percent 10 years
earlier.
Child abuse remained a serious problem (see Section 1.c.). The
Public Ministry reported 798 cases of child abuse during the year. In
May, the Congressional Committee on Women and Children created a
Commission for Children and Youth, made up of government and NGO
representatives, to promote children's issues, in accordance with the
Child Protection Law of June 2003. The Social Secretariat for the
Welfare of Children has oversight for the children's welfare programs,
treatment and training for children, and special education assistance
for children. The Secretariat provided shelter and assistance to
children who were victims of abuse; however, these children sometimes
were placed with other youths who had committed crimes (see Section
1.c.). Because of overload in the public welfare system, family courts
also referred 350 abused children to Casa Alianza in 2003-04, and sent
many children to other NGOs. 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).
Child labor was a problem. According to the International Labor
Organization (ILO), 23 percent of children must work to survive (see
Section 6.d.).
The internal conflict left approximately 200,000 orphans.
Approximately 10,000 children were members of street gangs. 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. During the year, Casa Alianza reported that 173 children were
killed in Guatemala City from January until August 31, compared with
585 throughout the country in 2003. Criminals often recruited these
children into thievery, prostitution, or drug rings.
The Government and a number of NGOs operated youth centers;
however, the funds devoted to them were not sufficient to address
adequately the problem. The Government maintained one shelter each for
girls and boys in Guatemala City. These shelters provided housing for
the homeless and incarceration for juvenile offenders.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
for purposes of prostitution; however, the government's failure to
codify prohibitions on broader trafficking issues inhibited law
enforcement efforts to fight this growing practice.
The Public Ministry prosecutes traffickers under four sections of
the Penal Code, three of which carry fines from $187 to $1,875 (1,500
to 15,000 quetzals) and a fourth which specifically criminalizes
trafficking for prostitution and imposes punishments from 1 to 3 years
in prison and a fine of $250 to $625 (2,000 to 5,000 quetzals). Though
the maximum penalty for trafficking is prison time, magistrates have
imposed no more than a fine. Throughout the year, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, some members of Congress, and NGOs have lobbied for
improved legislation with stiffer sanctions. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs led an inter-institutional working group on trafficking in
persons to improve agency coordination and develop new legislative
proposals to combat the practice; meetings were held at least monthly.
In February, the Public Ministry formed a special unit within the
Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes against Women to investigate
trafficking cases. The Office conducted 20 bar raids during the year,
with assistance from the Special PNC Unit for Trafficking in Persons
and observers from Casa Alianza. They opened 45 cases against
traffickers, and by year's end, 6 traffickers had been convicted of
sexual exploitation of minors (a separate offense) and fined $375 to
$800 (3,000 to 6,000 quetzals). The Public Ministry rescued 16 minor
victims of trafficking, who were provided shelter by Casa Alianza.
On March 24, the Government signed an agreement of cooperation with
Mexico on the protection of minor victims of trafficking and smuggling
on the Mexican border. Repatriation agreements for minor victims of
trafficking also exist with El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa
Rica, and Panama.
The country is a source, transit, and destination country for
Guatemalan and other Central American women and children trafficked for
the purposes of sexual exploitation. One NGO report identified 600 to
700 minors in centers of prostitution across the country. To a lesser
extent, there were reports (but no reliable estimates) of forced labor
trafficking, mainly involving children used in begging rings in
Guatemala City.
Trafficking was especially a problem in the capital and in towns
along the borders with Mexico and El Salvador. Child migrants who
failed to 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. The traffickers
often approached these individuals with promises of economic rewards,
jobs in cafeterias or beauty parlors, or jobs in other countries. The
means of promotion included flyers, newspaper advertisements, and
verbal or personal recommendations. Traffickers also used force,
coercion, fraud, and deception.
Brothel owners often were responsible for transporting and
employing victims of trafficking. Traffickers of persons frequently had
links to other organized crime, including drug trafficking and migrant
smuggling.
There were credible reports of police and immigration service
involvement and complicity in trafficking of persons. In a 2002 study
by ECPAT (the local chapter of 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. On May 4, police arrested a senior
police official, Rudy Giron Lima, for his involvement in kidnapping
(see Section 1.b.). Investigators learned that he co-owned three
brothels, and underage prostitutes were found at all three.
The Secretariat for Social Welfare, a government institution, had
one shelter that housed victims of trafficking and offered social
casework, job training, and counseling.
Immigration officials generally deported overage trafficking
victims but did not treat them like criminals. From February to
December, Immigration officials deported 468 women, who were found
during bar raids, back to Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Victims
were not prosecuted and were not required to testify in cases against
traffickers.
The Secretariat of Social Welfare provided educational materials on
child sexual exploitation to the public primary and secondary school
system. Immigration also launched a campaign at all border crossings to
educate the public on the risks of trafficking
The Government released minor trafficking victims rescued in bar
raids to the custody of Casa Alianza, which provided them with shelter,
medical treatment, psychological counseling, and job training. A number
of other NGOs provided similar services and lobbied for legislation,
protection of victims, and prevention of trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Constitution provides that the
State should protect persons with disabilities. The Law for Protection
of the Elderly and the Law on Attention to Disabled Persons mandate
equal access to public facilities, prohibit discrimination based on
disability, and provide other legal protections. The laws stipulate
equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in health, education,
work, recreation, sports, and cultural activities. They also provide
that all persons with disabilities receive the benefits of labor laws
and social security and have the right to work. In addition, the laws
provide for equal educational opportunities, mandatory building access
codes, and the right to equal pay. However, persons with physical
disabilities suffered discrimination in education and employment
practices, and few resources were devoted to combat this problem.
Persons with disabilities have limited access to health care,
recreational facilities, and work opportunities. A report by the
International Disability Rights Monitor noted that the Government
discriminated against persons with disabilities by not providing
adequate protection.
Educational resources for those with special needs were scarce, and
the majority of the universities were not handicapped accessible. The
National Hospital for Mental Health, the principal health care provider
for persons with mental illness, lacked basic supplies, equipment,
hygienic living conditions, and adequate professional staffing. During
the year, the Ministry of Education provided services to 4,187 children
with special needs. Of these, 160 were in mainstream schools, and the
rest attended 16 special education schools.
The National Council for the Disabled, composed of representatives
of relevant government ministries and agencies, met regularly to
discuss initiatives; however, no resources were devoted to the
implementation of their recommendations.
Indigenous People.--The Constitution, recognizing that the country
is composed of diverse ethnic groups, obliges the Government to
recognize, respect, and promote the lifestyles, customs, traditions,
social organization, and manner of dress of indigenous people.
Indigenous people constitute 43 percent of the population; however,
they remained largely outside the country's political, economic,
social, and cultural mainstream. A World Bank study conducted during
the year stated that 76 percent of the indigenous population lived in
poverty, in comparison with 41 percent of the non-indigenous
population. There was no single indicator of indigenous status, but
there were at least 22 separate Mayan ethnic groups, each with its own
language. In addition, there was an indigenous Xinca community of some
6,000 persons. The Garifuna, descendents of Africans brought to the
Caribbean region as slaves who later migrated to South and Central
America, were a separate minority group.
MINUGUA's final report noted that the number of bilingual teachers
and judicial workers was increasing gradually, but bilingual classes
were available still only to 10 percent of school-age indigenous
children. A number of judicial rulings confirmed the right to practice
indigenous spirituality and wear typical clothing. The Presidential
Commission Against Discrimination and Racism, created in 2003 and
confirmed by the Berger administration, evaluated the state's actions
and made recommendations to reduce discrimination. The majority of the
provisions regarding indigenous rights were incomplete in the 2000-04
timetable for the implementation of the Peace Accords. During the year,
the Government took some steps to implement programs to include
bilingual and intercultural components in education; however, few
concrete changes had taken place at year's end.
In December 2003, the Congress passed the ``Law of Languages,''
which mandated the use of Mayan languages in public sectors like
health, education, and justice. Also in December 2003, the Government
gave the Academy for Mayan Languages the frequency for a television
channel and a large building that was formerly occupied by the
military. In addition, the Government gave the Academy a 2004 budget of
$3.1 million (25 million quetzals), a large increase from previous
years, to aid the strengthening of the use of Mayan languages and their
use in the public domain. In December, the President and Vice-President
participated in the official opening of a project to construct a Mayan
University, that had been mandated in the Peace Accords.
The commissions established to discuss the implementation of
constitutional provisions relating to indigenous rights met during the
year to formulate recommendations to the Government regarding
protection of indigenous culture, languages, traditions, lands, and
sacred sites.
The Labor Ministry had a Department of Indigenous People to
investigate cases of discrimination and promote implementation of
International Organization of Labor (ILO) Convention 169 on the rights
of indigenous workers. Although the Department had no separate budget
and only four employees and, for lack of resources, did not investigate
any discrimination claims, it acted as a representative for indigenous
rights. As an example, the office worked to represent local indigenous
interests in public and private sector discussions of potential open-
pit mines in rural areas.
Rural indigenous people had limited educational opportunities and
fewer employment opportunities. For this reason, indigenous men
constituted a high percentage of the military's ranks. Many indigenous
people were illiterate, and approximately a third did not speak
Spanish; more than half of indigenous women were illiterate; and a
disproportionate number of indigenous girls did not attend school (see
Section 5, Women and Children). The Government devoted less than 10
percent of the total budget to bilingual education, and the Ministry of
Education had yet to implement the recommendations made by the
Commission on Educational Reform.
Indigenous people arrested for crimes often were at a disadvantage
due to their limited comprehension of Spanish. The Criminal Procedures
Code states that the courts must provide interpretation for anyone
requiring such services during criminal proceedings; however, reports
continued that indigenous people did not have equal access to the
justice system. The Public Ministry concentrated 16 interpreters in
former conflict areas of the country, and the Public Defender's Office
employed 9 bilingual public defenders and assigned them to areas where
they could serve as translators in addition to defending their clients.
Despite government efforts, there were 63 judges who spoke Mayan
languages in 561 tribunals around the country. The number of court
interpreters increased from 22 in 2003 to 62 during the year and the
Supreme Court reported that the judicial system had 569 employees who
spoke indigenous languages. Though bilingual judicial personnel were
assigned often to areas where their second languages were not spoken,
NGOs noted that the Court had made an effort to improve bilingual
employee distribution during the year. Only 14 percent of police
officers were indigenous. Better efforts were made to assign these
officers to towns where their language skills could be used, and
approximately 75 percent of them worked in the geographic area of their
particular linguistic competency.
Two groups worked to represent indigenous people. A national
Congress of Mayan People created the National Assembly of
Representatives of the Mayan People, which selected representatives
from 16 departments and installed the members in February. The National
Assembly entered into dialogue with the National Council of Mayan
Peoples to unify positions on indigenous demands of the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the Labor Code
provide for freedom of association and the right to form and join trade
unions; however, in practice, enforcement of the Code remained weak and
ineffective. All workers have the right to form or join unions,
including public sector employees, with the exception of members of the
security forces. Less than 3 percent of the work force was unionized
Legal recognition of a new industry-wide union requires that the
membership constitute one-half plus one of the workers in an industry.
Labor activists considered this requirement a nearly insurmountable
barrier to the formation of new industry-wide unions.
The law prohibits retribution for forming unions and for
participating in trade union activities; in particular, the Labor Code
prohibits employers from firing workers for union organizing and
protects them from being fired for 60 days following notification to
the Labor Ministry that a union is being formed. Thereafter, they can
be fired for cause, unless they are members of the union's executive
committee. However, enforcement of these provisions was weak. Many
employers routinely sought to circumvent Labor Code provisions to
resist unionization or simply ignored both the provisions themselves
and judicial orders to enforce them. An ineffective legal system and
inadequate penalties for violations hindered enforcement of the right
to form unions and participate in trade union activities in the past.
There were credible reports of retaliation by employers against
workers who tried to exercise internationally recognized labor rights.
For example, in June, the Secretariat of Social Welfare fired 22
individuals the day after they submitted a list of members of a
fledgling union. Though the Secretariat cited budget constraints and
poor work as the reason for the dismissals, it hired replacements who
received the same pay and benefits. A court ordered the reinstatement
of the workers, but the Secretariat appealed the decision. Judicial
orders are not binding until appeals are settled, which can take years.
The Secretariat rehired two of the individuals after they resigned
their union membership. The case was pending at year's end.
The most common violation of freedom of association was the
dismissal of workers for unionizing activity. The Ministry of Labor
received 2,972 complaints of illegal firings in the first half of the
year, approximately equal to the number during the same period in 2003.
Some workers who suffered illegal dismissal took their cases to the
labor courts and won injunctions ordering reinstatement. The labor
courts reported issuing 532 such orders from January to September.
Appeals and re-appeals by the employers, along with legal recourse such
as re-incorporation as a different entity, often prolonged proceedings.
Like courts elsewhere in the country, the labor courts often did not
dismiss apparently frivolous appeals, nor were their decisions
enforced. According to Labor Ministry officials, the labor courts
vindicated the majority of workers' claims against employers; however,
employers complied with the court decisions in only a small number of
cases and rarely were disciplined for ignoring legally binding court
orders.
Employees were reluctant to exercise their right of association for
fear of reprisal by employers, according to labor leaders and
advocates. Workers had little confidence that the responsible executive
and judicial institutions would effectively protect or defend their
rights if violated. In addition, the weakness of labor inspectors, the
failures of the judicial system, poverty, the legacy of violent
repression of labor activists during the internal conflict, the climate
of impunity, and the long-standing hostility between the business
establishment and independent and self-governing labor associations all
constrained the exercise of worker rights.
Labor leaders reported death threats and other acts of
intimidation. A 3-person Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against
Unionists and Journalists accepted 45 new union-related cases during
the year, thereby raising its total case load to over 200. Prosecutors
secured only one conviction, a 10-year prison sentence for a homicide
that occurred in 2003. Both labor leaders and the Special Prosecutor
for Union Leaders reported that there were no killings of union leaders
during the year.
An active ``solidarismo'' (solidarity) movement claims to have
approximately 170,000 members in approximately 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 viewed these associations as civic organizations that
need not interfere with the functioning of trade unions. The Labor Code
stipulates that trade unions have an exclusive right to negotiate work
conditions on behalf of workers; however, 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 not
permitting strikes, having inadequate grievance procedures, and for
displacing genuine, independent trade unions with an employer-dominated
structure.
From January until September 10, the Labor Ministry granted legal
status to 45 new unions. One thousand six hundred fifty-six unions have
been registered in the country; however, only 379 were active (229 in
the public sector and 132 in the private sector). These unions
represented a total membership of more than 56,000, however, many
unions did not submit their membership lists to the Government. Some
parties estimated actual union membership to be in excess of 100,000,
although no official registry exists. Ministry of Labor sources noted
that the 56,000 number corresponded to 3 percent of the labor force in
the formal sector. The registered unions were generally independent of
government and political party domination.
Despite efforts to restructure and modernize the labor court
system, the system remained ineffective. There are 28 labor courts: 7
in the capital and 21 outside it. An additional nine courts address
labor issues, primarily appeals, as part of their jurisdiction. The
weakness of the judicial system as a whole, the severe shortage of
competent judges and staff, a heavy backlog of undecided cases, and
failure to enforce effectively court rulings all contributed to the
labor courts' lack of credibility and effectiveness. The small number
of competent and motivated labor inspectors and the lack of training
and resources devoted to detecting and investigating Labor Code
violations compounded the weakness of the labor courts.
The Ministry of Labor continued efforts to improve the labor
inspection system by increasing the number of positions of labor
inspectors; supervising and evaluating inspectors' performance;
computerizing the case filing system; creating a new inspection Unit
for Maquila workers and Unit for Minors; and hiring three attorneys to
reopen the Legal Unit in inspections. In July, the Ministry of Labor
fired approximately 25 percent of its labor inspectors for cause. By
August, it had hired replacements for most of the dismissed inspectors.
Workers illegally invaded the Maria Lourdes plantation in Genova
Costa Cuca, Quetzaltenango in November 2003 to recoup wages they
claimed were never paid. In June, the farm's administrator and head of
private security allegedly raped a 15 year-old girl and beat her 13
year-old brother. Some labor leaders claimed that the attack was an
attempt to intimidate the workers into leaving voluntarily. Though the
children reported the attack and identified both men to the Prosecutor
in Quetzaltenango, no progress had been made in the case.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers have
the right to organize and bargain collectively; however, the small
number of unionized workers limited the practice of collective
bargaining. The Labor Code requires that union members must approve a
collective bargaining agreement by simple majority.
Twenty five percent of the workers in a factory or business must be
union members for collective bargaining to take place. Management and
labor honored collective contracts at some firms. In others,
management, and sometimes labor, chose to ignore selected provisions of
binding collective bargaining agreements. According to the Ministry of
Labor, 14 collective bargaining agreements were registered from January
to September, covering nearly 1,400 workers. 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 Labor
Ministry, only 3.3 percent of the workforce had a contract legally
registered with the ministry. During the year, 137,168 individuals
filed work contracts with the Ministry of Labor.
Workers have the right to strike; however, the very low level of
unionization and procedural hurdles made legal strikes rare. The Labor
Code requires approval by simple majority of a firm's workers to call a
legal strike. The Labor Code 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. The
Labor Code 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 rarely used.
Employers may suspend or fire workers for absence without leave if
authorities have not recognized their strike as legal. The strike
regulation law calls for binding arbitration if no agreement is reached
after 30 days of negotiation.
There were no legal strikes during the year, although teachers,
farm workers, and labor groups in the formal and informal sectors held
illegal or unofficial work stoppages.
There are 52 collective bargaining agreements (covering more than
14,000 unionized workers and many thousands of non-unionized workers)
between employers and workers in a variety of sectors. Although public
sector workplaces dominated the list of collective bargaining
agreements, agricultural, textile, and other manufacturing sectors were
also represented.
Labor laws and regulations apply throughout the country, including
the few export processing zones (EPZs). Maquilas operated under an EPZ-
like regime, although they were not located in distinctly established
areas. Unions have had minimal success organizing workers in EPZs and
in the maquila sector. Only three enterprises in the maquila sector
have registered unions, two of which have achieved collective
bargaining agreements. Organizing activities were affected by employer
intimidation and pressure, according to labor leaders and activists.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
some women and 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.). Forced or compulsory labor by
children generally did not occur; however, the ILO reported that
children worked as domestics in private homes without labor law
protections (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Constitution bars employment of minors under the age of 14 without
written permission from the Ministry of Labor. The informal and
agricultural sectors regularly employed younger children, 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. According to the ILO, 23 percent of
minors under age 18 worked during the year, up from 20 percent in 2000.
The ILO estimated that 507,000 children age 7 to 14 years (20 percent
of this age group) were engaged in work. The Ministry of Labor
estimated that in the 7 to 14 age group, almost twice as many boys work
as girls, and almost twice as many indigenous children work as non-
indigenous. Most minors worked at household chores, in subsistence
agriculture, in family-run enterprises, and elsewhere in the informal
economy.
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 extra hours (the legal workday for
persons younger than 14 is 6 hours; for persons 14 to 17 years of age
it is 7 hours). A joint ILO/UNICEF/World Bank report found that,
despite these protections, child laborers worked on average 47 hours
per week.
The ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor
(IPEC) launched projects to combat child labor in the fireworks
industry, in the production of gravel, in the growing of coffee and
broccoli, in domestic service, and in the commercial sex industry. The
Labor Ministry estimated that approximately 3,000 children were
employed in the illegal cottage-based fireworks industry; approximately
10 percent of them in factories, while others, under the age of 14,
typically worked at home on piecework taken in by their families.
Accidents occurred regularly in the fireworks industry. According to
press reports, an average of 30 persons per year, the majority minors,
suffered burns and amputations from accidents in the fabrication of
fireworks.
Laws governing the employment of minors were not enforced
effectively due to the weakness of the labor inspection and labor court
systems. The Labor Ministry granted 20 work permits for minors under
age 14 between January and August 23, compared with 119 in all of 2003.
Many children under the age of 14 worked without legal permission and
were vulnerable to exploitation. Their illegal status made them
ineligible to receive social benefits, social insurance, vacations, or
severance pay, and they often earned salaries below the minimum wage.
A 2002 ILO report, based on a National Statistic Institute survey,
indicated that 38,878 children worked as domestics in private homes.
Domestic employees are exempt from many labor law protections. In the
capital, three-quarters of the children worked 13 to 16 hours a day,
and their average monthly salary was approximately $51 (395 quetzals).
Many domestic workers suffered psychological mistreatment, including
sexual abuse.
The Child Worker Protection Unit within the Ministry of Labor
enforces restrictions on child labor and educates minors, their
parents, and employers on the rights of minors in the labor market. The
National Commission for the Elimination of Child Labor developed an
operational plan to implement the 2000 National Plan to Eradicate Child
Labor.
In its 2003 country report, the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights noted that, with ILO-IPEC backing, the Government 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 minimum wages.
Noncompliance with minimum wage provisions in the rural and informal
sectors was widespread. A 2001 government survey, the most recent
available, noted that only 60 percent of the working population
received the minimum wage or more. Advocacy groups, focused on rural
sector issues, estimated that more than half of workers engaged in day-
long employment in the rural sector did not receive the wages,
benefits, and social security allocations required by law.
The Ministry of Labor oversees a tripartite committee that makes
recommendations for increases in the minimum wage. In the event that
agreement is not reached in the tripartite commission, the Government
may decree such increases based on recommendations of the Labor
Minister. The daily minimum wage was $4.86 (38.6 quetzals) in
agriculture and $4.96 (39.7 quetzals) in commerce. The law requires an
incentive bonus be added to this minimum wage for all hours worked,
effectively raising the daily minimum wage to $5.63 (45 quetzals) in
agriculture and $5.79 (46.3 quetzals) in commerce.
On June 30, a new minimum wage came into force that provided
increases of 21 percent for agricultural workers and 16 percent for
non-agricultural workers.
The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. In its 2003 Human Development Report, the UNDP
estimated that 57 percent of the population lived below the poverty
line and 21.5 percent in extreme poverty. The Ministry of Labor
conducts inspections to monitor compliance with minimum wage
provisions; however, the Ministry of Labor lacked the resources to
enforce the minimum wage law adequately.
The legal workday is 8 hours and the workweek is 48 hours; a
tradition of longer hours remained in place in certain sectors. These
limits do not apply to domestic workers. For day shift workers, the
standard 6-day workweek is 44 hours; for night shift workers, it is 36
hours; for swing shift workers, it is 42 hours. Time-and-a-half pay is
required for overtime work. The Labor Code requires a weekly paid rest
period of at least 24 hours. Trade union leaders and human rights
groups charged that employers sometimes forced workers to work
overtime, often without legally-mandated premium pay. Labor inspectors
reported uncovering numerous instances of such abuses, but the lack of
stiff fines or strong regulatory sanctions, as well as inefficiencies
in the labor court system and enforcement of court orders, inhibited
adequate enforcement of the law.
Occupational health and safety standards were inadequate and
enforcement remained weak. During the year, the Ministry of Labor
participated in a number of regional international initiatives intended
to sensitize employers and workers to health and safety risks in the
workplace. The Labor Ministry provided training courses for labor
inspectors in health and safety standards and gave such training
priority.
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; however, most large employers did provide such facilities
for their employees. The fireworks industry was particularly hazardous
(see Section 6.b.). Workers have the legal right to remove themselves
from dangerous work situations without reprisal. However, few workers
were willing to jeopardize their jobs by complaining about unsafe
working conditions.
Human rights and labor organizations alleged that women workers,
particularly in the domestic and maquila manufacturing sector, suffered
discrimination and sexual harassment.
Maquilas, which employed approximately 108,000 persons, the vast
majority of whom were female, often forced women to reveal whether they
were pregnant as a condition of employment.
__________
GUYANA
The Co-operative Republic of Guyana has a multiparty political
system based on proportional representation. Voters indirectly elect
the President to a 5-year term of office. The President appoints a
prime minister and a cabinet. In March 2001, citizens voted in a
generally free and fair national election to reelect the People's
Progressive Party (PPP) and its Civic (C) partner. Incumbent Bharrat
Jagdeo received his own mandate for a 5-year term as President. Social
unrest and occasional violence marred the post-election period, with
the main opposition party alleging that election procedures violated
the Constitution. Despite some technical problems, international
observers considered the elections free and fair. The country's two
major political parties were based predominantly along ethnic lines,
with demography favoring the Indo-Guyanese dominated PPP/C. The
judiciary, although constitutionally independent, was inefficient and
often appeared subject to the influence of the executive branch.
The Guyana Defense Force (GDF) is a professional military
responsible for national defense, internal security, and emergency
response. The GDF reports directly to the Minister of Defence who is
the President. The Defense Board, chaired by the President, has
oversight responsibility for the GDF. The Guyana Police Force (GPF),
which reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs, has the authority to
make arrests and is responsible for maintaining law and order
throughout the country. The civilian authorities maintained effective
control of the security forces. Some members of the security forces
allegedly committed human rights abuses.
The economy was based on a mix of private and state enterprises.
The 2000 census registered a population of 749,000. Primary
agricultural and mineral products (rice, sugar, bauxite, gold, fish,
and timber) dominated the economy. There were severe shortages of
skilled labor, and the economy was constrained by an inadequate and
poorly maintained infrastructure for transportation, power
distribution, flood control, and communications. Government estimates
placed real economic growth at 2.5 percent during the year. Inflation
was low; however, the latest (2001) U.N. Development Program (UNDP)
living conditions survey showed that 35 percent of the population lived
in poverty.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Human rights
groups and the media asserted that the police continued to commit
unlawful killings, and police abuse of suspects continued to be a
problem. The authorities took some steps to investigate abuses, but
pledges to reform the operations of the police have yet to yield
definitive results. Prison conditions remained poor, and lengthy
pretrial detention continued to be a problem. Judicial system
inefficiencies resulted in long delays in trials. Police infringed on
citizens' privacy rights. Violence against women and children;
trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against women,
indigenous Amerindians, and persons living with HIV/AIDS; incidents of
discrimination stemming from the racial tensions between Indo-Guyanese
and Afro-Guyanese; and child labor in the informal sector were all
problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of political killings; however, human rights groups asserted
that police continued to commit unlawful killings. In most cases, the
police shot the victims while attempting to arrest them or while a
crime was being committed. Although police were seldom prosecuted for
unlawful killings, the new Commissioner of Police has brought charges
against officers implicated in such abuses and has instigated greater
efforts to investigate and hold police officers accountable. The
Constitution broadly defines justifiable use of lethal force.
On April 24, Sherman George was shot and killed by a plain-clothes
policeman. Police maintained that George pulled out a toy gun and that
the policeman was forced to fire. The family claimed that the gun was
planted at the scene, and others said that the man was raising his arms
to surrender.
On September 7, Curtis Lorenzo was shot and killed after escaping
from the Mahdia lock-up where he was incarcerated pending charges of
abduction and rape of a minor. The officer reportedly fired the fatal
shot accidentally. An inquiry remained pending.
On September 8, police shot and killed accused murderer Kelvin Nero
as he was walking on the street. Witnesses claimed that police fired
three shots; some accounts related that Nero was first shot in the leg,
then beaten, and then shot two more times. An investigation was
launched.
A preliminary inquiry determined that two officers charged with the
2003 killing of University of Guyana student Yohance Douglas should
stand trial for his murder. No trial date has yet been set, and one
officer has appealed the decision to stand trial.
There were no new developments in the allegations of wrongdoing
related to the killings by police in previous years, including the
police shootings of Errol Immanuel, Charles Hinckson and Marlon Wilson,
and the beating death of Albert Hopkinson, all in 2003.
Some killings, such as the January 5 killing of Shafeek Bacchus and
the June 24 killing of George Bacchus, were attributed to an organized
hit squad that originated as a vigilante response to the 2002-03 crime
wave. Prior to his death, George Bacchus alleged that he had been a
member of the so-called Phantom Squad and that Home Affairs Minister
Ronald Gajraj directed the group. In July, Minister Gajraj went on
leave to facilitate the work of a Commission of Inquiry regarding these
allegations, and the inquiry remained ongoing at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In April, an Iranian Shiite cleric and teacher, Mohammad Hassan
Ebrahimi, was kidnapped at his school; he was then killed, and his body
was recovered in May. No ransom was demanded, and the GPF's
investigation has not determined a motive for the crime.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture, and there were no
reports of its use; however, allegations of police abuse of suspects
continued. The GHRA continued to consider mistreatment of prisoners by
prison officers a problem.
Many legal authorities and human rights activists stated that due
to high crime and pressure from urban businesses, which were often the
targets of criminals, the Government did not actively pursue
investigations of alleged police abuses. Fear of reprisals also limited
citizen reporting of police abuses.
Prison and jail conditions were poor, particularly in police
holding cells. Georgetown's Camp Street Prison, the country's largest,
was overcrowded. The Prison Authority reported that there were 1,157
inmates in the 5 facilities in the system, nearly half of whom were in
the Camp Street Prison. According to prison officials, the facility was
intended to hold 500 inmates; however, the Guyana Human Rights
Association (GHRA) stated that the Camp Street Prison initially was
designed to hold 350 inmates. Conditions in the country's four smaller
prisons generally were adequate. Some of the prisons were staffed with
medical personnel whose training fell somewhere between that of a nurse
and a doctor. GHRA continued to advocate improved health care in the
prison system.
Although sanitary and medical conditions in police station
temporary holding facilities varied, in almost all cases, 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. The Brickdam
lockup in Georgetown had poor sanitation and dangerous conditions.
Although precinct jails were intended to serve only as pretrial holding
areas, some suspects were detained there as long as 2 years, waiting
for the overburdened judicial system to act on their cases.
At least one inmate died while in police custody. On July 7,
Kellowan Etwaroo was found dead in his cell at the La Grange Police
Station. Etwaroo's wife discovered his body at the police station. The
autopsy confirmed that Etwaroo died as a result of massive head
injuries; there were reports that he had been banging his head against
the wall for many hours.
The only women's prison is in New Amsterdam. Men and women were
held separately in dormitory-type buildings. Conditions at the prison
generally were adequate; however, security for prisoners was lax.
Prisoners had access to knives, long knitting needles, and machetes.
There were incidents of prisoners attacking other prisoners, including
one case where a female foreign prisoner was stabbed and received life-
threatening wounds. She was then returned to the same cell, with no
additional protection.
Police continued to place juvenile offenders in a fairly adequate
separate facility; however, female juvenile offenders were held with
adult female prisoners.
Pretrial detainees were held separately from convicted prisoners.
Some special watch/high profile pretrial detainees were kept in
security divisions also occupied by convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions, but there were no known requests to conduct such monitoring
during the year. Consular interviews with prisoners took place in the
presence of prison guards.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
The GPF is a centralized, military-style organization. There are
seven regional districts, but all criminal investigations operated out
of headquarters in Georgetown. Two specialized units with no clearly
defined mandate, the Tactical Services Unit and the Quick Reaction
Group, were disbanded during the year. The Special Constabulary
received the same training as the regular police but focused mainly on
guard duty for cabinet ministers and certain government facilities. The
GPF made use of operational training offered through international
cooperation agreements. The GPF included a basic human rights course in
their recruit-training program, and the GHRA participated in most
training programs.
Poor training, poor equipment, and acute budgetary constraints
severely limited the effectiveness of the GPF. Public confidence and
cooperation with the police remained extremely low. The Commissioner of
Police appointed in February increased the number and visibility of
police on the streets. There were reports of corruption in the police
and a lack of police accountability, although the new Commissioner took
steps to address both issues. Nevertheless, most cases involving
charges against police officers were heard by lower magistrate courts,
where other specially trained police officers served as the
prosecutors. The Bar Association questioned officers' commitment to
prosecute their own colleagues and recommended that for serious cases
the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions should handle
prosecutions.
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) was composed of five members
who investigated complaints against police officers. The law provides
for the independence of the PCA; however, an appointment system drawing
heavily from retired judges fostered a reluctance to take controversial
or decisive action. A lack of adequate powers for independent
investigation limited the effectiveness of the PCA. The Office of
Professional Responsibility also investigated complaints against the
police.
The 2003 Disciplined Forces Commission report on the operations of
the security services was completed during the year; its
recommendations remained under parliamentary consideration.
Arrest does not require a warrant issued by a court official.
Police may arrest without a warrant when 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 24 hours be brought before a court to be charged, and this was
generally observed in practice. Bail was generally available, except in
capital offense cases. In narcotics cases, magistrates limited
discretion in granting bail before trial and are required to remand
persons convicted of such crimes into custody, even if an appeal is
pending.
The law provides criminal detainees the right to access to a lawyer
of their choice family, as well as access to family members; however,
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 their
client. There were reports that senior officers refused to grant prompt
access to prisoners, as the law requires.
Lengthy pretrial detention, due primarily to judicial inefficiency,
staff shortages, and lengthy legal procedures, remained a problem.
The Government did not detain persons on political grounds,
although supporters of Mark Benschop, a talk show host held on charges
of treason, considered him to be a political detainee (see Section
2.a.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, some law enforcement officials and
prominent lawyers accused the Government of occasional judicial
intervention in civil cases involving judgments against the Government.
The court system is composed of a high court (the Supreme Court of
Judicature), an appeals court, and a system of magistrate courts.
Magistrates were members of the civil service and were trained lawyers.
The magistrate courts deal with both criminal and civil matters, and
specially trained police officers serve as prosecutors in lower
magistrate courts. The Ministry of Legal Affairs, normally headed by
the Attorney General, is the principal legal advisor to the State. The
Director of Public Prosecution is statutorily independent and may file
legal charges against offenders. The Constitution provides that anyone
charged with a criminal offense has the right to a hearing by a court
of law, and this right generally was respected in practice.
Delays and inefficiency characterized the judicial process and
undermined due process. Delays in judicial proceedings were caused by
shortages of trained court personnel and magistrates, inadequate
resources, postponements at the request of the defense or prosecution,
occasional alleged acts of bribery, poor tracking of cases, and the
slowness of police in preparing cases for trial.
The JSC has the authority to appoint judges and determine tenure
and has the power to appoint the Director and Deputy Director of Public
Prosecutions. The President, on the advice of the JSC, may make
temporary appointments of judges to sit in magistrate courts and on the
High Court.
The long-delayed formation of the Public Service Commission in
December 2003 led to reconstituting the other constitutional service
commissions and resumption of appointments and promotions in the
judiciary and magistracy.
Defendants are granted public trials, and appeals may be made to
higher courts. Defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty.
Cases in magistrate's courts are tried without jury; more serious cases
are tried by jury in the High Court. Appeals of some murder cases may
go on for several years. 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 only a limited
effect. Introduction of court mediation in late 2003 generated
significant interest among legal practitioners, and the Alternative
Dispute Resolution Center has begun to reduce the court backlog.
Although the law recognizes the right to legal counsel, in
practice, with the exception of cases involving capital crimes, it was
limited to those who could afford to pay. There was no public defender
system, but defendants in murder cases who needed a lawyer were
assigned an attorney by the court.
The Georgetown Legal Aid Clinic, with public and private support,
provided advice to persons who could not afford a lawyer, with a
special interest in cases of violence against women and criminal cases
related to civil cases (for example, assault as part of a divorce
case).
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however, the
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 neighborhoods where narcotics
trafficking was suspected.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. Citizens could openly criticize the Government and its
policies.
The independent Stabroek News and Kaieteur News published daily,
and a wide range of religious groups, political parties, and
journalists published a variety of privately owned weekly newspapers.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of views
without restriction. International media were allowed to operate
freely. The Government's daily newspaper, the Guyana Chronicle, which
typically displayed an anti-opposition bias, covered a broad spectrum
of political and nongovernmental groups. There were no reports of prior
restraint of media reporting.
Talk show host Mark Benschop, arrested in 2002 on charges of
treason for his role in the July 2002 storming of the Presidential
Office Complex, went to trial in November. Long pre-trial incarceration
was characteristic of the judicial system, and there was no indication
of a political motivation in delaying this trial
Government limits on licensing and expansion constrained the
broadcast media. The Government owned and operated the country's sole
radio station, which broadcast on three frequencies. There were no
private radio stations, and private interests continued to criticize
the Government for its failure to approve requests for radio frequency
authorizations. The Government stated that no new radio or television
licenses will be granted and no extensions of broadcast service will be
approved pending passage of a new broadcast law, which a political
stalemate has prevented. Nonetheless, the national television station
continued to expand its service. Twelve independent television stations
also continued to operate.
Equal access to the state media remained a contentious issue
between the Government and the major opposition.
There were reports of police harassment of the media. In August,
cameramen filming police operations in a community near Georgetown had
their tapes confiscated, and, in one case, a camera was destroyed when
the reporter resisted surrender of the tape. One tape was later
returned, but the footage had been erased. One of the television
stations involved decided to pursue legal action in the case. The
television station and the police have reached amicable settlement; the
police have undertaken to repair the damaged camera and as a
consequence the legal action has been dropped.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The Government recognizes religious groups of all faiths present;
however, churches were required to register with the Government to be
formally recognized. Religious groups seeking to establish operations
require permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs before commencing
their activities.
Groups seeking access to the interior are required to obtain
special permission from the Ministries of Home Affairs and Amerindian
Affairs. The Ministries review the scope of activities submitted by the
religious body and grant approval on a case-by-case basis.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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. Travel
to Amerindian areas required government permission, the result of a law
dating from colonial times designed to protect indigenous people from
exploitation. However, in practice, most persons traveled throughout
these areas without regard to the formality of a permit.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
The country was not party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees or 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, but did not
routinely grant refugee status or asylum. There were no requests for
refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the office of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Legal
challenges continued to impede efforts by the Ministry of Home Affairs
and the Cuban Government to force repatriation to Cuba of a Cuban
national married to a Guyanese citizen.
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. There is a multiparty political system based on
proportional representation. Voters elect 25 of the 65 deputies from
regional constituencies; the remaining 40 seats are filled
proportionally from national slates of nominees chosen by the parties
from different sectors of society. Any citizen 18 years or older may
register to vote. Citizens are free to join or support political
parties of their choice. Since the party in power controls Parliament,
the legislature typically provides only a limited check on the
executive's power.
Voters indirectly elect the President to a 5-year term of office. A
party's presidential candidate must be announced in advance of the
election. The party that wins the most votes for Parliament wins the
presidency. The President appoints a cabinet and a prime minister who,
with the President, exercise executive power.
In March 2001, citizens voted in a generally free and fair election
to keep the PPP/C in office, defeating the Peoples National Congress/
Reform (PNC/R) party. Incumbent Bharrat Jagdeo received his own mandate
for a 5-year term as President. The opposition called for the courts to
declare the election unconstitutional and illegal, which briefly
delayed Jagdeo's swearing-in. An audit of the 2001 election led by the
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental
organization, found that, despite several procedural errors and system
failures, there was no evidence of a conspiracy or corruption to
manipulate election systems or the election results, as the opposition
alleged.
Society is racially divided, and the political party structure
reflected the polarization of the main ethnic groups. The two major
parties (the PPP/C and the PNC/R) were formed largely by Indo-Guyanese
and Afro-Guyanese, respectively. Indo-Guyanese voters were a majority,
which has allowed the PPP/C to retain power since 1992.
In April, a task force to reform the local government system
completed its work, although Parliament had not yet passed the
associated legislation. The task force has not reconvened due to
disputes between the two major political parties. Local government
elections have been delayed pending the completion of the reform, and
were 7 years overdue.
There was a widespread public perception of corruption in the
Government, including the police (see Section 1.d.). Corruption
scandals involving duty-free concessions to returning migrants and the
export of dolphins attracted considerable attention.
The law did not provide for public access to government
information. Government officials were reluctant to provide public
information without approval from senior levels of the administration.
There were no legal impediments to the participation of women or
minorities in the political process. The Constitution requires that
one-third of the parliamentary candidates be female. There were 19
women in the 65-seat Parliament and 3 women in the 20-member Cabinet.
The Chancellor of the Judiciary was a woman. There were four
Amerindians in the Parliament and one Amerindian in the Cabinet.
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, and holding
conferences and workshops on social issues. Government officials were
cooperative but poorly responsive to recommendations made by
independent human rights groups. The GHRA was the most active local
human rights group and issued periodic press releases. Trade unions,
professional organizations, various ethnic groups, and churches
participated in the GHRA. Members of the Government openly discussed
human rights issues and made public statements in response to foreign
and local human rights reports.
The Constitutional Reform Commission mandated a Human Rights
Commission (HRC) to be comprised of a Chairperson and the four
chairpersons of the Women's, Children's, Indigenous, and Ethnic
Relations commissions. By year's end, only the Ethnic Relations
Commission had been activated, preventing establishment of the HRC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides fundamental rights for all persons
regardless of race, sex, religion, or national origin; however, the
Government did not always enforce these provisions.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence, was
widespread and crossed racial and socio-economic lines. The Domestic
Violence Act defines and criminalizes domestic violence and gives women
the right to seek prompt protection. Magistrates may issue interim
protection orders when a victim of abuse, a police officer, or a social
worker completes an application for protection. A magistrate then
evaluates the case and decides whether to replace interim orders with
permanent orders. The Act allows victims to seek protection,
occupation, or tenancy orders. Protection orders prohibited abusers
from being anywhere that the applicant lives, works, visits, or attends
school. If protection orders were violated, the abuser could be fined
up to $54 (G$10,000) and imprisoned for up to 12 months; however, this
legislation frequently was not enforced. The NGO Help and Shelter (H&S)
noted that training had improved implementation of the Act, but not all
police officers fully understood its provisions. Occupation orders
allowed the victim and any children to remain in a home previously
shared with an abuser, while the abuser must leave. Similarly, tenancy
orders required an abuser to leave a rented dwelling and to continue to
pay some or all of the rent.
Between January and September, H&S handled 224 cases of abuse,
including child, spousal, nonspousal, and other domestic abuse; 188 of
the cases involved spousal abuse directed against women. Only five
cases resulted in prosecutions.
NGOs provided training to police officers, teachers, nurses,
agricultural workers, religious groups, and health clinics to sensitize
them to domestic violence. Police who had not undergone training
continued to treat domestic violence as a private matter. H&S operated
a hotline to counsel victims.
Although rape was illegal, it was a serious but infrequently
reported or prosecuted problem. While increasing numbers of victims
reported these crimes to the authorities, victims were still socially
stigmatized.
Prostitution is illegal, but it did occur, and it received greater
public attention due to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS among
prostitutes and increased attention to trafficking in persons.
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on gender; however,
there was no legal protection against sexual harassment in the
workplace. Officials of the Women's Leadership Institute (WLI), a
collaborative effort between the Government and the UNDP, asserted that
sexual harassment was a significant problem. WLI has reported that
while the problem is widespread, victims are reluctant to make official
reports, fearing the associated stigma and lack of confidence of the
legal system to deliver justice even after long and frustrating delays.
Although women constituted a significant proportion of the
workforce, there were credible reports that they did not enjoy equal
treatment and faced disadvantages in promotion. The law prohibits
dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy, and dismissal on such grounds
did not occur in practice. 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 WLI sought through education and
training to facilitate greater participation by women in government and
the private sector. In March, the WLI began an 18-month collaboration
with the Canadian/Caribbean Gender Equality Program. WLI has reported
that they are half way through the training. So far three Train the
Trainers workshops and four capacity building workshops have been
completed. The institute is currently in the process of conducting
mobile workshop training at the grassroots level. It is expected that
the entire program of training will be completed by July/August 2005.
The law protects women's property rights in common-law marriages
and 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 been a housewife. Divorce by mutual consent remained illegal. The
courts may overturn a husband's will in the event that it does not
provide for his wife, so long as she was dependent on him for financial
support.
Children.--Children (accounting for one-third of the country's
population) were affected more severely by poverty than any other
group. Public education was available to age 20; education was
compulsory up to age 16 and was universal and free through secondary
school. Parents had the option to send their children to private
schools at their own expense. Children often did not attend school
because their families needed them to contribute to the household by
working or providing childcare for siblings or younger relatives (see
Section 6.d.). Primary school attendance was 87 percent, although only
50 percent of the children completed secondary education. The severe
deterioration of the public education and health care systems limited
children's future prospects. The public health system was inadequate,
and private health care was unaffordable for many children.
There was continued concern over the effects of domestic violence
on children. It was unclear how many deaths from child abuse took
place; law enforcement officials believed that the vast majority of
criminal child abuse cases were unreported. Reports of physical and
sexual abuse of children were common. The Probation and Welfare
Department reported 106 cases of child abuse through August.
In December, the age of consent was raised from 13 to 16.
The age of consent issue was highlighted in June by a case
involving Reeaz Khan, a prominent businessman who was having sexual
relations with a 13-year-old girl. When the mother discovered the
relationship, she pressed charges. According to news accounts, Mr. Khan
then kidnapped the girl. After the child was rescued, a judge sent her
to a juvenile prison, due to the lack of a suitable alternative
protective institution, and Khan was charged with abduction. Media
reports of rape and incest further indicated that violence against
children was a significant problem. The Domestic Violence Act allows
police officers or social workers to file an application on behalf of
an abused child, but there was a lack of social services or trained
experts to assist children fleeing sexual, physical, or emotional
abuse.
The Government reiterated its position that corporal punishment is
acceptable. Corporal punishment was permitted in schools and homes;
however, in schools, it must be administered by or in the presence of
the principal. Data on the number of corporal punishment cases were
unavailable. The Ministry of Education abandoned a program intended to
phase out corporal punishment in schools.
There were reports of child prostitution (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were reports that persons were
trafficked to and within the country.
In December an anti-trafficking bill was voted into law. The
Government used laws that prohibit underage sex, prostitution, and
kidnapping to address human trafficking issues.
The maximum penalty for forcible abduction for prostitution is 14
years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty for owning or operating a
premise where sex with a girl under the age of 15 is permitted is life
imprisonment.
Responsibility for trafficking issues falls under several agencies
and government officials. President Jagdeo designated Minister Bibi
Shaddick of the Ministry of Labor, Human Services, and Social Security
to address human trafficking. Deputy Commissioner Henry Greene of the
GPF monitors enforcement. Since February, the Government has acted to
combat human trafficking, resulting in the arrest of at least 10
persons whose cases remained pending at year's end.
The country was a source and destination for trafficked women and
children, although most trafficking in persons occurred internally.
Trafficking reportedly took place in the interior, where government
oversight was light and law enforcement was lacking. In 2003, the
latest year for which figures were available, there were an estimated
100 cases of trafficking, the majority of which involved underage
prostitution, with victims recruited from coastal or Amerindian
communities to work as sex workers in mining areas. Reports indicated
that trafficking victims were lured into mining camps with promised
employment as highly paid domestic helpers, cooks, restaurant servers,
and nude dancers. Trafficking victims from Brazil were reportedly flown
into mining camps on private flights. They were provided barracks-style
housing with cramped quarters, and sometimes kept under lock and key.
They were restrained through debt-bondage, intimidation, and physical
abuse. Most victims were exposed to the same health risks as
prostitutes and other sex workers, including sexually transmitted
diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
Most traffickers were believed to be individual businessmen or
small groups of miners. There was no evidence that government officials
or institutions participated in, facilitated, or condoned human
trafficking. Since February, government officials have taken a public
stance against human trafficking as well as significant action to
eliminate its practice. Although police corruption continued, there
were no reports of any cases of police corruption linked to human
trafficking. The Government did not condone trafficking-related
practices.
Organizations such as the GHRA, Red Thread, and H&S organized to
provide assistance to trafficking victims. H&S received funding from
the Government as part of a broader commitment to assist trafficking
victims.
There were no reports that human trafficking victims were subjected
to any punishment. Victims identified by the Government have been
removed from the traffickers' custody and provided passage back to
their homes. There were no reports of societal discrimination against
trafficking victims.
The Government undertook a national public awareness campaign to
educate potential victims about the dangers of trafficking in persons.
Government ministers travelled throughout the country to promote public
awareness of trafficking in remote communities. In July, television
stations began broadcasting anti-trafficking public service
announcements distributed by the Government. In October, the
International Organization for Migration, in collaboration with the
Inter-American Commission of Women, conducted human trafficking
training as part of the Government's outreach program.
Persons With Disabilities.--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. A National Commission on Disabilities worked
during the year to develop new legislation covering persons with
disabilities, as well as serving as a coordinating center for other
groups. Some 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.
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 social and political organizations polarized society along
ethnic lines, and discrimination and exclusion continued to occur.
Members of both the largely Indo-Guyanese PPP/C and the largely Afro-
Guyanese PNC/R engaged in rhetorical and propaganda attacks that fueled
racial tensions.
The civil service and security forces continued to be
overwhelmingly staffed by Afro-Guyanese. Recruitment for the uniformed
services operated on an open basis, with no preference or special
effort to attract applicants from any particular group. Most qualified
Indo-Guyanese candidates opted for a business or professional career
rather than apply for a career in the military, police, or public
service.
Indigenous People.--The Amerindian population, which consists of
nine tribal groups, constituted an estimated 8 percent of the
population. Most lived in reservations and villages in remote parts of
the interior. Their standard of living was much lower than that of most
citizens, and their ability to participate in decisions affecting their
lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural resources
was limited. Access to education and health care in Amerindian
communities was limited.
Amerindian life is regulated by the Amerindian Act, legislation
dating from colonial times designed to protect indigenous people from
exploitation. Under the Act, the Government may determine who is an
Amerindian and what constitutes an Amerindian community, appoint
Amerindian leaders, and annul decisions made by Amerindian councils. It
also prohibits the sale of alcohol to Amerindians and requires
government permission before any Amerindian may accept formal
employment, but these provisions were not enforced. Both Amerindian
individuals and groups remained free to criticize the Government.
Progress continued on a revision of the Amerindian Act. The Cabinet
considered recommendations from a series of consultations with
Amerindian communities during the year. Regional consultations and
consultations with political parties remained to be carried out before
a proposal could be presented to Parliament.
For the Amerindian population, the question of land rights was a
major issue. The Government held title to almost all the country's land
and was free to act without consultation. The law provides Amerindians
with limited land rights, and legal titles may be taken away in at
least five ways. In addition, Amerindians complained that the
Government allocated land (to mining and logging interests as well as
for environmentally protected reserves) without proper consultations
with the communities. The Amerindian 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.
The Government continued to maintain that it was committed to
demarcating traditionally Amerindian lands; however, the process lacked
transparency and continued to be a source of contention. Although the
demarcation process moved forward during the year, progress was slow.
In February, the Government made two substantial land grants to
Amerindian communities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons living with HIV/
AIDS encountered societal discrimination, including derogatory
comments, the refusal of some mini-bus drivers to pick them up, and
other types of stigma-related discrimination. There were reports of
employers releasing HIV-positive employees, as well as denying
employment on the basis of a person's HIV-positive status, but there
was no evidence of official discrimination against persons with HIV/
AIDS.
A recent poll of unemployed out-of-school youth conducted by the
Ministry of Health indicated that 51 percent of respondents reported
having known someone with HIV/AIDS (30 percent had a close relative
with HIV/AIDS). When asked whether or not a HIV-positive person should
be allowed to teach, only 34 percent thought they should be allowed to
do so, and nearly 30 percent believed that those living HIV/AIDS should
be quarantined.
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 other established union.
Approximately 32 percent of the work force was unionized.
There is no law prohibiting anti-union discrimination by employers.
Although not always in harmony with specific unions, the country's
socialist history continued to ensure that the Government maintained a
generally pro-union stance.
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 have never been 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 Constitution 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 was no law prohibiting
retaliation against strikers, but this principle was always included in
the terms of resumption after a strike. The Trade Unions Recognition
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.--The Constitution
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
Factories Act and the Employment of Young Persons and Children Act set
minimum age requirements for employment of children; however, 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. Legally,
no person under age 14 may be employed in any industrial undertaking,
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 UNICEF, between 1999-2001, 19 percent of
children between the ages of 5 and 14 were involved in labor
activities.
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. The practice of teenage prostitution was a
problem (see Section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Act and the Wages
Councils Act allow the Labor Minister to set minimum wages for various
categories of private employers, but there was no legislated multi-
sector minimum wage. A civil service arbitration ruling in 1999
established a minimum public sector wage, which has since been
increased periodically by unilateral government action to $109
(G$22,099) per month. Although enforcement mechanisms existed, 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 for the public sector did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The Shops Act and the Factories Act set hours of employment, which
vary by industry and sector. In general, work in excess of an 8-hour
day, regardless of hours worked in the week, or a 44-hour week required
an overtime payment rate. The law does not require a minimum weekly
rest period.
The Factories Act 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. As with
its other responsibilities, 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 an elected president and a bicameral
legislature. The 1987 Constitution remains in force, but many of its
provisions were not respected in practice. The opposition parties
boycotted the 2000 presidential elections, in which Jean-Bertrand
Aristide was reelected president with extremely low voter turnout. The
political impasse and violence stemming from controversial results of
the May 2000 legislative and local elections worsened, and despite
accepting a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plan committing the
Government to create a climate of security for elections, President
Aristide did not fully implement the plan. Anti-Government armed rebels
along with members of the former military (FAd'H), many of whom had
previously been implicated in human rights abuses, mounted a major
insurgency beginning in early February, ultimately resulting in
President Aristide's resignation and departure from the country on
February 29. At the time of his departure, government and public
security institutions hardly functioned. Boniface Alexandre, Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, assumed office as interim President in
accordance with the Constitution. On March 4, a Tripartite Council was
formed, consisting of one representative each from Aristide's Fanmi
Lavalas Party (FL), the opposition movement's Democratic Platform, and
the international community. The Tripartite Council chose a seven-
member Council of Eminent Persons, with representatives from the
Catholic Church, human rights groups, academia, the private sector, the
opposition umbrella group Democratic Convergence, and Fanmi Lavalas, to
select a new prime minister. On March 17, Gerard Latortue was installed
as Prime Minister of the Interim Government of Haiti (IGOH) upon
recommendation from the Council Of Eminent Persons to President
Alexandre. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary;
however, under Aristide's government, it was subject to interference by
the executive and legislative branches and remained largely weak and
corrupt. Under the IGOH, the judicial system continued to be hampered
by the weaknesses inherited from the previous government, but was not
subject to interferences from other branches of the Government. The
instability in the country immediately following President Aristide's
departure made the justice system inoperative for a few months. During
the remainder of the year, many judges feared retribution from rebels
and gangs from across the political spectrum.
The Haitian National Police (HNP) has a variety of specialized
units, including a crisis response unit (SWAT); a crowd control unit
(CIMOs) serving Port-au-Prince and the Western department; a crowd
control unit serving each of the remaining eight departments; and a
small Coast Guard unit. The large and well-funded Presidential Security
Unit, officially part of the HNP, had its own budget and remained
administratively and functionally independent. The HNP is officially an
autonomous civilian institution; under President Aristide, however,
authorities did not maintain effective control of the security forces.
President Aristide filled many key HNP positions with political allies
and corrupt or political elements lacking experience, training, and
credibility. Partisan political leaders exercised control over elements
of the police and influenced it for personal or political gain. The
politicization of the HNP facilitated both political violence and drug
trafficking. After President Aristide's departure, the new leadership
of the HNP, the sole security force in the country after the disbanding
of the FAd'H in 1995, took steps to address corruption by firing 200
corrupt, inexperienced officers and inducting a new class of recruits
who were cleared by human rights organizations. However, some HNP
officials were implicated in corruption, kidnapping, and narcotics
trafficking. Members of the HNP committed human rights abuses during
the year.
In April, at the request of the interim government, the U.N.
authorized a Multilateral Interim Force (MIF), made up of troops from
the U.S., Canada, France, and Chile, to ensure stability until the
deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force. In April, the U.N. Security
Council authorized 6,700 troops and 1,622 civilian police for the U.N.
Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
The country had a market-based economy with state-controlled
utilities and an estimated population of 8 million. The country
suffered a sharp economic decline during the year. The International
Monetary Fund estimated real gross domestic product growth of 3.8
percent for the year, after several years of near zero growth. In
November, the U.N. estimated that 55 percent of the population lived on
less than a dollar per day; two-thirds did not have formal employment.
The informal sector was an important component of the economy.
Textiles, assembled goods, leather goods, agricultural products, and
handicrafts provided limited export revenue. Inflation was
approximately 20 percent for the year.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. During the
year, various actors perpetrated numerous human rights abuses,
particularly during the armed revolt and the authority vacuum that
followed. There were credible reports of arbitrary killings by some
members of the HNP, the FAd'H who helped force President Aristide's
resignation, and pro-Lavalas partisans and street gangs who were
suspected of being paid and armed by President Aristide and his
supporters. Systematic, state-orchestrated abuses stopped under the
IGOH, but incidences of retribution killings and politically motivated
violence, particularly in the provinces, continued. In the months
following President Aristide's departure, there were numerous reports
of human rights abuses against supporters of Aristide. Many of these
were attributed to groups who acted independently of the IGOH, such as
members of the former military (FAd'H), and to former members of the
paramilitary organization Revolutionary Armed Front for the Progress of
Haiti (FRAPH). Police officers used excessive- and sometimes deadly-
force in making arrests or controlling demonstrations and rarely were
punished for such acts.
Legal impunity remained a serious problem due to a weakened police
force and judicial system. On January 1, the Government granted amnesty
to some convicted criminals imprisoned around the country. Their
release, combined with the high number of prisoners who escaped
detention from police stations and the destruction of prisons around
the country in the turmoil that followed Aristide's departure, created
further instability. Some of those released and escaped criminals were
also responsible for human rights violations during the year. Few
prisons were rehabilitated, but some prisoners were re-arrested, only
worsening prison conditions. Pretrial detention was a serious problem.
The media were largely free and often critical of both the Aristide and
the interim governments. However, most journalists practiced some form
of self censorship. Child abuse, violence, and societal discrimination
against women remained problems. Internal trafficking of children and
child domestic labor remained problems.
On October 28, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(IACHR) ``expressed'' its concern over the series of violent
confrontations that occurred between police and illegal armed gangs in
Port-Au-Prince during the month of October. The Commission also noted
that it had received reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions of
persons and threats and acts of violence and intimidation against human
rights defenders and journalists.
Several times during the year, Amnesty International (AI) published
reports and issued statements that described and called for the end to
a cycle of violence caused by armed groups both opposed and loyal to
former President Aristide.
In November, Louis Joinet, U.N. Independent Expert on Human Rights
in Haiti, remarked that the governmental presence outside of the
capital was nonexistent. Joinet noted the weak and corrupt state of the
justice system, and he cautioned that the HNP must follow the letter of
the law in the execution of their duties, such as obtaining arrest
warrants before making arrests.
In November and December, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and
other foreign government officials called upon the IGOH to create a
more secure environment within the country and to ensure that all
detainees received full constitutional protections. The IGOH's capacity
to do so remained limited at year's end.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary and Other Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Arbitrary and
other unlawful deprivation of life perpetrated by state agents and
others continued throughout the year. Members of the HNP continued to
commit arbitrary and unlawful killings. In addition, members of illegal
armed groups arbitrarily killed citizens.
On March 20, five HNP officers arrested five youths from the pro-
Aristide neighborhood of La Saline in Port-au-Prince. The families of
the five youths, Jean Wesly Etienne, 17, Emmanuel Deronville, 20, Monel
Pierre, 23, Pierre Dorceant, and Abel Cherenfant 24, claimed that they
were leaders of popular civic organizations that supported Aristide.
Human rights organizations claimed they were members of ``chimere''
groups (thugs) who had participated in crimes together with the police;
and that the police were seeking to silence them. On March 21, their
bodies, bearing signs of torture, were found near the airport. The five
policemen were arrested and remained in jail awaiting trial at year's
end.
On the evening of September 28, unknown assailants shot and killed
two HNP officers in a pro-Lavalas area of downtown Port-au-Prince. By
year's end, no one had been arrested for the killing.
There were deaths in prison during the year (see Section 1.c.).
During the year, deaths occurred during civil unrest (see Section
1.g.).
In November, AI called upon the Government to establish an
independent commission of inquiry into summary executions attributed to
members of the HNP (see Section 1.g.).
There were no developments in 2003 cases, including the January
killings of Eric Pierre and 17-year-old John Peter Ancy Oleus in
Carrefour, and the February killing of student Ronuald Cadet.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in several 2002
killings, including those of three youths from Cite Soleil, a farmer in
the town of Hinche, three brothers from Carrefour, and four persons
during an attack on the Las Cahobas jail.
The IGOH's investigations into the high-profile killings of
journalists Jean Dominique in 2000 and Brignol Lindor in 2001 continued
at year's end.
Herbert Valmond and Carl Dorelien, former FAd'H colonels convicted
in absentia in 2000 for premeditated homicide in connection with the
1994 Raboteau massacre, escaped from the national penitentiary in the
post-February 29 power vacuum. Their whereabouts were unknown and no
progress was made in these cases at year's end.
From January through April, a security vacuum in the Northeast
Artibonite seat of St. Michel de L'Attalaye resulted in violence
between local government authorities, local townspeople, and members of
the Resistance Front, a heavily armed anti-Aristide group not
sanctioned by the Government. By April 25, three persons were dead and
163 houses burned or destroyed.
b. Disappearance.--There were credible reports of politically
motivated disappearances during the year.
On February 28, Wisly Francique, a student from Carrefour who
supported the Lavalas regime, disappeared and remained missing at
year's end.
On March 1, Jasmy Emmanuel disappeared after participating in a
demonstration in front of the National Palace against the departure of
President Aristide.
There were reports of disappearances stemming from the internal
conflict (see Section 1.g.)
There were widespread kidnappings by armed criminal elements of
wealthy persons throughout the year. All were resolved through the
payment of ransom.
There were no developments in the disappearance cases reported in
2003, including Junior Jean, Mankes Analus, Pierre Franklin Julien, and
Ordonel Paul.
c. Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however, members
of the security forces continued to violate these provisions,
particularly prior to the resignation of President Aristide. Police
officers used excessive and sometimes deadly force in making arrests or
controlling demonstrations and rarely were punished for such acts. In
January and February, pro-President Aristide gang members routinely
attacked members of the opposition and university students to prevent
them from peacefully exercising their constitutional rights. Members of
the HNP also used excessive force, such as shooting and using teargas,
to suppress demonstrations (see section 2.b.).
Judie C. Roy, who repeatedly was tortured in various prisons during
2003 and ultimately incarcerated at the Petionville police station for
``plotting against the security of the State,'' escaped from prison
following President Aristide's departure and was not rearrested. There
were no efforts made to rearrest Roy during the year.
There were no developments in the 2003 torture investigations of
Joseline Desroses or Jonathan Louime.
Prison conditions worsened during the year. During the upheaval
around February 29, many police stations and prisons around the country
were damaged or destroyed, and most prisons were emptied of prisoners.
By year's end, 14 of 21 prisons around the country were rehabilitated
and rendered functional. An already burdened prison system was stressed
further with fewer facilities to hold prisoners. Conditions in those
facilities worsened and, due to lack of available space, minors and
adults often were held in the same cell.
Prisoners and detainees continued to suffer from a lack of basic
hygiene, malnutrition, poor quality health care, and, in some
facilities, 24-hour confinement. Most prisons periodically suffered
from lack of water, especially in the provinces. The incidence of
preventable diseases such as beriberi, AIDS, and tuberculosis
increased. The prison population numbered 1,941 at year's end.
Approximately 95 percent of prisoners still were awaiting a judicial
determination on their cases. That number did not reflect the large
number of persons who were held in police stations around the country
in prolonged preventive detention (garde a vue) for longer than the
constitutionally mandated 48-hour time period.
In the initial days following President Aristide's departure, there
were many reports of former military performing ``police'' functions by
executing arrest warrants in provincial towns.
The Government's Office of Citizen Protection monitored prison
conditions and offered training to prison administrators on criminal
procedures, particularly the constitutional requirement limiting
preventive detention to 48 hours. The U.N. Development Program (UNDP)
continued technical assistance to the Department of Prison
Administration (DAP), focusing on midlevel warden training and
management information. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights
(NCHR), a local human rights organization, actively monitored prison
conditions in cooperation with the DAP, which offered a prisoners'
rights awareness campaign. Both NCHR's and DAP's programs continued
during the year. DAP's assistance increased after the situation
stabilized in the spring.
The DAP conducted objective testing of prison physicians and nurses
to exclude those who were inadequately trained. Doctors were available
in the capital but were less frequently available to those incarcerated
in the provinces. Nurses did not conduct daily checkups on the physical
condition of inmates. Dispensary supplies were limited, and family
members often had to purchase needed medication.
On December 1, an attempted prison escape by some detainees at the
National Penitentiary resulted in a riot. Prison guards and special
units of the HNP's CIMO and SWAT responded with excessive force;
killing 7, shooting and injuring 17, and brutally beating and
mistreating 29 detainees. Prisoners injured six HNP officers and burned
eight prison cells.
Space permitting, male and female prisoners were held separately.
Juvenile detainees were not held separately from adults.
Overcrowding prevented the separation of violent from nonviolent
prisoners or convicts from those in pretrial detention. Many were
incarcerated in temporary holding cells, particularly in the provinces.
The authorities freely permitted the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), the Haitian Red Cross, and other human rights groups
to enter prisons and police stations, monitor conditions, and assist
prisoners and detainees with medical care, food, and legal aid. The
Director General of the HNP and the DAP cooperated with the ICRC and
the UNDP.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces continued to
employ both practices. 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 can only execute
these orders between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and must bring the
detainee before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. In practice,
officials frequently ignored these provisions. There were also
instances of arrests by security forces and local officials lacking
proper authority. Ex-FAd'H members and former chefs de section
sometimes executed arrest warrants in under-policed rural areas,
particularly in the North.
The HNP is officially an autonomous civilian institution. However,
despite a cadre of competent and committed officers trained by foreign
authorities, HNP officials at all levels were implicated in corruption
and narcotics trafficking under the Aristide Government. The Aristide
Government filled many key HNP positions with allies and corrupt or
political elements lacking experience, training, and credibility. The
politicization of the HNP facilitated both political violence and drug
trafficking. During the year, under the IGOH, the HNP inducted one
class of new recruits, all of whom were vetted by the human rights
community.
The U.N. established the civilian police (CIVPOL) element of
MINUSTAH to supplement the police. Once CIVPOL deployed with the HNP to
conduct operations, the HNP's capacity to maintain order improved.
Certain police jurisdictions routinely disregarded the 48-hour
requirement to present detainees before a judge, and some detainees
were held for extended periods in pretrial detention. Police often
apprehended persons without warrants, or on warrants not issued by a
duly authorized official. According to AI, in some provincial towns
where there was no governmental presence after February 29, the ex-
FAd'H occupied police stations and detained persons, with or without
warrants. The authorities frequently detained individuals on
unspecified charges or pending investigation. Under President Aristide,
the Government often resorted to arrest and detention on false charges
or on the charge of ``plotting against the security of the State,''
particularly in political or personal vendettas (see section 4). The
situation improved under the IGOH, but several former members and
supporters of the Lavalas regime who were suspected of human rights
abuses, fomenting violence, or other crimes were arrested without
proper warrants due to high levels of corruption in the judiciary.
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. Bail was
available at the discretion of the investigative judge. Bail hearings
are not automatic, and judges usually granted bail only for minor cases
and based on compelling humanitarian grounds such as a need for medical
attention.
In early May, police arrested Annette Auguste ``So Anne,'' a self-
proclaimed pro-Lavalas community organizer, in downtown Port-au-Prince
and charged her with acting as the architect of the December 2003
attack on state university students in Port-au-Prince. She remained in
prison at year's end.
Also in early May, HNP officers arrested without warrant Jean Maxon
Guerrier, former Lavalas Mayor of the district of Delmas. The
authorities failed to charge him with any crime and released him 1 week
after his arrest.
On October 2, the HNP arrested without a warrant three former
Lavalas parliamentarians: Former Senate President Yvon Feuille, Senator
Gerard Gilles, and former Chamber of Deputies member Roudy Heriveaux.
The police claimed that they caught the three openly supporting and
organizing a campaign of violence by pro-President Aristide supporters
in Port-au-Prince that began on September 30. The police released
Gilles a few days after his arrest; however, they later charged Feuille
and Heriveaux with acting as the intellectual authors of the October
campaign of violence in Port-au-Prince. On December 24, a judge granted
them a provisional release pending the completion of the investigation
of the charges against them.
On October 13, police went to the residence of Father Gerard Jean-
Juste, a well-known Catholic priest and pro-Aristide activist, in an
effort to question him on possible involvement in a campaign of
violence. Father Jean-Juste was uncooperative, and the police arrested
him without warrant. The police held him for 1 week, without a judicial
determination, on suspicion of ``posing a threat to public order.'' On
October 20, the State Prosecutor formally charged Father Jean-Juste
with ``plotting against the security of the State.'' He was transferred
to the National Penitentiary on October 21 and was subsequently granted
a provisional release on November 29, pending completion of the
investigation of the charges against him.
Prosper Avril, former general and head of the military government
from 1988 to 1990, escaped from the National Penitentiary on February
29 and had not been rearrested at year's end.
There were no developments in the pending trials of former Army
officers Ibert Blanc, Rosalvo Bastia, and Pastor Ceriphin Franck, who
were arrested without charges in February 2003 and later accused of
conspiring against the security of the State.
Prolonged pretrial detention remained a serious problem; however,
discrepancies in HNP documentation made it impossible to determine what
percentage of prisoners were in pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, 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 judicial system largely moribund. Judges assigned to
politically sensitive cases complained about interference from the
executive branch. In the aftermath of the violence surrounding
President Aristide's departure, the judicial system was nonfunctional
for several months. The judicial system gradually reassembled itself in
the spring, after the establishment of the IGOH and the installation of
a Minister of Justice, but it remained weak with limited capacity to
carry out normal judicial activities.
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. In Port-au-Prince, seven judges sit on
a special labor court with jurisdiction over labor disputes, but in the
provinces, courts of first instance adjudicate such cases.
The judicial apparatus follows a civil law system based on the
Napoleonic Code; the Criminal Code dates from 1832, although it has
been amended in some instances. The Constitution provides for the right
to a fair public trial; however, this right was abridged widely 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 are present or they waive this
right; this right also was abridged in practice. While trials are
public, most accused persons could not afford legal counsel for
interrogation or trial, and the law does not require that the
Government provide legal representation. Despite the efforts of local
human rights groups and the international community to provide free
legal aid, many interrogations occurred without presence of counsel.
However, some defendants had access to counsel during trials. The
Constitution provides defendants with a presumption of innocence and
the right to be present at trial, to confront witnesses against them,
and to present witnesses and evidence in their own behalf; however, in
practice, corrupt and uneducated judges frequently denied defendants
these rights.
Systemic problems including under funding and a shortage of
adequately trained and qualified justices of the peace, judges, and
prosecutors created a huge backlog of criminal cases, with many
detainees waiting months or in pretrial detention for a court date (see
Section 1.d.). There was no legal redress for prolonged pretrial
detention following acquittal or dismissal of charges.
In most regions, judges lacked the basic resources to perform their
duties. Professional competence sometimes was lacking as well. The
qualifying yearlong course at the Magistrates' school requires no
previous legal training. Judges increasingly conducted legal
proceedings exclusively in Creole rather than French, but language
remained a significant barrier to full access to the judicial system
(see Section 5). UNDP, supported by the Government, provided additional
training for many segments of the judicial system, including new judges
and attorneys.
On March 31, an assailant beat and berated Judge Napela Saintil for
having convicted (in absentia) Louis-Jodel Chamblain for the latter's
role in the 1994 Raboteau massacre. Saintil identified his assailant as
Leon LeBlanc, a neighbor who was arrested on April 3 and remained in
prison at year's end.
The Constitution sets varying tenure periods for judges above the
level of justice of the peace.
The Code of Criminal Procedure does not assign clear responsibility
to investigate 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 conducted rarely, and autopsy reports seldom
were issued. The Code provides for 2 criminal court sessions
(``assises'') per year in each of the 15 first instance jurisdictions
for all major crimes requiring a jury trial; each session generally
lasts for 2 weeks. Criminal assizes in Port au Prince have met once a
year since 1998.
During the first criminal assize held under the IGOH on August 16,
former paramilitary leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain and former Port-au-
Prince police chief Jackson Joanis stood trial on charges stemming from
their convictions in absentia for the death of businessman and Lavalas
supporter Antoine Izmery in 1995. Chamblain fled to the Dominican
Republic to avoid prosecution and returned during February as a leader
of the armed rebellion against former President Aristide. On April 22,
he surrendered to police. Joanis escaped from prison during the events
of February 29 but on August 9, surrendered to the police. Under the
law, their voluntary surrender to the police cancelled their
convictions and entitled them to a retrial.
On August 17, the Criminal Court of Port-au-Prince acquitted
Chamblain and Joanis. The poor quality of the State's case due to lack
of adequate preparation, a dearth of evidence, and an absence of key
witnesses marred the retrial; however, at year's end, Chamblain and
Joanis remained in custody to face separate charges for their alleged
roles in other human rights violations, notably the 1994 Raboteau
massacre (Chamblain) and the 1994 murder of Father Jean-Marie Vincent
(Joanis). The timing of the trial, the verdict, and the subsequent
threat of a lawsuit to harass human rights activists called into
question the IGOH's commitment to respect for the rule of law and the
strengthening of democratic institutions in the country (see Section
4).
Citizens deported to the country after completing prison sentences
in foreign countries were detained until a family member agreed to take
custody of them and their prison release order was processed, although
there is no provision for such detention in the law. This generally
took 1 to 2 months, but lasted as long as 4 months in unusual
instances.
There were no reports of political prisoners. Some groups loyal to
former President Aristide alleged that there were over 55 Lavalas
political prisoners in jail for purely political reasons during the
year. Three prominent Lavalas prisoners, Parliamentarians Yvon Feuille,
Rudy Heriveaux, and activist Lesly Gustave were released on December
24; others such as former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and a former
Minister of Interior remained in jail at year's end, still awaiting
investigation into charges against them (see Section 1.d.). The
remaining Lavalas partisans still behind bars have been implicated in
criminal or human rights abuses, but their cases remained mired in the
judicial system where they awaited final determination.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however,
police and other security force elements routinely conducted searches
without warrants.
When the HNP arrested Father Gerard Jean-Juste, the police did not
have the proper search or arrest warrants.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--As the year began, the political
impasse and violence stemming from the controversial results of the May
2000 legislative and local elections erupted into an armed revolt led
by ex-soldiers, many of whom previously had been implicated in human
rights abuses. In the days that preceded and succeeded Aristide's
February 29 departure, conflict between anti-Aristide and pro-Aristide
groups increased, with instances of abuse reported on both sides. On
February 5, the anti-Aristide Artibonite Resistance Front seized
control of the city of Gonaives. Throughout the remainder of February,
other armed groups opposed to the Aristide Government, including
members of the ex-FAd'H, seized control of numerous towns, mostly with
little resistance from local police. On February 29, amid escalating
violence between government forces, rebel groups, and pro-Aristide
paramilitaries armed by the Aristide Government, President Aristide
submitted his resignation and departed the country. Following
Aristide's departure, power vacuums developed in many provincial cities
and rural towns, such as Cap Haitien, Hinche, and Petit-Goave, which
lacked sufficient governmental security presence. In many of these
places, heavily armed ex-FAd'H and former FRAPH members moved in to
fill this void. Their activities produced credible reports of
extrajudicial killings and retribution killings of Lavalas partisans
throughout the year. Pro-Lavalas partisans also were implicated in
violence and numerous killings in Port-au-Prince, including of police
officers. Members of the HNP continued to commit extrajudicial
killings. At year's end, IGOH authority largely was limited to central
Port-au-Prince, with pro-Aristide groups in control of many of the
Port-au-Prince slums, and anti-Aristide rebels in control of many towns
in the countryside.
On January 7, members of Lavalas popular organizations (OPs)
attacked an anti-Aristide demonstration organized by State University
students and the Democratic Platform in Port-au-Prince. After the
demonstration was dispersed, armed civilians patrolled the city
shooting in various directions and hindered demonstrators from
returning home. During the violence, three demonstrators were killed,
and several dozen persons were injured.
On January 11, an unknown assailant shot and killed a pro-Lavalas
demonstrator nicknamed ``Sonson,'' during an anti-Aristide
demonstration in the provincial town of Miragoane. In response to the
killing, other pro-Lavalas demonstrators set fire to seven private
homes, cars, and businesses owned by opposition members. The crowd then
attempted to burn opposition member Maxeau Gabriel (who survived the
attack) and another person while in the hospital. Gabriel escaped from
the hospital and fled to Port-au-Prince for medical attention.
From February 9-29, large-scale politically motivated violence
occurred in St. Marc between members of the pro-Aristide group Bale
Wouze (``clean sweep'') and the opposition-affiliated group Assembly of
Militants for the Commune of St. Marc (RAMICOS). On February 11,
members of the HNP's CIMO unit along with heavily armed civilians from
Bale Wouze laid siege to inhabitants of RAMICOS's neighborhood
stronghold La Syrie, resulting in summary executions, kidnappings,
torture, and other acts. According to the victim's assistance group for
the residents of La Syrie, more than 50 persons were killed or reported
missing, and several dozen houses either were ransacked and partially
destroyed or burned.
Residents of La Syrie claimed that on February 9, then-Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune sparked the violence during a visit to St. Marc.
The IGOH subsequently accused Neptune of being the intellectual author
of the events. On June 27, Neptune surrendered to police and was
charged with ``ordering and participating in the massacre against the
population of St. Marc'' and for being responsible for ``the burning of
numerous homes in St. Marc during the month of February.'' He remained
in the National Penitentiary awaiting trial at year's end (see Section
1.d.).
In the period of violence and instability that followed Aristide's
February 29 departure, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
documented a number of cases of reprisals against persons associated
with the Aristide government.
On March 2, Lavalas activist Andre Edward was shot twice in the
back and killed on his way home.
On March 7, Francillon Auguste, a member of the Aristide Foundation
for Democracy, was severely beaten and later died of his injuries.
In March, unknown assailants shot and killed 18-year-old Cassie
Auguste outside of Gonaives. Witnesses and family members attributed
Cassie's killing to a presumed association with pro-Lavalas chimeres,
based on his dreadlock hairstyle, by local anti-Lavalas partisans. The
authorities had made no arrests for the killing by year's end.
On April 4 and 5, two brothers and activists of a pro-Lavalas
popular organization were kidnapped by a group of armed men and
reportedly killed.
In the period before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of
former President Aristide's resignation, there were numerous accounts
of attacks on, and killings of, members of the media by both pro- and
anti-Aristide groups (see Section 2.a).
From September 30 through November, pro-Aristide partisans in Port-
au-Prince launched a campaign of destabilization and violence known as
``Operation Baghdad'' (see Section 2.b.). This campaign included
kidnapping, decapitation and burning of police officers and civilians,
indiscriminate shooting at bystanders such as taxi drivers, students,
parents and small merchants, and the destruction and incineration of
public and private property. The violence prevented the normal
functioning of schools, public markets, the seaport, and the justice
system in Port-au-Prince for several weeks. The violence sporadically
interrupted the delivery of humanitarian goods to the victims of
Hurricane Jeanne in and around Gonaives. The armed groups responsible
for the campaign claimed affiliation with the Lavalas party and
demanded the return of former President Aristide. Most groups
originated in populist, pro-Aristide areas of Bel Air, Martissant, La
Saline, and Lower Delmas.
From October 1 to 26, the public morgue of the state university
hospital registered 127 gunshot-inflicted injuries and 63 deaths. Most
of the injured came from the Martissant, La Saline, and Lower Delmas
areas while the deceased originated from Fort National, Bel Air, Cite
Soleil, and Carrefour.
A police officer was killed on September 30 during the pro-Lavalas
demonstration that sparked the violence.
On October 1, the bodies of two other police officers, Jean
Jodelere and Jimmy Charles, who were kidnapped on September 28, were
discovered.
On October 26, 13 young persons were summarily executed in the Fort
National area of Port-au-Prince. Many witnesses attributed the killings
to the HNP; however, it was not possible to determine responsibility
for the act. Although accounts vary, several witnesses claimed that 5
hooded men dressed in black, driving an HNP vehicle without license
plates, appeared on the scene, entered a house known to sell drugs, and
shot the 13 persons inside of the house. The Prime Minister and chief
of police categorically rejected any police involvement in the crime;
however, two active-duty police officers were arrested as the police
investigation continued at year's end.
On November 3, police chief of Port-au-Prince's fire brigade, Louis
Dieufene, was shot and killed on his way home from work in the Poste
Marchand area of the capital. The HNP claimed that the killing was
carried out by pro-Aristide partisans who were acting out against the
IGOH.
In response to the violence that began on September 30, the HNP
conducted sweeps of heavily pro-Aristide areas of Port-au-Prince in
search of the perpetrators. Many arrests were conducted without
warrants, and suspects were held in prolonged detention without seeing
a judge (see section 1.d.). From October 7-13, 171 persons were rounded
up and questioned by police; some were released shortly after
questioning while others suspected of having direct involvement in the
violence were detained. Press reports claimed that from September 30
through early November, over 100 persons were killed in the violence.
The MIF, present from the beginning of March until the end of May,
killed six persons. According to the MIF, the use of force in all
instances was necessary to protect lives.
On March 9, MIF forces shot and killed two persons near the
residence of then-Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. A MIF spokesperson
stated that the forces returned fire on gunmen who were shooting from a
nearby rooftop.
On March 12, while patrolling the pro-Aristide district of Bel-Air,
MIF forces reportedly killed at least two men during an exchange of
gunfire.
On December 14, MINUSTAH conducted an operation in Cite Soleil to
help the HNP reestablish a presence and to provide order to the
capital's largest slum. There were no reported civilian deaths
attributed to MINUSTAH forces.
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. Several times during the year, the
Government publicly expressed support for free expression; however,
before President Aristide's departure, there were several documented
attacks on members of the press. Print and electronic media freely
criticized the Government and opposition. However, in practice most
media admitted to some form of self-censorship to avoid offending
sponsors or the politically influential. The Government did not
restrict academic freedom.
There were three French-language newspapers in the country. The
newspapers had a combined circulation of less than 20,000 readers. The
former government's L'Union was a government-run newspaper whose editor
was the Secretary of State for Communication; however, in May, the
IGOH's Minister of Culture and Communication, Magali Comeau-Denis,
closed the newspaper. Some irregularly printed papers frequently
criticized IGOH policies and strongly supported the Lavalas regime.
There was virtually no Creole-language press. Several weeklies and
monthlies produced by the foreign-based Diaspora, circulated in Port-
au-Prince.
With a literacy rate of approximately 52-60 percent and limited
access to television, the most important medium was radio, especially
stations broadcasting in Creole. The 307 radio stations carried a mix
of music, news, and talk show programs that many citizens regarded as
their only opportunity to speak out on a variety of political, social,
and economic issues. At least 133 unlicensed radio stations were in
operation. There were 50 community radio stations and 20 radio-
televisions. Uncensored foreign satellite and cable broadcasts were
available but limited in impact because most citizens could not afford
televisions. The few stations carrying news or opinion freely
broadcasted a wide range of political viewpoints.
Although most radio stations and other forms of telecommunication
nominally were independent, they were subject to a 1997 law designating
the State as the sole owner and proprietor of the airwaves. The State
leases broadcast rights to private enterprises, retaining preemption
rights in the event of a national emergency, including natural
disasters. The Government did not exercise this right in practice.
On February 18, government spokesmen and Lavalas OP leaders issued
threats to the media, specifically mentioning five key media targets:
Radio stations Vision 2000, Caraibe FM, Radio Kiskeya, Radio Metropole,
and the television station Tele-Haiti.
During the year, pro-President Aristide and Ex-FAd'H members
attacked and, in some cases, killed members of the media.
In February, threats and harassment by pro-Lavalas supporters
forced Radio Maxima in Cap Haitian also to close after its Director,
Jean Robert Lalane, was shot and injured.
On February 5, Lavalas gang members beat Yves Bastien for
broadcasting an interview with Roger Binry, who implicated government
officials Jean Claude Jean Baptiste and Simson Liberus in the January
13 sabotage of the radio and television station broadcasting equipment
in Boutilliers.
On February 27, pro-government gangs and partisans of former
Lavalas Deputy Nawoon Marcellus burned the Northern branch of Radio
Vision 2000 in Cap Haitian and sabotaged its Port-au-Prince branch.
Those responsible remained at large at year's end.
On March 1, Radio Solidarite stopped broadcasting news after
receiving threatening telephone calls; there was no investigation into
the threats, and broadcasts resumed on April 6.
In early March, an anti-Aristide armed group reportedly shot at the
home of Elysee Sincere, a correspondent for Radio Vision 2000 in the
city of Petit-Goave. Sincere had filed a report that two groups were
fighting for control of the town. The attackers burned his car and
injured a relative of his.
The men in jail for the killings of two journalists, Brignol Lindor
and Jean Dominique, escaped on February 29. In August, the police
rearrested Dynsley Millien and Jeudi-Jean Daniel, two of those charged
with Dominique's death. Phillippe Markington, the other person charged
in Dominique's death, remained at large at year's end. In March, police
arrested Port-au-Prince deputy mayor Harold Severe and security agent
Rouspide Petion for alleged involvement in the slaying. On July 1, the
Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Daniel, Millien, and Markington.
The Court's rejection meant that a new examining judge could be named
to conduct another investigation.
The Government did not limit access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly; however, former President Aristide's
government's increased repression of planned events and periodic
prohibition of demonstrations ignored that freedom. Although some
organizations were able to exercise this right without hindrance
throughout the year, numerous violations frequently occurred in the
capital as well as in the provinces in the first 2 months of the year.
Authorities frequently failed to provide police protection for
opposition parties, student groups, and women's groups conducting
peaceful demonstrations. Authorities often transported pro-Aristide
supporters, armed and unarmed, to announced opposition events and
failed to arrest them for throwing rocks or bottles at the
demonstrators. The IGOH generally respected the right of citizens to
peacefully demonstrate; however, the HNP sometimes used force to
control violent demonstrations (see Section 1.g.).
Using tear gas and firing into the air, members of the HNP's riot
control unit dispersed a January 1 demonstration organized by the
opposition's Democratic Platform party and civil society.
On January 21, the HNP stopped students from holding an anti-
government demonstration by firing live ammunition into the air and
lobbing tear gas grenades into the group. The students were never able
to get their demonstration started; however, across town in Delmas,
pro-Aristide demonstrators marched without hindrance. The crowd
eventually made their way to the National Palace where police allowed
them past street barricades and up to the Palace gates where they
reportedly met with President Aristide.
On January 27, the HNP banned all street demonstrations; however,
opposition groups defied the ban and continued to demonstrate.
Many students who participated in the anti-Aristide student
demonstrations in December 2003 reported threats during the year from
police officers and gang members who collaborated with the police. The
students and their families became targets of harassment that prompted
some students to leave their homes and to go into hiding.
The Constitution provides for freedom of association, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Penal Code
requires prior government approval for any association of more than 20
persons that seeks tax benefits and official recognition from the
Government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for the right to
practice all religions and faiths, provided that practice does not
disturb law and order, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 the involuntary exile of citizens, and
there were no reports of its use. During the year, former Aristide
government officials often imposed internal and external exile upon
themselves and their families for fear of retaliation by rebel groups
or former military members (see Section 1.g.).
An unknown number of undocumented migrants left the country to seek
better economic opportunities. The Government's National Migration
Office (ONM) was responsible for assisting citizens repatriated from
other countries and frequently provided small sums of money to
repatriated migrants for transportation. During the year, the ONM
assisted 3,706 repatriated citizens.
The law provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution, but did not
routinely grant refugee status or asylum.
In March, the IGOH imposed a foreign travel ban on former Lavalas
administration and police officials. The list included the names of 61
former officials accused of human rights violations and other crimes.
Human rights groups and the international community criticized the ban,
and on September 30, the Government lifted the travel restriction for
all individuals without charges pending against them.
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.
In practice, the political system changed significantly following
President Aristide's February 29 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. On recommendation from the Council of Eminent Persons,
who had been chosen by a Tripartite Commission including
representatives of FL, the Democratic Platform, and the international
community, the President chose Gerard Latortue as interim Prime
Minister.
On April 4, representatives of the IGOH, leaders of CD, the Group
of 184, and at least one branch of the ``non-aligned'' parties agreed
on a transition accord outlining the IGOH's mandate and committing it
to organize elections in 2005. No representative of FL participated in
the negotiations or signed the document, but the President's Chief of
Staff announced that the document would remain open for all parties,
including Lavalas, to sign. At year's end, FL leaders had not signed
the transition accord, although some Lavalas representatives endorsed
the IGOH.
To implement the commitment to hold elections in 2005, the
Government agreed to appoint a nine-person Provisional Electoral
Council (CEP), with representatives from several parties including FL.
When FL refused to nominate its representative, the Government
appointed eight members; after several weeks, it appointed a ninth
member to fill the FL slot. The CEP proceeded with its mandate and
announced that municipal elections would be held on October 9, 2005 and
the first round of legislative and presidential elections on November
13, 2005.
At year's end, many Lavalas members and foreign and domestic
supporters charged that the IGOH had been pursuing a strategy designed
to prevent FL from participating in the electoral process. Some groups
alleged that more than 100 members of the FL had been imprisoned
illegally. The IGOH responded that it had only detained those members
of FL who had been accused of committing crimes. Three FL partisans
were arrested in October for their alleged role in planning attacks
during Operation Baghdad. On December 24, the IGOH released the FL
members while the investigation into their case continued; however,
Yvon Neptune, the former Prime Minister, remained imprisoned at year's
end on charges related to the killings in La Syrie.
Transparency International noted that the country was extremely
corrupt, and there was a widespread public perception of corruption in
all branches of government.
The monetary deposit required of female candidates for political
office (if sponsored by a recognized party) is one-half that required
of male candidates. Three of the IGOH's 17 cabinet ministers were
women.
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 IGOH 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 U.N. bodies and other international organizations
such as the ICRC, the U.N. Independent Expert on Human Rights, the
UNDP, the IACHR, and the Organization of American States' Special
Mission's human rights office. However, threats, intimidation, and
harassment from suspected human rights abusers and other sources
against domestic NGOs continued during the year.
Based on a recommendation from the U.N. Independent Expert on Human
Rights, in March, a representative from the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) conducted a 6-month assessment
mission on the possibility of opening a permanent UNHCHR office in the
country and concluded that such an office should be opened. The U.N.
integrated an UNHCHR element into the peacekeeping force structure that
included guidance and administration by an UNHCHR representative.
From September 1-3, IACHR conducted an on-site visit to the country
at the request of the IGOH. Based on their meetings with government
officials, including the HNP Director General and the Minister of
Justice, U.N. representatives, and local human rights organizations,
the IACHR delegation concluded that the security situation in the
provinces and the reemergence of armed groups who attempted to control
those areas; the weak state of the administration of justice and the
ongoing problem of impunity; violence against individuals based on
their affiliation, perceived or real, with former President Aristide
and his party; and rape of women and girls by armed groups meant that
the basic rights and freedoms of citizens remained weak and imperiled.
The Commission urged the IGOH to rectify the deficiencies and to make
the protection of human rights a central component of the Government's
work.
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, including the Platform of Haitian Human Rights
Organizations, the NCHR, the Lawyers' Committee for the Respect of
Individual Rights (CARLI), the Ecumenical Center of Human Rights, and
the Catholic Bishops' National Commission on Justice and Peace, made
frequent media appearances and published objective reports on
violations. Human rights organizations continued to focus on issues
that were persistent problems in the country, including prison
conditions, the widespread lack of health facilities, and impunity for
criminals. All reported receiving threats as a result of their work.
On February 6, human rights activist Kettly Julien of the Mobile
Institute for Democracy Education and former regional HNP Director for
the Artibonite Edouard Petit-Homme were arrested and held for a week on
charges of ``plotting against the security of the State.'' On February
10, a judge released Julien but Petit-Homme remained in jail until
prison doors were opened releasing prisoners around the country in the
days following February 29.
On March 24, a substitute justice of the peace for the Delmas
district of Port-au-Prince, accompanied by several men, arrived at
CARLI's office and threatened to kill the staff because CARLI listed
the judge on its monthly hotline list of human rights abusers. The
threat was never carried out, but CARLI reported other incidents of
harassment concerning their hotline reports.
In June, local human rights activists reported a decline in the
number of human rights violations throughout the country, while noting
that the situation in the provinces remained tenuous due to lack of an
effective governmental or police presence.
In September, three members of the jury for the Chamblian/Joanis
trial filed defamation of character charges against three members of
local human rights organizations, Viles Alizar of NCHR, Renan
Hedouville of CARLI, and Eliphete Saint-Pierre and Maxime Rony of the
Platform of Human Rights Organizations for allegedly accusing jurors of
being FRAPH sympathizers and therefore incapable of rendering a
decision against the defendants (see Section 1.e.). The human rights
groups viewed the lawsuits as government-condoned harassment. The judge
later dropped the charges for insufficient evidence.
The Office of the Protector of Citizens (OPC), an ombudsman-like
office provided for by the Constitution, received complaints of abuse
at all levels of government. The Government did not directly impede OPC
investigations but did not always respond to its requests for
information. Relations between the OPC and major human rights
organizations such as the Platform for Human Rights and CARLI continued
to be positive. Budgetary problems limited the OPC to four employed
investigators, which hindered its ability to investigate human rights
abuses.
The Parliament's Justice and Human Rights Committee did not have a
high profile and focused largely on judicial issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution does not specifically prohibit discrimination on
the grounds of race, sex, disability, language, or social status. It
does provide for equal working conditions regardless of sex, beliefs,
or marital status. However, there was no effective governmental
mechanism to administer or enforce these provisions.
Women.--The law provides penalties for rape and domestic violence
against women. The degree of penalty correlates to the severity of the
rape and the criminal court judge must decide on the actual penalty;
however, the Government did not enforce these provisions adequately.
According to women's rights groups and human rights organizations, rape
and other abuses against women were commonplace and increased, both
within and outside marriage. Women's shelters and organizations
reported that local armed thugs frequently raped and harassed girls and
women in the slums such as Cite Soleil and Martissant. Police
authorities rarely arrested the perpetrators or investigated the
incidents, and the victims sometimes suffered further harassment in
retaliation. In April, one woman told AI delegates that she had
received threats from a police officer who had been charged along with
four other persons with raping her but had escaped from prison on
February 29. In October, press reports quoted a representative from the
CARLI that in August, 25 cases of rape by ex-soldiers had been
reported. The Haitian Group for the Study of Karposi's Syndrome and
Opportunistic Infections reported that from July to September, 81 women
came for treatment after having been raped. The majority of assaults
took place in Port-au-Prince. There were no government sponsored
programs for victims of violence. The Criminal Code excuses a husband
who kills his wife or her partner upon catching them in the act of
adultery in his home, but a wife who kills her husband under similar
circumstances is not excused.
Prostitution was illegal; however, it remained a problem.
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although
the Labor Code states that men and women have the same rights and
obligations. Sexual harassment of female workers was a problem,
especially in the assembly sector (see Section 6.b.).
Women did not enjoy the same social and economic status as men. In
some social strata, tradition limited women's roles. A majority of
peasant women 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,
including government jobs, seldom were promoted to supervisory
positions. However, well educated women have occupied prominent
positions in both the private and public sector in the past several
years.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs is charged with promoting and
defending the rights of women and ensuring that they attain an equal
status in society, but had few resources at its disposal and was able
to accomplish little in this regard.
Domestic women's rights groups were small, localized, and received
little publicity.
Children.--Governmental agencies and programs to promote children's
rights and welfare existed, but the Government lacked the capacity to
adequately support or enforce existing mechanisms. Malnutrition was a
major problem. According to the U.N., approximately 42 percent of all
children under 5 were chronically malnourished. In December, UNICEF
reported that 60 percent of rural households and 32 percent of urban
households suffered from chronic food insecurity. The Government has a
school nutrition program, administered through the Office of National
Development and supported by foreign donors. Through this program,
health clinics and dispensaries distributed donated food to children.
The Constitution and the law provide for free, universal, and
compulsory primary education. However, in practice, most rural families
did not have access to public schools. The costs of school fees, books,
materials, and uniforms, even in public schools, were prohibitive for
most families, and an estimated 90 percent of schools were private.
Schools were dilapidated and understaffed. According to the Government,
40 percent of children never attend school. Of those who do, less than
15 percent graduate from secondary school. The Ministry of Education
estimated primary school enrollment at 65 percent. Poorer families
sometimes rationed education money to pay school fees only for male
children.
Child abuse was a problem. Government-sponsored radio commercials
urged parents not to abuse their children physically or mentally. There
was some anecdotal evidence that in very poor families, caretakers
deprive the youngest children of food to feed older, income generating
children.
The law prohibits corporal punishment of children, and all schools
must post clearly their disciplinary policies. The law also called for
the establishment of a commission to determine appropriate school
disciplinary measures. In practice, corporal punishment was accepted as
a form of discipline.
There were reports that children were trafficked within the country
and forced to work as domestic servants (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Port au Prince's large population of street children included many
domestic servants, who were dismissed from or fled employers' homes
(see Section 5, Trafficking). The Ministry of Social Affairs provided
some assistance to street children.
On January 24, HNP officers shot and killed orphan Frantzy Pierre
in downtown Port-au-Prince.
On January 27, an orphaned street vendor named Erick Voltaire was
shot and killed by armed individuals who were suspected of having links
to the Port-au-Prince police station.
At the end of October, UNICEF issued a statement denouncing a
campaign of violence targeting street children. On October 27, the
bodies of four street children, two decapitated, were discovered in the
public morgue. There were reports that unknown armed assailants roamed
the capital and used the street children for target practice.
On November 14, Wilfort Ferdinand ``Ti Will,'' former member of the
Cannibal Army and current member of the Reconstruction Front of the
Artibonite, shot and killed 6-year-old Francesca Gabriel in Gonaives
during a lovers' dispute. He had not been brought to justice by year's
end.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs' hotline for child abuse
victims received more than 720 calls leading to action on 158 cases,
either through initiation of criminal action against an abusive adult
or removal of the child from an abusive situation. Eighty-three percent
of the children involved in these cases were in domestic service, many
were under the age of 12, and many reported abuses such as beatings,
rape, and malnutrition. The work of the hotline was hampered by
destruction of The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs' Social Welfare
and Research Institute's (IBESR) offices in the lawlessness following
President Aristide's departure, but IBESR did retain the four
additional monitors it hired in August 2003 to rescue children believed
to be working in forced labor situations. Government officials placed
rescued victims in shelters and in the care of local NGOs, such as
Foyer Maurice Sixto, a children's shelter located in Port-au-Prince.
Several international and local NGOs worked on children's issues.
The Pan-American Development Foundation conducted training programs
around the country for government officials and for persons who worked
with children. UNICEF and Save the Children Canada and UK, in
conjunction with local NGOs such as the Haitian Coalition for the
Defense of the Rights of the Child (COHADDE), promoted children's
rights by conducting studies of children's issues, most notably a study
on child domestic labor (see Section 5, Trafficking), and awareness
raising activities in the country.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in women and
children; however, internal trafficking of children for domestic labor
remained a problem, and the country also was a source for trafficked
persons to the Dominican Republic, the United States, Europe (mainly
France), and Canada.
There were no penalties for trafficking in persons. The Government
acknowledged the problem of internal trafficking and took steps to
address it, despite the political crisis early in the year. The HNP's
Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM) was created in May 2003 as a
special unit under the HNP charged with investigating cases of child
trafficking and monitoring movement of children across the border with
the Dominican Republic. The BPM was functional; however, resource
issues remained a barrier to its operational capacity. Government
officials at local and national levels were trained on the legal
framework for children's rights and methods of intervention to prevent
and punish acts of child domesticity (restaveks) and trafficking.
Interim President Boniface Alexandre denounced the restavek practice
and called on his cabinet to take a more proactive role in the fight
against trafficking in persons when he addressed a rally in
commemoration of International Children's Day on May 13.
In May 2003, the results of a joint governmental-NGO funded study,
which covered the fiscal years 2001-02, noted that 173,000 children
(8.2 percent) between the ages of 5 and 17 years, worked as restaveks.
Labor laws require anyone who has a child domestic in their employ to
obtain a permit from IBESR and to ensure the overall welfare of the
child until they reach 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.
The results of the most recent study of trafficking across the
border conducted by UNICEF in August 2002 reported that between 2,000
and 3,000 children were trafficked to the Dominican Republic each year.
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, including an education, the Ministry of Social Affairs believed
that many employers compelled the children to work long hours, provided
them little nourishment, and frequently abused them (see Section 5,
Children). The majority of restaveks worked in low-income homes where
conditions, food, and education for nonbiological children were not
priorities.
In August 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs approved the
creation of three additional consulates along the Dominican border,
which were charged with monitoring the movement of children across the
border. The Ministry of the Interior also reinforced agents at border
control points at the three international airports to watch for
children who might be traveling unaccompanied or without their parents.
The Ministry of Justice continued to circulate memorandums to
magistrates around the country in an awareness-heightening campaign on
the anti-trafficking law and on child labor laws. To address some of
the social aspects of the restavek practice, the Government provided a
subsidy of 70 percent for educational supplies, including books and
uniforms. The Government also called on employers of child domestics to
release them from their duties in the afternoon to allow them the
opportunity to attend school.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. The Constitution
provides that persons with disabilities shall have the means to ensure
their autonomy, education, and independence. However, there was no
legislation to implement these constitutional provisions or to mandate
provision of access to buildings for persons with disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
occurred against persons with HIV/AIDS, particularly women, but
educational programs and HIV/AIDS activists attempted to change that
stigma.
On June 29, a woman and her two children, ages four and five, were
thrown out of a hospital in Jacmel after a medical test revealed that
all three were HIV-positive.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the Labor Code
provide for the right of association, which was generally respected in
practice; however, the Labor Code dates from earlier governments and is
far more restrictive. For instance, there is no legislation protecting
the right of public employees to organize. The International Labor
Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts commented on the need for the
Government to recognize by law the right of public servants to
organize. For legal recognition the law also requires that a union,
which must have a minimum of 10 members, 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. Nine principal
labor federations represented approximately 5 percent of the labor
force. Union membership decreased significantly, but unions remained
active in the public sector.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Labor Code
protects trade union organizing activities and stipulates fines for
those who interfere with this right; however, in practice the
Government made little effort to enforce the law.
High unemployment rates and anti-union 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. However, frequent verbal abuse and
intimidation of workers and organizers were problems in the assembly
sector. Female workers in the assembly sector reported that some
employers sexually harassed female workers with impunity. Women also
reported that while most assembly sector workers were women, virtually
all supervisors were men. Workers had access to labor courts
established to resolve common labor-management disputes; however, 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.
There was one export processing zone (EPZ) located in Ouanaminthe,
a town on the Dominican border. Legislation governing free trade zones
provide that the Labor Code applies in the EPZs, and the Government
signed an agreement with textile company Grupo M to build a production
facility in a newly established free trade zone on the border near
Ouanaminthe. In October 2003, the International Finance Corporation
(IFC) approved a loan to the company. Its provisions stipulated a
social compensation plan for farmers and landowners displaced by the
project. The IFC called for independent investigations into allegations
of Grupo M abuse of workers and union organizers. Nevertheless, Batay
Ouvriye, a labor organization of peasant workers, strongly opposed the
project.
Based on results from the IFC independent investigation, the IFC
dispersed the $20 million (720,000,000 Gourdes) loan to Grupo M on
January 15, and Grupo M's factory in Ouanaminthe, known by its Creole
acronym KODEVI (Company for Industrial Development), opened. The
conditions of the loan stipulated that Grupo M sign an agreement to
respect the rights of workers to organize themselves into a union, and
the Society of KODEVI Workers of Ouanaminthe (SOKOWA) became the
officially recognized union at the plant. Since early February, SOKOWA
members complained of worker exploitation and mistreatment at the hands
of Grupo M management. Rounds of strikes and violence by union members,
with the support of Batay Ouvriye, were followed by a series of
employee terminations by KODEVI throughout the summer. The lack of any
governmental security presence in Ouanaminthe combined with the absence
of a labor inspector from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in
the factory further complicated the situation and cost KODEVI a tee-
shirt assembly contract. In May, Grupo M laid-off 843 employees from
that module, reducing the workforce from 1,300 to 457. In August, the
IFC intervened and proposed a binational mediation team. By year's end,
there was some progress, although the mediation progress had yet to
commence.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Labor Code
prohibits forced or compulsory labor for adults and minors; however,
the Government failed to enforce this law for children, who continued
to be subjected to forced domestic labor as restaveks in urban
households, sometimes under harsh conditions (see Section 5).
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 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. Government agencies lacked the resources to enforce relevant
laws and regulations effectively. According to COHADDE, children worked
primarily as restaveks; however, some worked on the street as vendors
or beggars, and some were involved in prostitution.
The Government has not ratified and does not adhere to ILO
Convention 182 on elimination of the worst forms of child labor.
The Government designated IBESR to implement and enforce child
labor laws and regulations. The Government has begun to place a high
priority on the eradication of child domestic labor (see Section 5).
Despite the Government's efforts, the budget for the Ministry remained
inadequate to fund adequately programs to investigate exploitative
child labor cases throughout the country.
The IBESR coordinated efforts with the Ministries of Justice,
Education, and Foreign Affairs, as well as local and international
agencies, to formulate and enforce child labor policies.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum daily wage,
established in 1995 by the Tripartite Commission of Salaried Workers,
whose six members were appointed by the President (two representatives
each of labor, employers, and government), is approximately $0.96 (36
gourdes). 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 wages of $0.40 (15 gourdes) a day were
common. Many women worked as domestic employees, where minimum wage
legislation also does not apply.
The Labor Code governs individual employment contracts. It sets the
standard workday at 8 hours and the workweek at 48 hours, with 24 hours
of rest on Sunday. However, HNP officers worked 12-hour shifts 6 days
per week, in violation of the Labor Code. The Code also establishes
minimum health and safety regulations. The industrial and assembly
sectors largely observed these guidelines. However, the Ministry of
Social Affairs did not enforce work hours or health and safety
regulations.
There is no provision for the payment of overtime.
The assembly sector published a voluntary code of conduct in 1999,
committing signatories to a number of measures designed to raise
industry standards, including payment of the minimum wage and the
prohibition of child labor. Employers in the assembly sector generally
paid the minimum wage or higher. In this sector, working conditions
were also generally better and there were no reports of child labor.
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, with
more than 50 percent of the population unemployed, workers were not
able to exercise the right to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
__________
HONDURAS
Honduras is a constitutional democracy, with a president and a
unicameral congress elected by separate ballot for 4-year terms. The
multiparty political system is dominated by two traditional parties,
the Nationalists and the Liberals. In 2001, voters elected Ricardo
Maduro of the Nationalist Party president in elections that domestic
and international observers judged to be generally free and fair. The
Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the
judiciary is poorly staffed and equipped, often ineffective, and
subject to corruption and political influence.
The Honduran Armed Forces (HOAF) include the army, the air force,
and the navy. The Ministry of Public Security oversees police
operations, and police are responsible for all internal public security
issues. The military are authorized to support law enforcement
activities with police upon presidential directive. During the year,
nearly half of all military personnel were assigned for most of the
time to joint patrols with police to prevent and combat high levels of
criminal and gang activity. The civilian authorities maintained
effective control of the security forces. Members of the security
forces, particularly the police, committed human rights abuses.
The market economy is based primarily on agriculture and,
increasingly, on the maquiladora (assembly manufacturing for export)
industry. The country has a population of 7.0 million. The Central Bank
estimated real economic growth for the year at 4 percent. About two-
thirds of the country's households live in poverty, and 45 percent of
the population lives on less than $1.00 (18.65 lempiras) per day.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. Members
of the police committed extrajudicial killings. Well-organized private
and vigilante security forces were believed to have committed a number
of arbitrary and summary executions. Human rights groups accused former
security force officials and the business community of colluding to
organize ``death squads'' to commit extrajudicial, summary, and
arbitrary executions, particularly of youth. Security force personnel
beat and otherwise abused detainees and other persons. Prison
conditions remained harsh, and detainees generally did not receive due
process. There was considerable impunity for members of the economic,
military, and official elite. A weak, underfunded, and often corrupt
judicial system contributed to human rights problems. Although the
courts considered allegations of human rights violations or common
crimes against armed forces personnel, with some cases going to trial,
there were few, if any, convictions. While no senior government
official, politician, bureaucrat, or member of the business elite was
convicted of crimes, a number were under investigation during the year.
The Government removed or demoted some military officials, police
officers, police agents and investigators, and judges from office on
corruption and other charges. With the new Criminal Procedures Code in
effect and an oral accusatory system, lengthy pretrial detention in new
cases was less common than in the past; however, cases from previous
years remained subject to delays. On occasion, the authorities
conducted illegal searches. Other human rights problems included
violence and discrimination against women, child prostitution, abuse of
children, discrimination against indigenous people, and trafficking in
persons. The Government did not enforce effectively all labor laws.
Many workers in the private sector were forced to work unpaid overtime.
Child labor was a problem, particularly in rural areas, in the informal
economy, and in some export agriculture, but generally not in the
export-processing 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
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, members of the security forces were suspected of direct
involvement in extrajudicial, arbitrary, and summary killings.
The killing of youths and children by vigilante type groups that
may have included members of the security forces continued (see Section
5).
According to Public Ministry figures from the government's morgues
in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, there were 3,685 persons killed in
2003, a figure that almost certainly undercounted the actual number of
murder victims. According to the Ministry of Public Security, 2,079
persons were killed between January and July, compared with 2,822 in
the same time period in 2003, figures that also undercount the actual
number of victims. While statistics varied by institution, and the
Ministry of Public Security figures showed a decline, there continued
to be a high homicide rate and a very low case closure rate.
In 2002, a group of armed men in a pickup killed five youths in
Tegucigalpa, mimicking a 1995 torture and killing of youths. The 1995
case was under consideration by the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR) (see Section 1.c.).
During the year, the authorities sought or detained a number of
police officials for their involvement in the killings of various
individuals, some of whom were minors (see Section 5). On April 16, a
court found police officer Juan Carlos ``Tiger'' Bonilla and three
other police officials innocent of a 2002 extrajudicial killing. The
Public Ministry appealed that decision; however, on August 17, an
appeals court upheld the April 16 ruling.
There were deaths in prison during the year (see Section 1.c.).
On December 6, alleged gang members shot and killed Christian
Democratic congressional candidate Luis Armando Genawer Paguada in
Tegucigalpa. An investigation was pending at year's end.
There were no developments in the July 2003 killing by unknown
assailants of environmental activist Carlos Arturo ``Oscar'' Reyes in
his home.
On March 7, police arrested Marco Tulio Vasquez Juarez and charged
him with the November 2003 killing of Jose Daniel Chinchilla Lara, the
Vice President of La Central Cooperativas Cafetaleras de Honduras. The
case was pending at year's end.
The case of Arlin Daniel Escobar Moli, arrested for the December
2003 killing of priest Guillermo Antonio Salgado was pending at year's
end.
At year's end, no suspects had been captured for the 2002 killing
of human rights activist Jose Santos Callejas, treasurer of the local
office of the national NGO Human Rights Committee (CODEH), in his home
near the city of La Ceiba by presumed members of an organized crime
gang. The investigation of individual police officers for involvement
in Callejas' killing continued at year's end.
At year's end, police had not arrested any suspects for the
November 2001 killing of Nationalist Party congressional candidate
Angel Pacheco Leon in Valle department.
Approximately 20 active and former military and police officials
continued to face criminal charges in various courts during the year
for human rights abuses committed during the 1980s. Most officials were
accused of illegal detention and murder because disappearance is not a
crime under the new or previous criminal codes (see Section 1.b.). On
October 19, the Government authorized the Solicitor General to come to
an agreement with CODEH on the construction of a monument to those who
disappeared in the 1980s. In a speech before human rights NGOs on
November 4, President Maduro accepted responsibility on behalf of the
Government for human rights abuses in the 1980s and promised to comply
with Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) rulings. Courts do
not accept cases if the body of the victim has not 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.
There were no exhumations of clandestine graves during the year.
Human rights organizations continued to seek information using grass-
roots contacts and other sources outside the Government that would lead
to exhumations that would advance prosecutions. Four clandestine grave
sites reported by the press in April 2003 still had not been exhumed by
year's end.
The Public Ministry continued to be unable to bring new cases
involving members of the now-disbanded army Intelligence Battalion 3-16
whom various witnesses, survivors, and former HOAF personnel charged
detained, tortured, and killed many of the 184 persons who disappeared
during the 1980s (see Section 1.b.).
At year's end, the Public Ministry continued its appeal of a
September 10 ruling by a court in Catacamas in favor of Jorge Adolfo
Chavez Hernandez, a former member of Battalion 3-16, for the 1998
killing of environmental activist and Catacamas town councilman Carlos
Antonio Luna Lopez. Jose Angel Rosa Rosa, arrested in 2002 with Chavez,
remained in prison on unrelated environmental charges at year's end.
Former security official Jose Marcos Hernandez Hernandez, also charged
in the case, is deceased. Two other suspects remained at large. The
case, brought by two NGOs in January 2003 to the IACHR, remained
pending at year's end.
In March, a court ruled in favor of Jaime Ramirez Raudales, a
former member of Battalion 3-16, arrested in August 2003 for the 1988
political killings of social activists Miguel Angel Pavon Salazar and
Moises Landaverde Recarte. In July, the Public Ministry appealed the
ruling to the San Pedro Sula appeals court, where it was pending at
year's end.
At year's end, Trejo was under house arrest, the appeals court had
yet to issue a new judgment on the Trejo case, and the Supreme Court
had not yet ruled on the Hernandez case. The case against Hernandez for
the 1982 illegal detention and killing of Adan Avilez Funez and
Nicaraguan citizen Amado Espinoza Paz was ongoing at year's end.
At year's end, the case continued against Captain Billy Fernando
Joya Amendola, former army Chief of Staff Oscar Ramon Hernandez Chavez,
Raymundo Alexander Hernandez Santos, and Segundo Flores Murillo for the
July 1982 killing of university student Hans Madisson. None of the
accused were under arrest at year's end. At year's end, Jose Barrera
Martinez, a witness in cases related to Billy Fernando Joya Amendola
and Raymundo Alexander Hernandez Santos, was at large despite a pending
arrest warrant.
Although bank robberies and car thefts have declined since 2001,
violent crime continued to fuel the growth of private, often unlicensed
guard services, and of volunteer groups that patrolled their
neighborhoods or municipalities to deter crime. Vigilante justice led
to the killing of known and suspected criminals, as well as of youth in
gangs, street children, and youth not known to be involved in criminal
activity (see Section 5). Neighborhood watch groups called Citizen
Security Councils (CSCs) originally were authorized by a previous
Minister of Public Security, and some of them have been accused of
taking the law into their own hands. Human rights activists continued
to state publicly their belief that some of the CSCs, as well as
private security companies with ties to former military or police
officials, were acting as vigilantes or death squads, especially
targeting youth, with the tacit complicity of police. Since 2002, by
law the Ministry of Public Security has required that all arms,
including those of private security firms, have to be registered with
the government. On March 13, security forces of the Agro Oriental
company allegedly shot and killed Cesar Virgilio Pinot. An
investigation into his death was pending at year's end.
Several alleged ``killings for hire'' occurred during the year,
usually related to land disputes or criminal activities.
Three suspects were in jail and three remained at large in the 2001
killing of community leader and environmental activist Carlos Roberto
Flores in Olancho.
The 2000 complaint filed by Casa Alianza with the IACHR regarding
the illegal detention and killing by police of four youths in 1995
(known as the four cardinal points case) remained under investigation
by the Commission at the end of the year. In 2002, Casa Alianza filed a
complaint regarding a 1998 case for the torture and killing of two
minors in Progreso in which police were suspected of involvement. Casa
Alianza had a total of six cases before the Commission; agreements were
reached in two of these cases, and four cases were pending at year's
end.
As of October 31, the Ministry of Public Security reported that
gang members killed at least 6 police officers during the year.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In cases where significant information is available, but no body
has been identified, the Public Ministry's Human Rights office
attempted to uncover evidence that could lead to clandestine graves. At
year's end, an investigation continued into the involvement of former
military officers Carlos Roberto Velasquez Ilovares and Mario Raul Hung
Pacheco in the 1988 illegal detention of student activist Roger Samuel
Gonzales Zelaya, whose body has not been found.
There were no exhumations during the year. The courts adjudicated
some pending cases involving political disappearances from the 1980s as
murders (see Section 1.a.).
As of August, according to the Ministry of Public Security, there
had been 4 kidnappings for ransom during the year, compared to 9 in
2003 and 22 in 2002.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture and other cruel
treatment; however, there were isolated instances in which officials
employed such practices. In addition, police beatings and other alleged
abuses of detainees remained problems.
In the cases of those accused of the 1982 illegal detention and
torture of six university students: At year's end, the Public
Ministry's appeal to the Supreme Court of the May 2003 appeals court
ruling that Raymundo Alexander Hernandez Santos must be released from
prison was pending; as was the Public Ministry's appeal of the failure
of a court to try Juan Blas Salazar Meza him for the attempted killing
and detention of all six students, after it had convicted him of
illegal detention and sentenced him to 4 years' imprisonment; the
courts continued to deny repeated Public Ministry appeals to have the
arrest warrant of retired Captain Billy Fernando Joya Amendola
reinstated while his case continued, and he remained free on bail; on
January 26, charges were dismissed against retired Colonel Juan
Evangelista Lopez Grijalba, for whom, along with retired Colonel Julio
Cesar Funez Alvarez, arrest warrants had been issued in March 2003 for
illegal detention; the Public Ministry's appeal of this decision was
pending at the Appeals Court at year's end; retired General Jose
Amilcar Zelaya Rodriguez, the owner of the property in the Amarateca
Valley of Francisco Morazan Department where the 1982 incidents
occurred, was under house arrest at year's end, under charges of
complicity; and at year's end, the case continued against Roberto
Arnaldo Erazo Paz and Manuel de Jesus Trejo Rosa.
On June 29, the Supreme Court issued an injunction against the
dropping of the arrest warrant for and ordered the appeals court to
issue a new judgment in the case of retired Major Manuel de Jesus Trejo
Rosa, arrested with Raymundo Alexander Hernandez for the 1982 illegal
detention and attempted killing of Nelson MacKay Echevarria and Miguel
Francisco Carias Medina.
On June 28, a court sentenced former security officials, German
Antonio McNeil Ulloa and Juan Blas Salazar Meza to 1 year 7 months in
prison for the 1983 illegal detention and torture of student activist
Luis Manuel Figueroa Guillen in Choluteca Department.
Prison conditions were harsh and prison security was poor.
Prisoners suffered from severe overcrowding, malnutrition, and a lack
of adequate sanitation, and allegedly were subjected to various other
abuses, including rape by other prisoners. Prison escapes, through
bribery or other means, remained a frequent occurrence. While there are
no precise statistics, a significant percentage of prisoners are gang
members.
Prison disturbances, caused primarily by harsh conditions and
intergang violence, occurred throughout the year in the larger
facilities of San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, and Choluteca. A number of
gang members were killed in prison, some by members of other gangs.
Casa Alianza estimated that 98 children and young adults (age 23 and
under) were killed in prisons and juvenile detention facilities between
2002 and the end of August. During the year, prison authorities
attempted to hold prisoners of opposing gangs in different facilities
to reduce intergang tensions and violence. Both the Code of Criminal
Procedure and the Law of Rehabilitation of Criminals contain provisions
that provide for the transfer of inmates from one prison to another by
prison authorities.
On May 17, a fire at the San Pedro Sula prison killed 107 gang
members. Some organizations charged that the Government was responsible
for the deaths due to negligence, and investigations were pending at
year's end.
On May 3, the Public Ministry filed criminal charges, ranging from
abuse of authority to attempted and actual murder and attempted and
actual aggravated murder, against 51 persons, including 19 Preventive
Police, 9 Prison Police, 2 Army soldiers, 1 Air Force soldier, 19
prison ``trustees'' (non-gang member inmates who enforce discipline
within the prison), and 1 regular prisoner, for alleged involvement in
the deaths of 68 persons in April 2003, at El Porvenir prison near La
Ceiba. On May 8, the judge in the case approved ``watched freedom''
(akin to a mild version of office or house arrest) for 39 persons,
provisionally dismissed cases against 5 persons (2 Preventive Police, 2
soldiers, and the regular prisoner) with the Public Ministry's
concurrence, and closed a case against 1 ``trustee'' who had been
killed. The judge also issued arrest warrants for those persons who
failed to present themselves in court to face the charges. Among the
problems the Public Ministry encountered during this investigation were
missing evidence, shell casings found at the crime scene that did not
match the weapons later given to the Public Ministry by police, and
allegations that prison records were altered. In addition, prison
authorities did not follow proper legal procedures in transferring Mara
18 gang members to the La Ceiba prison. In December, Deputy Warden
Oscar Sanchez, who was in charge at the time of the incident, was
convicted of murder and attempted murder and faced a minimum sentence
of 25 years in prison.
More often than not, for lack of alternative facilities, wardens
held the mentally ill, although there was a National Mental Hospital
with drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and those with tuberculosis and
other infectious diseases, among the general prison population. Human
rights organizations accused prison officials of using excessive force
against prisoners, including beatings, as well as isolation and
threats. In the past, the National Human Rights Commission and the
Special Prosecutor for Human Rights accused prison officials of using
electric shocks and immersion in water.
Male prisoners with money routinely bought private cells, decent
food, and permission for conjugal visits, while prisoners without money
often lacked basic necessities, as well as legal assistance. The prison
system budgeted approximately $0.48 (9 lempiras) per day for food and
medicine for each prisoner. Prisoners were allowed visits and in many
cases relied on outside help to survive, since the prison system did
not provide adequate food.
The NGO CODEH continued government-funded programs to train Prison
Police and other personnel to avoid committing acts of torture, to
train and rehabilitate prisoners, and to arrange for periodic
inspections of prisons. The Center for the Prevention, Treatment, and
Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and Their Families provided health
and social services to prisoners in the main penitentiary in Tamara.
Women generally were held in separate facilities under conditions
similar to those of male prisoners; however, female prisoners did not
have conjugal visit privileges. Four percent of the prison population
was female. Children up to age 2 can live with their mothers in prison.
The Government operated juvenile detention centers in Tamara (one
for boys and one for girls), El Carmen (for boys) in San Pedro Sula,
and Jalteva (for boys) near Tegucigalpa. According to the Government,
as of August, there were 399 children at these four centers. Although
there was a lack of juvenile detention facilities, minors were detained
infrequently in adult prisons. In 2002, Casa Alianza reported that the
Government responded quickly to complaints of minors in adult prisons
and no longer routinely held juvenile offenders in adult prisons. In
2001, the Government and Casa Alianza agreed to earmark $182,000 (3
million lempiras) compensatory payments under an IACHR agreement to
assist juvenile offenders. Only 23 of the approximately 300 (out of an
initial list of approximately 800) juvenile offenders who served time
in adult prisons from 1995 to 1999 were compensated. On October 19, the
Government authorized the Solicitor General to come to an agreement
with Casa Alianza on the resolution of the legal details related to
government responsibility for these actions so that IHNFA can use the
remaining money for juvenile detention centers.
At year's end, negotiations between the Government and Casa Alianza
were ongoing related to the Casa Alianza complaint to the Inter-
American Court of Human Rights regarding four minors tortured in a
Comayagua prison in 1995.
Pretrial detainees generally were not separated from convicted
prisoners. According to the Government, as of December, the 24 penal
centers held over 10,931, the vast majority of them men, despite the
fact that the capacity of these centers was for approximately 7,000. Of
these 6,792 were pending trial and 4,139 had been convicted (see
Section 1.d.). An additional approximately 11,000 persons were under
house arrest.
The Government generally permitted prison 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; however, the authorities occasionally failed to
observe these prohibitions.
The Ministry of Public Security oversees police operations
(Preventive Police, DGIC, Transit Police, Tourist Police, and Prison
Police), and police are responsible for all public security issues.
Police were underfunded, undertrained, and understaffed, and corruption
was a serious problem. According to the Ministry of Public Security,
from 2000 through August, 186 police had been prosecuted and 1,344 had
been fired for reasons ranging from incompetence to corruption. There
was widespread public concern at the inability of the security forces
to prevent and control crime. During the year, police and military
continued to patrol jointly the streets, however petty crime remained
relatively high. The joint patrols were suspended temporarily and
resumed before the end of the year. Gang violence and intimidation on
the streets remained a serious problem, and gangs continued to
intimidate, threaten, and rob passengers on public transportation,
causing the government to station security officers on many public
buses. While investigation into crimes improved during the year, the
public continued to believe that corrupt security personnel were
complicit in the high crime rate (see Section 1.a.). Despite continued
attention to the problem by the Government, perpetrators of killings
against youth and minors, including in some instances police, continued
to act with impunity.
The Internal Affairs office investigates allegations of illegal
activities against members of the police force, including the
Preventive Police and the DGIC. The Internal Affairs office reports to
the Attorney General's office, which decides whether to prosecute the
offender or to return the case to the Minister of Public Security for
administrative action. The Preventive Police and the DGIC each have an
Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which conduct internal
reviews of police misconduct such as off-duty criminal conduct and
ethics violations. An OPR ruling is reported to the Minister of Public
Security, who can take disciplinary action or direct a supervisor to
decide upon disciplinary action for minor infractions.
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, or when there is strong suspicion that a person
has committed a crime and may try to evade criminal prosecution, or is
caught with evidence related to a crime. Police must clearly inform the
person of the grounds for the arrest. The Preventive Police detain
suspects and can investigate only misdemeanors, unless the DGIC is not
available, in which case the law allows the Preventive Police to
investigate misdemeanors and felonies. Police must bring a detainee
before a competent authority within 24 hours; a prosecutor has 24 hours
to decide if there is probable cause for an indictment. If a prosecutor
decides to indict a suspect, the prosecutor presents an indictment
before a judge, who then has 24 hours to decide whether to issue a
temporary detention order that can last up to 6 days. Within this time
period, a pretrial hearing must be held for the judge to examine
probable cause and make a decision on whether or not pretrial detention
should continue. Under the Criminal Procedures Code, bail is available
for felonies and prisoners have access to family members.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem; in 2002, an
estimated 88 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. However, the antiquated
criminal justice system, judicial inefficiency and corruption, and lack
of resources clogged the criminal system with pretrial detainees, many
of whom already have served time in prison equivalent to the maximum
allowable for the crime of which they were accused. The new Criminal
Procedures Code limits pretrial detention to 1 year if the greatest
penalty for a crime is less than 6 years and to 2 years if the penalty
for the crime is 6 years or greater. The Code is not retroactive, so
individuals who have already served their sentence but whose case has
not been reviewed remain in jail until the judge reviews the case. Many
prisoners under the old system remained in jail after being acquitted
or completing their sentences, due to the failure of responsible
officials to process their releases. The Criminal Procedures Code
mandates house arrest until trial of persons over the age of 60 accused
of nonfelony crimes, women who are pregnant or lactating, and the
terminally ill. In addition, it provides for the use of house arrest in
felony cases, depending on the seriousness of the crime as well as the
suspect's criminal record and personal history.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was poorly staffed and
equipped, often ineffective, and subject to corruption. While the
Government respected constitutional provisions in principle,
implementation was weak and uneven in practice. Both the judiciary and
the Public Ministry suffered from inadequate funding; low wages and
lack of internal controls made judicial and law enforcement officials
susceptible to bribery; and powerful special interests still exercised
influence and often prevailed in the courts. Elected politicians
previously enjoyed constitutional immunity as a privilege of their
office.
Congress voted in October 2003, and again on July 27 to amend the
Constitution to revoke immunity for executive, legislative, and
judicial employees. On December 30, congressionally approved procedures
for prosecuting previously immune individuals were published. The
Government had argued that new congressional implementing legislation
was necessary before cases could be brought against senior officials.
On February 19, a court sentenced Congressman Armando Avila Panchame to
20 years' imprisonment for drug trafficking. His conviction marked the
first time that a court had convicted a sitting congressman for drug
trafficking. In July 2003, authorities arrested Congressman Mauro
Caballero and charged him with environmental crimes on public lands;
however, he claimed that he owned the lands in question and his
immunity was not revoked. Congressman Melvin Tomas Regalado was
arrested and charged with improperly influencing decisions leading to
the release and flight of the prisoner Amilcar Antonio Portillo in
March 2003 and subsequently requested that his immunity be waived.
However, his immunity had not been revoked by year's end. On November
25, alternate congressman Abelardo Diaz Escoto was ordered to sweep
public streets for failing to comply with a judge's order in a domestic
abuse case brought by the mother of his two children. Congressman David
Romero Ehler remained in jail awaiting trial for raping his
stepdaughter at year's end (see Section 3).
During the past 10 years, the Public Ministry has taken steps to
investigate and charge not only military officers for human rights
violations, but also recently retired heads of the armed forces for
corruption, illicit enrichment, and white-collar crimes, as well as
ranking officials of the 3 previous governments for abuses of power,
fraud, and diversion of public funds and resources. However, at year's
end, very few of those accused had been tried or convicted (see Section
3).
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 names all lower court judges. Human
rights groups expressed concern that the 8-7 split between the
Nationalist and Liberal Parties on the court was not likely to
depoliticize Supreme Court rulings. Numerous judges were accused of
corruption or impropriety during the year.
In 2003, Congress passed a decree stating that the Supreme Court
ruling concerning proposed amendments to the Constitution that would
have given Congress unfettered power to interpret the constitutionality
of laws that it passes were unconstitutional could not be published;
however, the May 2003 Supreme Court ruling still stood at year's end.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial. This right
continued to improve in practice since implementation of the Criminal
Procedures Code. Since the implementation of the new Code, there has
been some improvement in the legal system's fairness toward those
charged with crimes, and cases have been processed with greater
efficiency than under the old system. On November 27, the Government
published a provisional strategy for the protection of witnesses and
victims in criminal cases.
An accused person is presumed innocent and has the right to an
initial hearing by a judge, to bail, to an attorney provided by the
State if necessary, and to appeal. The rights of defendants often were
not observed under the 1984 Code, under which all stages of the trial
process were conducted in writing and, at the judge's discretion, could
be declared secret and, thus, even less public than normal.
A public defender program provides assistance to those unable to
afford an adequate defense. There are over 232 public defenders that
provided free legal services to 45 percent of the prison population in
the main national penitentiary in Tamara during the year; however, it
is difficult for public defenders to meet the heavy demands of an
unautomated, inadequately funded, and labor-intensive criminal justice
system. Under the Code, cases cannot proceed if a suspect does not have
legal representation. There were 50,551 persons represented by public
defenders during 2003, and 39,505 persons represented by public
defenders during the year. The demands placed on the public defender
system severely overtaxed its resources.
The new Criminal Procedures Code provides defendants with
additional rights that reduce their likelihood of being detained,
including strict timelines for actions during the criminal process. The
new Code reduced the number of pretrial detainees and established
procedures so that detainees will not be held in prison beyond their
maximum prison term.
In 2002, the courts were reorganized to divide case management into
two systems, one following the old, written administrative court
procedures, and the other following the new, oral accusatorial method
of the Criminal Procedures Code. By the end of the year, 73 percent of
140,000 pending cases under the previous procedure had been dismissed
or resolved. By law, backlogged cases must be resolved by 2006.
The judicial system was staffed by poorly qualified judges;
corruption, patronage, and politicization remained problems. The
Supreme Court dismissed more than 19 judges on various charges,
including corruption, in 2002, the last year for which data was
available.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home,
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however,
there is an exception that 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 failed at times to obtain the
needed authorization before entering a private home. Coordination among
police, the courts, and the Public Ministry remained weak; however, it
improved somewhat with the creation in 2003 of unified centers for
police, prosecutors, and public defenders that provide for more
efficient operations.
In a number of instances, private and public security forces
actively 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, party
membership often was necessary to obtain or retain government
employment.
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 authorities generally
respected these rights in practice, with some important exceptions. The
Police and Social Order Law restricts demonstrators from using
statements that could incite persons to riot.
Some journalists admitted to self-censorship when their reporting
threatened the political or economic interests of media owners.
A small number of powerful business magnates with intersecting
business interests, political loyalties, and family ties owned many
news media. Systemic national problems, such as corruption and endemic
conflicts of interest, also limited the development of the news media.
The Government has various means to influence news reporting of its
activities, such as the granting or denial of access to government
officials. In May, all three branches of the Government and several
private organizations continued the practice of granting awards, some
accompanied by substantial sums of cash, to individual reporters on
``Journalists' Day.'' Observers viewed them as little more than
acknowledgments by the granting institutions of perceived services
rendered. The Government also had considerable influence on the print
media through its ability to grant or withhold official advertisements
funded with public monies.
The news media continued to suffer from internal corruption,
politicization, and outside influences. Press silence could be bought
by many means, including the practice of ministers and other high-
ranking government officials hiring journalists as public affairs
assistants at high salaries. Payments to journalists to investigate or
suppress certain stories continued, although no individual journalist
was accused publicly of engaging in the practice. News directors and
editors acknowledged their inability to halt the practice.
Responsible journalists on many occasions conducted investigative
journalism and presented corruption stories to the public's attention.
However, in some cases when the news media attempted to report in depth
on national politicians or official corruption, they continued to face
obstacles, such as external pressures to desist from their
investigations and a lack of access to government information and
independent sources.
On February 4, a court convicted journalist Renato Alvarez of
defamation and slander against former Congressman Julio Eduardo
Sarmiento for reading a document in 2003 on his TV talk show, ``Frente
a Frente,'' that listed prominent figures allegedly linked to narcotics
trafficking. On February 18, the court sentenced Alvarez to 2 years and
8 months in prison but suspended the sentence and gave him 5 years'
probation. In addition, the court ordered Alvarez to pay legal costs
and stripped him of some civil and political rights, including the
right to vote and the right to run for public office. On March 17,
Alvarez's lawyer filed an appeal for annulment before the Supreme
Court.
The Maduro Government continued to regularly use the Cadena
Nacional, a complete preemption of all television and radio
broadcasting, to present presidential addresses. In addition, the
President of the National Congress Porfirio Lobo, who is also a
presidential candidate, often used the Cadena Nacional.
Because President Maduro had limited ties to the media, some
journalists took the opportunity to increase reporting on sensitive
topics. In the past, there were credible reports of media owners'
repression against individual journalists who criticized the
Government, actively criticized freedom of the press, or otherwise
reported on issues sensitive to powerful interests in the country.
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 cases.
On March 12, an unknown assailant shot and injured journalist
Edgardo Castro in San Pedro Sula. An investigation was pending at
year's end.
In November, Jhonny Lagos, the director of a new small independent
monthly newspaper, El Libertador, and his family received anonymous
telephone threats.
At year's end, an investigation continued in the November 2003
killing of journalist German Antonio Rivas in Santa Rosa de Copan,
Copan Department.
The Government did not restrict Internet access.
The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
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. However, police used
force to disperse several protests, resulting in a number of injuries.
In 2003, the Congress approved a bill that bans membership in street
gangs and prescribes prison terms of 3 to 12 years (see ction 4).
During the year, incidents in which protesters, including farmers
or teachers, took over roadways in various departments met with police
resistance. Police used tear gas and riot troops to clear roadways,
injuring a number of persons in some of the incidents.
In December, students protested government threats to close the
National University. On December 13, the police used tear-gas to
disperse a group of student demonstrators.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The dominant religion, Catholicism, does not affect adversely
the religious freedom of others. The Government prohibits immigration
of foreign missionaries who practice religions that claim to use
witchcraft or satanic rituals.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
Neither the Constitution nor the Penal Code explicitly prohibits
exile, but the Government did not us it.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee
status or asylum. The Government accepted five persons for refugee
status in 2003 and one person through October. In addition, the
Government allowed 63 persons in 2003 and 13 through October to stay
for humanitarian reasons, although they were not granted refugee
status. The Government cooperated with the U.N. 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 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. Citizens choose a president, vice president, and
members of the National Congress by free, secret, and direct balloting
every 4 years. General elections were held in 2001, and in January
2002, Ricardo Maduro Joest was sworn in as President for a 4-year term.
A new political party may gain legal status by obtaining 20,000
signatures and establishing party organizations in at least half of the
country's 18 departments.
Any citizen born in the country or abroad of Honduran parentage may
hold office, except for members of the clergy, the armed forces, and
the police. The clergy and members of the military or civilian security
forces are not permitted to vote.
Under a new electoral law passed in January that came into effect
in April, voters will be able to select candidates based not only on
their names but also on their photographs. Voters may participate in
open primaries for three political parties on February 20, 2005, and
general elections in November 2005. The new law limits campaigns to 4
months and a political candidate can run for one political position
only. An office of vice president was created and the current system of
three presidential designates was eliminated. The law also mandates
limited campaign finance reporting requirements. The new electoral law
states that voters abroad only will be able to vote for president and
vice president in the general election.
The executive and legislative branches were subject to corruption
and political influence. There was a widespread perception that
government anti-corruption institutions were unwilling or lacked the
professional capacity to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those
involved in high-level corruption cases, especially cases involving the
executive or legislative branches (see Section 1.e). The National Anti-
Corruption Council has not been able to make much headway against
corruption.
No laws permitted citizens to access information regarding
government operations or decisions.
There are no legal impediments to the participation of women or
minorities in government and politics; however, opportunities for women
to participate in politics remained quite limited, particularly for
those seeking elected office. The 2000 Law of Gender Equality mandates
that 30 percent of all candidates nominated for public office by
recognized political parties be women. The new Electoral Law mandates a
quota of no less than 30 percent participation by women officeholders.
Congresswomen and women's groups strongly criticized all five parties
for their lack of female representation in the congressional slates
after the 2001 elections. There were 10 women in the 128-seat
legislature, as well as 12 female alternates. There were 9 female
justices, 1 of whom was president, on the 17-member Supreme Court; and
1 of the 16 cabinet ministers were women. As of October, 25 of the 298
mayors were women. Despite limited attempts at reform, politics
remained a male-dominated hierarchy.
There were few minorities or indigenous people in leadership
positions in government or politics. There were no indigenous people or
Garifuna (Afro-Caribbean) in the 128-seat legislature, although there
was 1 indigenous and 2 Garifuna alternate congressmen.
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.
In 2003 and during the year, several human rights organizations
censured the Government for criticizing their challenges to the
constitutionality of the anti-gang law. The human rights organizations
alleged that the government's complaint created a perception that they
were supporting members of gangs, which resulted in their receiving
threats.
On April 26, unknown assailants shot and killed human rights and
land activist Marvis Guelio Perez in Cofradia. An investigation into
his killing was pending at year's end (see Section 1.a).
On May 27, unknown assailants assaulted Jose Idalecio Murillo, a
leader of the Regional Coordination of Popular Resistance (CRRP). An
investigation was pending at year's end.
In June, Andres Pavon Murillo, Executive Director of the NGO CODEH,
sought and received police protection after being threatened for his
human rights work.
On November 4, Juan Almendares Bonilla, Executive Director of the
NGO Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture
Victims and Their Relatives (CPTRT) and candidate for the presidential
nomination in the Democratic Unification Party primary, said that he
had received death threats. On October 26, unknown assailants ransacked
the CPTRT office in Tegucigalpa. It was the third assault on the CPTRT
office since January 2003.
At year's end, an investigation continued into the 2002 killing of
human rights worker Jose Santos Callejas in Atlantida (see Section
1.a.).
In 2002, Congress chose Ramon Custodio Lopez to serve a 6-year term
as Human Rights Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC), an autonomous government institution. The NHRC director has
free access to all civilian and military institutions and detention
centers and functions with complete immunity and autonomy. The
Government generally cooperated with the NHRC and invited the Human
Rights Ombudsman to work on interagency commissions dealing with rule
of law issues. On September 13 the Government established the
Interinstitutional Commission for Human Rights, constituting
representatives of relevant government ministries, and inviting the
Public Ministry and Supreme Court to participate. Custodio objected to
the creation of the new commission as a potentially competing
organization.
The Congress has a Human Rights Committee; however, it did not play
a significant role in the formulation of policy.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution bans discrimination based on race, sex, or class;
however, in practice, the political, military, and social elites
generally enjoyed impunity under the legal system.
Women.--Violence against women remained widespread. The Penal Code
classifies domestic violence and sexual harassment as crimes, with
penalties of 2 to 4 years' and 1 to 3 years' imprisonment,
respectively; however, the Government struggled to enforce the law
effectively during the year. From January-December, the Public Ministry
received 3,184 reports of alleged domestic violence in the Tegucigalpa
office alone. Of these reports, 790 became legal cases, with 592
convictions and 26 dismissals. There were 171 reports of alleged
``intra-family violence,'' a more serious crime under the law, with 194
cases being prosecuted, and 12 reports of rape during the year, with 13
cases being prosecuted.
The Law Against Domestic Violence, intended to strengthen the
rights of women and increase the penalties for crimes of domestic
violence, does not impose any fines, and the only sanctions are
community service and 24-hour preventive detention if the aggressor is
caught in the act. The Penal Code includes the crime of intrafamily
violence and disobeying authorities, in the case that an aggressor does
not obey a restraining order. Three years' imprisonment per incident is
the maximum sentence. Since the Government began in 2002 to fund
special courts to hear only cases of domestic violence, more cases have
been resolved.
The Government worked with women's groups to provide specialized
training to police officials on enforcing the Law Against Domestic
Violence. There were few shelters specifically for battered women, with
only two offering physical shelter. An NGO operated 1 shelter in
Tegucigalpa that could accommodate 20 women and their families. Six
private centers for battered women offered legal, medical, and
psychological assistance but not physical shelter.
The penalties for rape range from 3 to 9 years' imprisonment, and
the courts enforced these penalties in practice. All rapes are
considered public crimes, so a rapist can be prosecuted even if the
victim does not want to press charges.
The law does not prohibit adult prostitution, but child
prostitution is illegal; the law prohibits promoting or facilitating
the prostitution of adults.
Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and debt bondage (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, it
continued to be a problem.
Women were represented in at least small numbers in most
professions, but cultural attitudes limited their career opportunities.
Under the law, women have equal access to educational opportunities and
slightly more girls complete grade school and high school than boys,
according to the National Statistics Institute. 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. Women often work in the low-status,
low-pay, informal occupations, such as domestic work. The majority of
the female labor force is in the informal sector where jobs are poorly
remunerated and where there are no regulations or protections.
Despite legal protections against such practices, workers in the
textile export industries reported that they were required to take
preemployment pregnancy tests. Pregnant employees and new mothers for 3
months after the birth of their child have specific protections under
labor law to prevent unjust firings (see Section 6.e.). Women are
eligible for 4 weeks of paid maternity leave prior to the birth and 6
weeks of paid maternity leave after the birth.
Women are treated equally under the law with respect to property
rights in divorce cases.
The Government maintained a cabinet-level position directing the
National Women's Institute, which develops women and gender policy. The
Inter-Institutional Technical Committee on Gender supported gender
units in five government ministries, and there was a special working
women's division in the Ministry of Labor to coordinate government
assistance programs that have a gender focus and that are targeted for
women. There are many NGOs active on a wide range of women's issues,
including the Center for the Study of Women-Honduras which has been
active on trafficking in persons, commercial sexual exploitation,
domestic workers, and other key issues.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
The Government provided free, universal, and compulsory education
through the age of 13; however, in May, the National Statistics
Institute's household survey estimated that as many as 125,000 children
aged 7 through 12 failed to receive schooling of any kind; of these,
almost 10,000 may never attend primary school. Older boys often drop
out to assist their family by working. The May household survey also
reported that women have an average of 5.6 years of primary education
and men have an average of 5.3 years of primary education. The
educational system faced fundamental problems: High dropout rates, low
enrollment at the secondary level, unbalanced distribution of
government spending, teacher absenteeism, and low quality of education
in the classroom. By the year's end the Government had not taken
measures to address these problems.
The Government allocated 14.2 percent of its total expenditures
(including foreign assistance) to the health sector (including salaries
of doctors and medical workers) during the year. According to the most
recent data available, a 2001 national survey on epidemiology and
family health, infant mortality (deaths under 1 year of age) was 34 per
1,000 live births, and child mortality (deaths under 5 years of age)
was 45 per 1,000 live births. Of children ages 1 to 5, 32.9 percent
were malnourished.
The 1996 Code of Childhood and Adolescence established prison
sentences of up to 3 years for persons convicted of child abuse. From
January to August, the Public Ministry received 390 reports of alleged
crimes against children, including child abuse, in the Tegucigalpa and
San Pedro Sula offices. In 2003, the Public Ministry reported that 205
cases of child abuse were tried during the year.
Trafficking in children for commercial sexual exploitation s and
child prostitution were problems (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
The Government was unable to improve the living conditions or
reduce the numbers of street children and youth (see Sections 1.a. and
1.c.). The Government and children's rights organizations estimated the
number of street children at 20,000, only half of whom have shelter on
any given day. Many street children were sexually molested or
exploited, and some were addicted to drugs, alcohol, and glue sniffing.
The Tegucigalpa city administration operated 12 temporary shelters with
a total capacity of 240 children. Casa Alianza operated 3 shelters for
160 children, 1 for victims of commercial sexual exploitation, 1 for
street children, and 1 for children with drug and alcohol problems.
Despite continued attention to the problem by the Government, abuse
of youth and children in poor neighborhoods and in gangs was a serious
problem. Both police and members of the general population engaged in
violence against poor youth and children; some of these children were
involved in criminal activities. Estimates of the extent of the problem
varied. According to the Casa Alianza, press reports indicated that
2,520 children and young adults (age 23 and under) were killed between
1998 and the end of the year. In 2003, the Minister of Government
reported that 800 children were killed from 1988 to the end of 2003.
Human rights groups alleged 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. Casa Alianza provided information of
suspected police involvement in 15 cases in 2002, 13 cases in 2003, and
2 additional cases during the year. In March, Juan Almendares,
Executive Director of the NGO CPTRT, estimated that government agents
were responsible for 13 to 22 percent of the killings. 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, the focus of human rights
criticism, publicly denied accusations of the whole police force's
involvement in the killings, although it acknowledged that individual
police had been investigated for participation in them. CODEH also
conducted human rights training with the military during the year.
There was some improvement in the government's ability to
investigate and prosecute suspects in the killings of children and
youth during the year. From July 2003 through December, the Special
Investigative Unit on child killings had received 660 cases, 112 of
which were forwarded to the Public Ministry for prosecution with the
remaining 548 under investigation. Of the 112 cases forwarded to the
Public Ministry, gang members were thought to be responsible in 54
percent of the cases, individuals in 30 percent, and police or other
government officials in 16 percent. The Public Ministry prosecuted and
convicted 12 defendants in seven cases involving nine victims, four of
them minors.
In December, the IACHR Special Rapporteur for Children Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro and Special Rapporteur for Prisoners Florentin Melendez
visited the country to review the situation of gangs, including
extrajudicial, arbitrary, and summary killings of youths and children,
and prison deaths of gang members. The IACHR Special Rapporteur for
Children had previously visited the country in September 2002 to review
the situation. In September 2002, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial, Arbitrary, and Summary Executions released a report
based on her 2001 visit that claimed that security forces were involved
in covering up their involvement in some of the summary killings of
youth and children, and that some of the killings involved police.
A 2003 law outlawing gang membership prescribes prison terms
ranging from 3 to 12 years, depending on the individual's level of
involvement and seniority. In 2003, human rights organizations
criticized the law and filed a brief before the Supreme Court arguing
that the law is unconstitutional, but the Court dismissed the brief
(see Section 4). As of August, 1,683 persons had been detained for
illicit association under the law. Human rights organizations continued
to criticize the law and its implementation. There are an estimated 30-
40,000 persons, many of them minors, who belong to gangs in the
country. Membership is primarily confined to the large urban centers of
Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS 13) and the
Mara 18 are the largest and most violent of the gangs. Together these
two gangs account for roughly 40 percent of gang membership countrywide
and a large amount of the violent crime.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Legal Code includes provisions that
prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there is no comprehensive
anti-trafficking law. There were reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country.
Assorted penal, child exploitation, and immigration statutes
criminalize trafficking and enable the Government to prosecute
traffickers. The law prohibits trafficking in persons and provides for
sentences of between 6 and 9 years' imprisonment; the penalty is
increased if the traffickers are government or public employees, or if
the victim suffers ``loss of liberty'' or is killed. The Government and
Justice Ministry, through its General Directorate for Population and
Migration (DGPM), is responsible for enforcing the country's
immigration laws although the DGPM does not have arrest powers. Many of
the government's anti-trafficking measures were conducted in the
context of combating the illegal movement of migrants. Corruption, a
lack of resources, and weak police, Public Ministry, and court systems
hindered law enforcement efforts. Corruption was a serious problem that
made obtaining court convictions difficult. Some officials were
investigated and dismissed for corruption.
In October, a court convicted and sentenced a foreign citizen to 47
years' imprisonment for commercial sexual exploitation of five girls in
Danli.
On October 21, a court convicted Roger Galindo, Marlene de Jesus
Aguilar Galindo, and Sabina Cepeda of alien smuggling and trafficking
in persons for running a prostitution ring uncovered in an April 2002
raid in Texas. Sentencing was pending at year's end. Maria Isabel Cruz
Zamora was still a fugitive with a pending arrest warrant.
In October 2003, police arrested six persons in Tocoa for
trafficking in persons and money laundering, and charged two persons
with aggravated trafficking for sexual exploitation of their victims.
The men were in jail, and the women under house arrest at year's end.
Prosecution of these cases was ongoing at year's end.
Canadian authorities cooperated with the Government during the year
to identify and repatriate the minors. The Government continued to work
with the Government of Mexico to repatriate over 200 minors working as
prostitutes in southern Mexico. According to a local children's rights
group, 408 children had been reported missing from 1990 to February
2003. The Special Prosecutor for Children participated in a regional
meeting in Costa Rica of Prosecutors for Children's Issues to discuss
regional cooperation against trafficking and commercial sexual
exploitation. The Special Prosecutor for Children worked with her
counterpart in Guatemala on locating and repatriating children in
Guatemala that were trafficking victims.
The country was a source and transit point for trafficking for
sexual and labor exploitation. Most victims were young women and girls,
who are trafficked to Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Mexico, the
United States, and Canada. Reports from Casa Alianza in 2000 asserted
that approximately 250 children in Canada were coerced into
prostitution or the sale of illicit narcotics.
Women and children were trafficked internally, most often from
rural to urban settings. The commercial sexual exploitation of children
was a serious problem, and child prostitution was a problem in tourist
and border areas of the country. Casa Alianza estimated in December
2003 that there were approximately 8,335 children who were victims of
some form of commercial sexual exploitation. The Special Prosecutor for
Children conducted operations jointly with the police, the Honduran
Institute for Children and the Family (IHNFA), judges, and Casa
Alianza, to rescue victims and arrest and prosecute those responsible
for these victims' exploitation.
The Government, in conjunction with UNICEF, conducted a public
information campaign against trafficking and commercial sexual
exploitation, and raised awareness of children and women's rights and
risks associated with illegal migration. The Government and NGOs held
seminars on the prevention and eradication of the commercial sexual
exploitation of children and trafficking in women and children in
Tegucigalpa, La Ceiba, and Valle in 2003, and in San Pedro Sula, Santa
Rosa de Copan, Puerto Cortes, and Tela during the year. Casa Alianza
also conducted a public information campaign against commercial sexual
exploitation of children. A national commission to combated child labor
abuses and reincorporated working minors into educational programs.
Several government agencies, international organizations, and NGOs have
developed a national plan against the sexual exploitation of children.
The Government did not provide any assistance to foreign victims of
trafficking, nor does it provide funding for NGOs helping victims. In
July, Immigration authorities inaugurated a shelter for third country
illegal immigrants pending deportation to their home countries. The
shelter was built by the International Organization for Migration using
assistance from an international donor. The Government worked with the
ILO's International Program to Eradicate Child Labor (IPEC) and NGOs to
provide training to the press on trafficking in persons. Two centers in
Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula assisted citizens deported from other
countries to relocate in the country. The centers' activities continued
during the year, with the assistance of several international
organizations. Consular officials are aware of trafficking issues when
abroad. On April 22, Casa Alianza signed an agreement with the Ministry
of Government and Justice and the Directorate of Immigration to protect
children who are victims of trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation
outside the country. As part of the agreement, the Government committed
to inform Casa Alianza about any repatriation of minors.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services; however, there is no
specific statutory or constitutional protection for them. It is illegal
for an employer to discriminate against a worker based on disability.
There is no legislation that requires access by persons with
disabilities to government buildings or commercial establishments.
Indigenous People.--Some 490,000 persons, constituting 9 percent of
the general population, were members of indigenous and Afro-Caribbean
ethnic groups. 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 land rights are communal, providing land use rights to
individual members of the ethnic group. Indigenous and ancestral lands
often are defined poorly in documents dating back to the mid-19th
century. Indigenous and nonindigenous communities criticized the
government's exploitation of timber; however, government policy over
natural resources changed in 2002 and reportedly included greater local
participation.
Land disputes were common among all sectors of society; however,
the lack of clear title and property boundaries of indigenous land
claims often lead to conflicts between such groups as landless mestizo
farmers who clear and occupy land for subsistence farming, local and
national elites who encroach on indigenous land to engage in illegal
logging, and various government entities (see Sections 1.a. and 1.f.).
In 2002, 12 Tolupan were killed in Yoro department in separate
incidents because they opposed illegal logging and usurpation of their
ancestral lands. Tolupan leaders implicated sawmill owners, police,
district attorneys, and the governmental Honduran Forest Development
Corporation in these killings. These cases were still pending at year's
end. The Government worked with various indigenous groups on management
plans for public and ancestral lands that they occupy. Security
officials and private landowners were accused of participating in
approximately a dozen killings of Lencas and Garifunas in conflicts
over indigenous land claims.
The courts commonly deny legal recourse to indigenous groups and
often show bias in favor of nonindigenous parties of means and
influence. Failure to obtain legal redress frequently lead indigenous
groups to attempt to regain land through invasions of private property,
which usually provoked the authorities into retaliating forcefully. The
Government was somewhat responsive to indigenous land claims; however,
numerous cases remained unresolved because of conflicting claims by
influential individuals.
In 2002, the INA reduced its issuance of titles to indigenous
groups because of lack of funds to compensate private owners and
expected changes in land use laws. The INA continued to play a weak
role in mediating land claims of indigenous and farmer groups.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International (AI),
complained 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 (COPINH). Jailed in
January 2003, the brothers were later convicted and in December 2003
sentenced to 29 years in jail in Gracias, Lempira for the 2001, murder
of Juan Reyes Gomez and the attempted murder of Demetrio Reyes. On
November 11, the Supreme Court overturned the 25-year sentence for
Gomez's murder, and ordered the appeals court to reconsider the case.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In September, AI alleged
that thousands of homosexual and transgender persons in the country
faced discrimination and attacks on a daily basis.
On August 27, the Government granted legal recognition to three
NGOs working on homosexual issues: the Violet Collective, the San Pedro
Gay Community, and Kukulcan.
In September 2003, AI reported that approximately 200 homosexual
and transsexual workers were killed between 1991-2003. In July 2003,
two policemen allegedly shot and killed Eric David Yanez, a transgender
member of the NGO San Pedro Sula's Gay Community. The investigation
into the killing was pending at year's end.
HIV positive persons were at risk of discrimination. In 2002,
UNAIDS estimated the overall HIV prevalence rate at 1.9 percent,
although available data on HIV/AIDS incidence was underreported. The
male to female ratio of HIV infection was 1.2:1. UNAIDS estimated there
were at least 63,000 adults living with HIV and almost 14,000 orphans
in the country due to HIV/AIDS related deaths. An estimated 30 to 50
percent of total AIDS cases are still not reported. According to the
Ministry of Health in July, 21,196 HIV positive cases had been
reported, with 16,346 AIDS cases (9,580 men and 6,765 women).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised the legal right to
form and join labor unions. Approximately 7.3 percent of the work force
is unionized. The International Labor Organization (ILO) has noted that
various provisions in the labor law restrict freedom of association,
including the prohibition of more than 1 trade union in a single
enterprise, the requirement of more than 30 workers to constitute a
trade union, the requirement that trade union organizations must
include more than 90 percent Honduran membership, the prohibition on
foreign nationals holding union offices, the requirement that union
officials must be employed in the economic activity of the business the
union represents, and the restriction on unions in agricultural
businesses with less than 10 employees.
A number of private firms have instituted ``solidarity''
associations to provide credit and other services to workers and
managers who are members of the associations. Representatives of most
organized labor groups criticized these associations, asserting that
they do not permit strikes, have inadequate grievance procedures, are
meant to displace genuine, independent trade unions, and are employer-
dominated.
While the Labor Code prohibits retribution by employers for trade
union activity, it was a common occurrence. Some employers threatened
to close unionized companies and harassed workers seeking to unionize,
in some cases dismissing them outright. Despite legal protections,
workers were most vulnerable for being fired while forming unions. Some
foreign companies closed operations when notified that workers seek
union representation.
The Ministry of Labor can reach administrative decisions on
allegations of unfair dismissal and fine companies, but only a court
can order reinstatement of workers. The labor courts routinely
considered hundreds of appeals from workers seeking reinstatement and
back wages from companies that fired them for engaging in union
organizing activities. Workers often accepted dismissal with severance
pay rather than wait for a court resolution due to the length of this
process. Lack of effective reinstatement of workers was a serious
problem. Once a union is recognized, employers dismiss relatively few
workers for union activity.
The Labor Code prohibits blacklisting; however, there was credible
evidence that blacklisting occurred in maquilas. A number of
maquiladora workers who were fired for union activity have reported
being hired for 1 or 2 weeks and then being let go 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.
When a union is formed, its organizers must submit a list of
founding members to the Ministry of Labor as part of the process of
obtaining official recognition. However, before official recognition is
granted, the Ministry of Labor must inform the company of the impending
union organization. At times, companies receive the list illegally from
workers or from Labor Ministry inspectors willing to take a bribe. The
Ministry of Labor did not always provide effective protection to labor
organizers. In 2002, the Ministry of Labor improved its administrative
procedures to reduce unethical behavior of its officials regarding
union organizing. There were fewer reports of inspectors selling the
names of employees involved in forming a union to the management of the
company compared with previous years. Once a union is registered, its
board of directors has specific protections under the law to prevent
illegal firings.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and to bargain collectively, and the
Government protected this right in practice. By law, an employer must
begin collective bargaining once workers establish a union; however,
employers often refuse to bargain with a union.
The Constitution provides for the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice. The law prohibits strikes in
essential services and petroleum production, refining, transport, and
distribution. The ILO criticized the Civil Service Code's denial of the
right to strike to all government workers, other than employees of
state-owned enterprises. Nonetheless, civil servants often engage in
illegal work stoppages without experiencing reprisals. The ILO also
criticized the broad restriction on strikes in petroleum-related
industries. The ILO noted that labor federations and confederations are
prohibited from calling strikes, and that a two-thirds majority of the
votes of the total membership of the trade union organization is
required to call a strike, rather than a simple majority; the ILO
asserted that these requirements restrict freedom of association.
The same labor regulations apply in the export processing zones
(EPZs) as in the rest of private industry, except that the law
prohibits strikes. There were approximately 20 EPZs. Each EPZ provides
space for between 4 and 10 companies. At year's end, approximately 60
of the country's 226 maquiladora firms were unionized. Approximately 13
percent of the 131,000 maquiladora work force is unionized, according
to October statistics from the Ministry of Labor.
In the absence of unions and collective bargaining, the management
of several plants in free trade zones instituted solidarity
associations that, to some extent, function as ``company unions'' for
the purposes of setting wages and negotiating working conditions.
Others used the minimum wage to set starting salaries and adjust wage
scales by negotiating with common groups of plant workers and other
employees, based on seniority, skills, categories of work, and other
criteria (see Section 6.e.).
Labor leaders accused the Government of allowing private companies
to act contrary to the Labor Code. They criticized the Ministry of
Labor for not enforcing the Labor Code, for taking too long to make
decisions, and for being timid and indifferent to workers' needs.
Industry leaders, in turn, contended that the obsolete and cumbersome
Labor Code discouraged foreign investment and required significant
amendment. The Ministry of Labor sought to address these deficiencies
by obtaining increased funding in the government's budget in 2002 and
2003, by dismissing or transferring Ministry of Labor employees whose
performance was unsatisfactory, by strengthening regional offices to
facilitate worker access to Ministry of Labor services, and by
continuing a painstaking, ongoing review of the Labor Code since 1995.
During the year, the Ministry of Labor continued its work to strengthen
a special maquiladora inspectorate office and an office for female
workers.
There were 105 general labor inspectors; however, the Government
acknowledged that it did not adhere completely to international labor
standards. In conjunction with other Central American nations, the
country in 1997 agreed to fund a regional program to modernize the
inspection and labor management functions of all regional labor
ministries. In August 2003, the Ministry of Labor issued a legal notice
that clarified the obligation of employers to grant access to labor
inspectors.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution and
the law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children;
however, there were credible allegations of compulsory overtime at
maquiladora plants, particularly for women, who made up an estimated 65
percent of the workforce in the maquiladora sector according to October
statistics from the Ministry of Labor. Prison labor can be compulsory
for convicted criminals.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Constitution and the Labor Code prohibit the employment of minors under
the age of 16, although children who are at least 14 years of age may
work with parental and Ministry of Labor permission; however, child
labor was a significant problem. The Children's Code prohibits a child
under 14 years of age from working, even with parental permission, and
establishes prison sentences of 3 to 5 years for persons who allow
children to work illegally. This law was not enforced effectively. An
employer who legally hires a 14- to 15-year-old must certify that the
child has finished, or is finishing, compulsory schooling. The Ministry
of Labor grants a limited number of work permits to 14- to 15-year-old
children each year. Minors are prohibited from working in undersea
fishing or outside of the country's borders. Minors 14 to 15 years old
are allowed to work only 4 hours daily and 20 hours weekly; 16- to 17-
year-olds can work 6 hours daily and 30 hours weekly. The Labor Code
prohibits night work and overtime for minors under age 16, and also
requires that employers in areas with more than 20 school-aged children
on their farm, ranch, or business must provide a location for a school.
The Ministry of Labor did not enforce effectively child labor laws
outside the maquiladora sector. Violations of the Labor Code occurred
frequently in rural areas and in small companies. Significant child
labor problems existed in family farming, agricultural export
(including the melon, coffee, and sugarcane industries), and small-
scale services and commerce. The most recent survey by the Honduran
National Institute of Statistics in 2002 determined that approximately
367,405 children (or 16 percent of children) work illegally, the
majority for their own families, in the informal sector, and in rural
areas. Of the children, 74 percent are boys, 69 percent live in rural
areas, 56 percent work in agriculture, and 24.4 percent work in
commerce. Of these children, 61 percent work unpaid for their families
and 28 percent are paid for work outside their families. Many of these
children work out of economic necessity alongside other family members.
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.
The NGO Casa Alianza documented more than 1,000 minors in Honduras
that were the victims of commercial sexual exploitation in 2003.
There were isolated cases of the employment of children under the
legal working age in the maquiladora sector. (Younger children
sometimes obtained work permits by fraud or purchase forged permits.)
The Ministry of Labor continued a campaign to increase industry
awareness on the worst forms of child labor.
In 2002, the Government swore in new members of the interagency
National Commission for the Gradual and Progressive Eradication of
Child Labor. The ILO/IPEC continued its programs to eradicate the worst
forms of child labor in melon and coffee production. ILO/IPEC also had
programs combating the commercial sexual exploitation of children,
children working as lobster divers, children working in the garbage
dump of Tegucigalpa, and child domestic workers. In addition, an
international donor funded an 18-month pilot project, which began in
2003, with an NGO to help provide education to children working or at
risk of working in commercial agriculture. In September, an
international donor launched a new regional program to combat
exploitative child labor in the region and strengthen government and
civil society's capacity to address the educational needs of working
children. The Ministry of Education developed an Education for All plan
to increase access to preschool and primary education; improve the
quality of preschool and primary education by encouraging new teaching
methods, improving curriculum, and reducing drop-out rates, repetition,
and desertion rates; and increase student achievement.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law provides for the
establishment of a minimum wage. On April 1, minimum wages that were
renegotiated by the Government, the private employers' association, and
the three labor confederations went into effect for the year. Unlike
past years when the raise was backdated to January, the raise was not
retroactive. The daily minimum wage scale is broken down by sector and
by size of business: small (1-15 workers) and large (16 or more
workers). The scale ranges from $2.97 (54.7 lempiras) for workers in
small agriculture to $4.88 (89.7 lempiras) for workers in financial/
insurance companies and workers in export-oriented businesses
(including maquilas and commercial agriculture such as tobacco, coffee,
bananas, and seafood). Workers in areas such as construction, services,
mining, transportation, communication, etc., had minimum wages in
between these two rates. The raise was approximately 12 percent for
workers in small agriculture, but approximately 9 percent for most
other workers. The inflation rate in 2003 was 6.8 percent.
All workers are entitled to a bonus equivalent to a month's salary
in June and December every year. The Constitution and the Labor Code
stipulate that all labor must be paid fairly; however, the Ministry of
Labor lacked the personnel and other resources for effective
enforcement. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family.
The law prescribes a maximum 8-hour workday, a 44-hour workweek,
equivalent to 48 hours' wages, and at least one 24-hour rest period for
every 6 days of work. The Labor Code provides for a paid vacation of 10
workdays after 1 year, and of 20 workdays after 4 years. The law
requires overtime payment for hours in excess of the standard. There
are prohibitions on excessive compulsory overtime. However, 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 is responsible for enforcing national
occupational health and safety laws, but does not do so consistently or
effectively. During the year, the Ministry of Labor received technical
assistance, training, and equipment from an international donor to
improve its regulatory capacity. There were 14 occupational health and
safety inspectors throughout the country. The informal sector,
comprising more than 52 percent of all employment according to the
Ministry of Labor, was regulated and monitored poorly. Worker safety
standards also were poorly enforced in the construction industry. Some
complaints alleged that foreign factory managers failed to comply with
the occupational health and safety aspects of Labor Code regulations in
factories located in the free trade zones and in private industrial
parks (see Section 6.b.). There is no provision allowing a worker to
leave a dangerous work situation without jeopardy to continued
employment.
__________
JAMAICA
Jamaica is a constitutional parliamentary democracy. In the free
and fair 2002 general elections, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's
People's National Party (PNP) won 34 of the 60 seats in the House of
Representatives. The PNP also was allocated 13 seats in the 21-seat
Senate. The judiciary is independent but lacked adequate resources.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) had primary responsibility for
internal security and was assisted by the Island Special Constabulary
Force. The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF--army, air wing, and coast guard)
was charged with national defense, marine narcotics interdiction, and
JCF support. The JDF had no mandate to maintain law and order and no
powers of arrest (although the coast guard had powers of maritime
arrest), unless so ordered by the Prime Minister. Two JDF battalions
were 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. The Ministry of
National Security oversaw the JCF and the JDF. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces; however,
some members of the security forces committed serious human rights
abuses.
The market economy was based largely on tourism, production of
primary products (bauxite and aluminum, sugar, bananas), and
remittances. The country's population was approximately 2.7 million.
The economy grew by an estimated 3 percent during the year. While wages
and benefits generally kept pace with inflation, there was a large gap
between the wealthy and the impoverished. On September 11, heavy rains
and strong winds from Hurricane Ivan damaged nearly every sector of the
economy. It was estimated that the hurricane adversely impacted gross
domestic product growth by approximately 2 percent.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. Members
of the security forces committed unlawful killings. Mob violence
against and vigilante killings of those suspected of breaking the law
remained a problem. Police and prison guards allegedly abused detainees
and prisoners. Although the Government moved to investigate incidents
of police abuses and punish some of those police involved, continued
impunity for police who commit abuses remained a problem. Prison and
jail conditions remained poor; overcrowding, brutality against
detainees, and poor sanitary conditions were problems. There were
reports of arbitrary arrest and detention. The judicial system was
overburdened, and lengthy delays in trials were common. Violence and
discrimination against women remained problems. Trafficking in persons
was a problem. There were cases of societal discrimination against
persons with disabilities. Violence against individuals suspected or
known to be homosexuals occurred, as did discrimination against persons
living with HIV/AIDS. Child labor 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.--There were no
reported politically motivated killings by the Government or its
agents; however, security forces committed some unlawful or unwarranted
killings during the year.
The police frequently employed lethal force in apprehending
criminal suspects. Police encounters with criminals resulted in 119
deaths (including 11 police officers) compared with 127 deaths
(including 13 police officers) in 2003. 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 54 per 100,000 persons, the highest in its history.
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.
In October, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights released the report
of the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary
Executions, which stated that the country had an unacceptably high
number of questionable police shootings and should hold more policemen
accountable for their actions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade called the report ``fairly balanced,'' and noted that
measures to improve the situation had been taken.
On March 2, police killed three men in Burnt Savannah,
Westmoreland, in what police described as a shootout. However,
eyewitnesses claimed that police ordered the men from their car and
shot them at close range. The civic action group Families Against State
Terrorism met with witnesses and assisted in protecting the crime
scene. The investigation by the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI)
continued at year's end.
On September 19, members of the JDF allegedly killed Sandra Sewell
and Gayon Alcott in August Town, St. Andrew. JDF soldiers, along with
police officers, were patrolling the area to enforce a curfew during
the state of public emergency that was imposed during and immediately
following Hurricane Ivan. At year's end, an investigation by the BSI,
with assistance from an outside forensic expert provided by Amnesty
International (AI), was ongoing.
On December 24, police killed 15-year-old Donovan Hayles and 7-
year-old Shakeira Thompson and injured two others in Old Braeton, St.
Catherine. The JCF described the incident as a shootout with gunmen;
however, local residents claimed Hayles was disarmed, and that police
randomly fired assault rifles to give the appearance of a shootout,
killing Thompson in the process. The BSI was investigating the incident
at year's end.
On April 21, following months of investigations, the Department of
Public Prosecutions (DPP) charged six JCF officers, including Senior
JCF Superintendent Reneto Adams, in the 2003 killing of four people at
a home in Crawle, Clarendon. At year's end, a court date was set for
February 2005.
Following independent investigations by AI, the DPP overturned the
decision of a coroner's jury and charged six police officers in the
2001 killing of seven youths in Braeton, St. Catherine. The trial was
scheduled to begin in January 2005.
In April, the JCF announced that officers from Scotland Yard had
been called to assist with the investigation of the 2003 police killing
of two elderly men in the community of Flankers, St. James. The BSI-led
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
On December 2, a 12-member jury in the Home Circuit Court acquitted
two policemen charged with the 2002 murder of 7-year-old Romaine
Edwards.
There were no developments and none were expected in the 2002
police killing of Daemon Roache.
On October 1, the Chief Justice denied a joint family-
nongovernmental organization (NGO) appeal for judicial review of the
2000 police killing of Janice Allen, reportedly for a lack of evidence.
AI stated that the investigation was ``marred by witness intimidation,
official incompetence, and delay.'' The DPP had ordered the responsible
police officer arrested and charged in 2003, but a judge subsequently
dismissed the case. The family was planning an appeal for judicial
review in the Supreme Court, and was awaiting a court date at year's
end.
During the year, at least two detainees died while in police
custody; there was no evidence of negligence.
Vigilantism and spontaneous mob killings in response to crime
continued to be a problem. There were at least 14 vigilante killings
during the year, with varying motives. On August 9, a mob killed a man
in the parish of St. Catherine who was accused of killing a woman and
injuring her daughter. Human rights advocates contended that police did
not consider such killings a priority and expressed concern that the
perpetrators rarely were charged.
On June 9, unknown assailants stabbed and killed Brian Williamson,
one of the country's most visible homosexual rights activists (see
Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
On December 23, police allegedly abducted two men in Kingston.
Witnesses reported that two members of the JCF Organized Crime Unit
(OCU) handcuffed and took two men into custody. At year's end, the two
men remained missing, and one of the OCU officers was detained in
police custody. The media reported that the JCF called in Scotland Yard
officers to assist in the investigation.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, reports of
physical abuse of prisoners by guards continued, despite efforts by the
Government to remove abusive guards and improve procedures. There were
also credible reports that police abused detainees in custody.
The law prohibits homosexual relationships, and a culture of severe
discrimination persisted. There were numerous cases of violence against
persons based on sexual orientation, including by police and vigilante
groups (see Section 5).
In March, six police officers were accused of raping a prostitute
in Negril, Westmoreland. The officers were transferred following the
incident but remained on front line duty. The BSI was investigating the
case and awaiting results of DNA tests at year's end.
Prison conditions remained poor and often were characterized by
overcrowding, inadequate diet, poor sanitary conditions, and
insufficient medical care. There were no reports of prison riots. There
were at least two reports of riots at police detention centers.
At year's end, the proceedings brought by the Public Defender
seeking compensation from the Government for a prisoner who allegedly
was beaten to death by other prisoners in 2002 at Mandeville police
station were halted after the results of an independent post-mortem
proved inconclusive.
There were no new developments and none were expected in two 2002
cases of prisoners in Bull Bay and Manchester police lockups who died
in police custody.
A separate prison for women--the Fort Augusta Women's Prison--was
housed in a 19th century fort. Sanitary conditions were poor, although
far less so than in the men's prisons because there was less
overcrowding. Fort Augusta was also relatively safer and had less
violence than the men's prisons, despite inmate complaints of beatings
by guards. The Constitution prohibits the incarceration of children in
adult prisons; however, in practice, some juveniles were held with
adults. The majority of pretrial detainees were held in police custody,
either in police stations or in remand centers, separate from convicted
prisoners.
In general, the Government allowed private groups, voluntary
organizations, 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 Constabulary Force Act
permits the arrest of persons ``reasonably suspected'' of having
committed a crime. There were some reports of arbitrary arrest during
the year, and the authorities continued to detain suspects,
particularly those from poor neighborhoods, without bringing them
before a judge within the prescribed period.
The JCF falls under the direction of the Ministry of National
Security and 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 rapidly increasing rate of
killings, the JCF generally was not effective. The country experienced
the highest level of violent crime in its history, and the perception
of corruption and impunity within the force were serious problems that
contributed to a lack of public confidence in the institution. Human
rights groups identified systematically poor investigative procedures
and weak oversight mechanisms. Failure to protect witnesses led to the
dismissal of criminal trials.
The JCF conducted both administrative and criminal investigations
into all incidents involving fatal shootings by the police. The JCF's
BSI, which employed 26 investigators, specifically addresses police
shootings. The BSI completed investigations of 32 of 383 shooting
incidents during the year and sent them to the DPP. The DPP ruled on 13
cases and sent 5 to criminal courts. One officer was found criminally
liable. The BSI supplemented the JCF Office of Professional
Responsibility, which investigated police corruption and other
misconduct, and the civilian Police Public Complaints Authority (PPCA),
which oversaw investigations of the other two bodies and could initiate
its own investigations. The PPCA had seven investigators.
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 Police Federation
conducted training programs for policemen on citizens' rights. The
Government and the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights
developed human rights materials that were used in a number of primary
schools across the country. The group was developing additional
educational materials at year's end.
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 Sections 1.a and 5).
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, the 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.
The law requires police to present a detainee in court within a
reasonable time period; however, in practice authorities continued to
detain suspects for lengthy periods, 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 Constitution 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.
Three courts handle criminal matters at the trial level. Resident
magistrates try misdemeanors. A Supreme Court judge tries more serious
felonies, except for felonies involving firearms, which are tried
before a judge of the Gun Court. 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. This appeal process resulted
in frequent delays. The Constitution allows the Court of Appeal and the
Parliament, as well as defendants in civil and criminal cases, and
plaintiffs in civil cases, to refer cases to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council in the United Kingdom as a final court of appeal.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right. However, 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 had some
success in reducing 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 Courts also used alternative dispute
resolution in limited cases. The lack of an effective witness
protection program led to the dismissal of a number of cases involving
killings.
Most trials are public and use juries. Defendants have the right to
counsel. 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. The Public
Defender's Office contracted private attorneys to represent clients;
however, funds were insufficient to meet the demand, and attorneys
sometimes requested payment from clients.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however, the
revised Constabulary Force Act gives security personnel broad powers of
search and seizure. The Act allows search without a warrant of a person
on board or disembarking from a 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.
On February 10, the courts cleared Devon Francis of charges of
breaching the Public Utilities Act in 2000 after he wiretapped
telephones without proper authorization.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
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 law 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 April, the Director of Public
Prosecutions threatened to monitor and prosecute talk show hosts who
discussed criminal cases pending before the courts. The DPP expressed
concern that widespread public discussion in the media of specific
aspects of criminal cases made it difficult to select a jury that would
ensure a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court, as
required by the Constitution. However, no such prosecutions had been
enforced at year's end.
At year's end, the Gleaner Company continued to fight a lawsuit
that arose from a story it published concerning a corrupt public
official.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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.
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.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 there were no reports
that it occurred.
The Constitution does not provide for the granting of asylum or
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution, and handled refugee
or asylum cases administratively. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers but
did not grant refugee status or asylum.
The Government provided temporary protection to more than 500
individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/
1967 Protocol. The Government, with the assistance of UNCHR, provided
500 Haitians with temporary protection and resettlement. Approximately
281 Haitians applied to the Government for refugee status, but their
applications were denied in accordance with the 1951 Convention.
Approximately 200 Haitians appealed the decision, and trials were
scheduled to begin in January 2005.
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. 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.
Two political parties--the PNP and the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP)--
have alternated in power since the first elections in 1944. The PNP
held 34 of the 60 seats in the popularly elected House of
Representatives and 13 of the 21 seats in the appointed Senate.
Following the July killing of reputed Spanish Town gang leader
Oliver Smith, police investigators learned that the car Smith was
driving at the time of his death was registered to Olivia Grange, a
Member of Parliament. Grange, a former JLP deputy leader, explained
that she had simply assisted her constituent by co-signing the car
loan. The incident raised public questions of government corruption.
The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
On December 9, the Senate noted the omission of party financing
regulations as a glaring gap in the 2003 Corruption Prevention Act. On
the same day, the Senate passed an amendment to the Act that closed
reporting loopholes for state employees.
The Access to Information Act (ATI), signed in 2002, entered its
first phase on January 5. The ATI provided public access to information
held by seven government ministries and agencies.
There were no legal restrictions on the participation of women in
politics. There were 7 women in the 60-seat House of Representatives,
and 4 women in the 21-seat Senate. Three of the 17 cabinet members were
women, and women held approximately 30 percent of the senior civil
service positions.
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 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 focused on the issues of police impunity,
extrajudicial killings, and excessive use of force by the police and
wrote a weekly newspaper column. Jamaicans for Justice reported that
undercover police regularly attended its meetings; nevertheless, the
group professed to have a cordial relationship with the police and sat
on two of the police consultative boards.
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. During the year, the Public Defender began
working on an overall anti-discrimination bill, which would create an
Anti-Discrimination Commission to make decisions about grievances. The
Public Defender won compensation for at least four of the families of
victims killed during the 2001 shoot-out in Tivoli Gardens, West
Kingston, between members of the community, the JCF, and the JDF. A
class action lawsuit was pending at year's end, but parties involved
believed that all outstanding cases would be settled within a year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of race, place
of origin, political opinions, color, creed, or sex. 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 (see Section 3).
Women.--Social and cultural traditions perpetuate 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
Domestic Violence Act 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 $160 (J$10,000) and 6 months' imprisonment. The
Government's Bureau of Women's Affairs operated crisis hotlines 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. During the year, the number of reported
incidents of rape decreased by 8 percent; however, NGOs stressed that
the vast majority of rapes were not reported. The JCF rape
investigative and juvenile unit, which was headed by a female deputy
superintendent, handled sex crimes. During the year, in Kingston/St.
Andrew, there were 208 arrests, of which 50 cases went to court and 25
ultimately were convicted and sentenced.
On August 8, the country's most prominent evangelical pastor,
Bishop Herro Blair, delivered a sermon in Kingston in which he
reportedly warned young women that current styles of dress invited
rape. The Bureau of Women's Affairs rejected the claim as baseless.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, it was widespread,
particularly in tourist areas.
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.
The Constitution and the Employment Act accord women full legal
equality; however, 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 the awareness of problems affecting
women.
During the year, the Government took steps to reduce gender bias in
legislation. On February 17, Parliament passed the Family Property
(Rights of Spouses) Act to provide for the equitable division of
property between spouses following a divorce. On December 7, Parliament
passed an amendment to the Domestic Violence Act that expanded the
definition of a child to anyone under 18 years old and extended the
provisions of the act to include couples living in separate domiciles.
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 was responsible
for implementation of the Government's programs for children. Public
primary education was free, universal, and compulsory for students
between the ages of 6 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 UNICEF 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.'' There were 409 cases of
statutory rape--sex with girls under 16--reported, an 8 percent
increase over the same period in 2003. 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).
In March, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the
Child Care and Protection Act, which replaced the Adoption of Children
Act and the Juvenile Act. The Act generally provided for more support
for the family unit and the improved safety of children, including
prohibitions against trafficking in minors. It also established
mechanisms, including a central child abuse registry and an Office of
Children's Advocate, to monitor and defend the well being of children.
On May 31, the Government commissioned the Ministry of Health's CDA
as an executive agency to consolidate all children's services under one
administrative umbrella, and to oversee the successful implementation
of the Child Care and Protection Act.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit specifically
trafficking in persons; however, there were laws against assault and
fraud, and other laws established various immigration and customs
regulations. Trafficking in children was a problem, and there were
reports that persons were trafficked primarily within the country.
The Child Care and Protection Act passed during the year
specifically prohibits the sale or trafficking of minors and provides
that violators receive the maximum penalty under the law. The law
subjected convicted traffickers to a fine or imprisonment with hard
labor for a term not exceeding 10 years, or both.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that several
hundred minors were involved in the country's sex trade.
The country was also a transit country for illegal migrants moving
to the United States and Canada, some of whom were believed to be
trafficking victims. Groups at a special risk for trafficking included
rural migrants who sought work in cities and tourist areas, usually in
the sex industry. Corruption among immigration officials in
facilitating the unauthorized international movement of persons was a
concern. In November, the Government instituted a passenger entry and
exit system to enhance efforts to detect transnational trafficking.
While there was no formal policy for protecting child trafficking
victims, the Government enforced the Child Care and Protection Act.
There were no government-funded shelters specifically for trafficking
victims, but the CDA managed facilities for at-risk children. The
Government provided funding to NGOs that worked to reintegrate child
laborers who were victims of trafficking.
The Ministry of Health designed a public awareness campaign to
inform the public about the Child Care and Protection Act, which
contains a provision that prohibits trafficking in minors. The Ministry
of Education sponsored programs to encourage families to keep children
in school.
Persons With Disabilities.--No laws mandate 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. The Statistical Institute
of Jamaica reported that out of a disabled population of approximately
163,000, about 14 percent was employed gainfully.
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
and is punishable by 10 years in prison. Prime Minister Patterson
stated that the country would not be pressured to change its anti-
homosexual laws.
The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG)
continued to report allegations of 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. Some of the country's most famous dancehall singers
gained the attention of international human rights groups during the
year for their homophobic lyrics, which incited violence against
homosexuals. A 2001 poll found that 96 percent of citizens were opposed
to legalizing homosexual activity.
On June 9, Brian Williamson, a prominent homosexual rights activist
and founding member of J-FLAG, was found stabbed to death at his home
in Kingston. Human rights groups believed that the brutality of
Williamson's death indicated a hate crime, but the JCF maintained that
the crime was a robbery. A suspect was remanded in custody at year's
end.
On June 24, a group of armed men, reportedly including famous
dancehall artist Buju Banton, forced their way into a house in Kingston
and beat two occupants while shouting homophobic insults. Human Rights
Watch expressed concern that Banton may never face charges and warned
that the artist's fame and the stigma attached to the homosexual
victims hindered a thorough and expedient police investigation. At
year's end, Banton had been arrested and released on bail; there was no
information concerning the others involved.
Male inmates deemed by prison wardens to be homosexual are held in
a separate facility for their protection. The method used for
determining their sexual orientation is subjective and not regulated by
the prison system. 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 well being. 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 for this
group. Although health care facilities were prepared adequately 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. The Labor Relations and Industrial
Disputes Act (LRIDA) defines worker rights. There was a spectrum of
national unions, some of which were affiliated with political parties.
Between 10 and 15 percent of the work force was unionized. Some
companies laid off union workers then rehired them as contractors with
reduced pay and benefits, a practice considered legal as long as
workers receive 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 COE requested the Government to take necessary measures to
amend this legislation. The Government contended that this would unduly
lengthen negotiations.
The LRIDA neither authorizes nor prohibits the right to strike, but
strikes did occur. Striking workers could interrupt work without
criminal liability but could not be assured of keeping their jobs.
Other than in the case of prison guards, there was no evidence of any
workers losing their jobs over a strike action. Workers in 10 broad
categories of ``essential services'' are prohibited from striking, a
provision the ILO repeatedly criticized as overly inclusive.
Domestic labor laws applied equally to the ``free zones'' (export
processing zones). However, there were no unionized companies in any of
the 3 publicly owned zones, which employed approximately 6,000 workers.
Organizers attributed this circumstance to resistance to organizing
efforts by foreign owners in the zones, but attempts to organize plants
within the zones continued. Company-controlled ``workers' councils''
handled grievance resolution at most free zone companies, but they did
not negotiate wages and conditions with management. Management
determined wages and benefits within the free zones. The Ministry of
Labor is required to perform comprehensive factory inspections in the
free zones once each year, and, in practice, it performed them at 6- to
9-month intervals.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
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).
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).
In June, the ILO, the International Program on the Elimination of
Child Labor (IPEC), and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
hosted a workshop as part of the National Program for the Prevention
and Elimination of Child Labor. The resulting draft plan of action
defined a clear path for future action and identified lead agencies to
seek the resources necessary to develop the plan.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets the minimum
wage, after receiving recommendations from the National Minimum Wage
Advisory Commission. During the year, the minimum wage was changed to
$32 (J$2,000) per week and $1.20 (J$80) per hour for private security
guards. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. Most workers were paid more than the legal
minimum, except in the tourism industry.
The law provides for a standard 40-hour workweek and mandates at
least 1 day of rest per week. Work in excess of 40 hours per week or 8
hours per day must be compensated at overtime rates, a provision that
was observed widely. The law does not prohibit excessive compulsory
overtime, and some employees, including security guards, regularly are
required to work 12-hour shifts without overtime compensation.
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.
Industrial accident rates remained low. 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 is a federal republic composed of 31 states and a federal
district, with an elected president and a bicameral legislature. In
2000, voters elected President Vicente Fox Quesada of the Alliance for
Change Coalition in elections that observers judged to be generally
free and fair. In 2003, there were federal elections to select members
of Congress. The judiciary is generally independent; however, on
occasion, it was influenced by government authorities, particularly at
the state level. Corruption, inefficiency, disregard of the law, and
lack of training were major problems.
The police forces, which include federal and state judicial police,
the Federal Preventive Police (PFP), municipal police, and various
police auxiliary forces, have primary responsibility for law
enforcement and maintenance of order within the country. The military
played a large role in some law enforcement functions, primarily
counternarcotics. There were approximately 5,000 military personnel on
loan to the PFP during the year. Elected civilian officials maintained
effective control over the police and the military; however, corruption
was widespread within police ranks and to a lesser extent in the
military. There have also been instances of state and local police
involvement in kidnappings and extortion. The military maintained a
strong presence in the state of Chiapas and a lesser, but still
significant, deployment in Guerrero. Military personnel and police
officers committed human rights abuses.
The country has a market-based economy and a population of
approximately 105 million. Gross domestic product was expected to grow
by 4 percent during the year. Leading exports included petroleum and
manufactured and assembled products, including electronics and consumer
goods. Average manufacturing wages increased by 1.2 percent during
2003, less than the 3.98 percent rate of inflation in the same period.
An estimated 25 percent of the population resided in rural areas where
subsistence agriculture was common. Income distribution remained
skewed: In 2002, the top 10 percent of the population earned 36 percent
of total income, while the bottom 20 percent earned only an estimated 4
percent.
The Government generally respected many of the human rights of its
citizens; however, serious problems remained in several areas, and in
some states, especially Guerrero, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, a poor climate
of respect for human rights presented special concern. State law
enforcement officials were accused of committing unlawful killings.
There were vigilante killings during the year. Disappearances continued
to occur. Kidnapping became a larger problem, with an unofficial
estimate of 3,000 kidnappings during the year, some with alleged police
involvement. The police sometimes tortured suspects to force
confessions. Prosecutors used this evidence in courts, and the courts
continued to admit as evidence confessions extracted under torture.
Impunity remained a problem among the security forces, although the
Government continued to sanction public officials, police officers, and
members of the military. Alleged police involvement, especially at the
state level, in narcotics-related crime, continued, and police
corruption and inefficiency hampered investigations.
Narcotics related killings and violence increased, particularly in
the Northern States. Prison conditions were poor. The police continued
to arrest and detain citizens arbitrarily. During the year, judicial
reforms continued to take effect; however, lengthy pretrial detention,
lack of due process, and judicial inefficiency and corruption
persisted. Indigenous people's access to the justice system continued
to be inadequate. The authorities on occasion violated citizens'
privacy. Human rights groups and the media reported that armed civilian
groups in the State of Chiapas continued to commit human rights abuses.
Three journalists were killed during the year in the Northern
States of Baja California and Tamaulipas. Some journalists,
particularly in the Northern States, practiced self-censorship in
response to threats from narcotics traffickers. Corrupt members of the
police sometimes violated the rights of illegal immigrants. Human
rights workers continued to be subjected to attacks and harassment;
however, reports of such attacks diminished. Violence and
discrimination against women, indigenous people, religious minorities,
homosexuals, and individuals with HIV/AIDS persisted. Sexual
exploitation of children continued to be a problem. Trafficking in
persons, including children, remained a problem, and there were
credible reports that police and other officials were involved in
trafficking. There were credible reports of limits on freedom of
association and worker rights. There was extensive child labor in
agriculture and the informal economy.
The peace process in Chiapas remained stalled at year's end.
Sporadic outbursts of politically motivated violence continued to occur
throughout the country, particularly in the Southern States of Chiapas,
Guerrero, and Oaxaca.
In June, Amnesty International (AI) visited the states of Guerrero,
Oaxaca, and Veracruz. AI concluded that the Federal Government had
taken positive steps, especially with its legislative proposals, but
serious problems remained at the state and local level. In particular,
AI remained concerned about the manipulation of the justice system
against those who claim their rights under it, arbitrary actions by
officials, and the presence of the army in indigenous communities.
In April, Anders Kompass, the in-country representative for the
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, praised the Government for
advances made in the promotion of human rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces killed several persons during the year.
In January, municipal police in Zapotitlan Tablas, Guerrero State
detained Socrates Tolentino Gonzales Genaro. He subsequently died in
police custody; his mother was forced to sign an affidavit stating that
he had committed suicide. The exhumation of his body in March revealed
that he had been beaten severely before he died.
In May, federal investigative agents allegedly beat street vendor
Manuel Zarate Villaruel, who then died from his injuries. The PGR
claimed that Zarate died from asphyxiation; however, the attorney
general in Mexico City claimed that the beating caused Zarate to vomit,
which in turn caused asphyxiation. In June, Mexico City police arrested
seven AFI agents who remained in custody pending investigation at
year's end.
In July, reputed Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) supporters
in Huatla, Oaxaca, beat Serafin Garcia to death on the eve of the
Oaxaca gubernatorial election. Garcia was a member of a group opposing
the PRI and was blocking the path of a PRI march. The event was
photographed by a Mexico City daily. In December, Jacinto Pineda
Casimiro was detained and accused of the killing.
During the year, the media reported ``assassinations'' of
indigenous leaders in Chiapas and Guerrero. In Chiapas, paramilitary
groups were believed responsible for the deaths, and in Guerrero it was
believed that the August killing of Maximiano Cristobal Lorenzo was
politically motivated. There was no further information available on
these cases at year's end.
In September, the PRI mayor of San Jose Estancia Grande, Oaxaca,
allegedly killed his rival PRD candidate, Guadalupe Avila Salinas,
while she was campaigning. At year's end, the state Attorney General's
office continued to search for the fugitive mayor.
During the year, the bodies of 16 dead women were found in Ciudad
Juarez according to media reports (see Section 5).
In August, a federal judge sentenced former federal investigative
agent Armando Muro Arellano to prison and also ordered prison terms for
four other ex-AFI agents in connection with the 2002 death of Guillermo
Velez Mendoza.
In July 2003, law enforcement agents of the Chiapas State Attorney
General's office (PGJE) accused Andres Vidales Segovia, a soldier
assigned to the 31 Military Zone in Chiapas, and 3 others, for the
killing Abelino Encino Guzman, an indigenous Tzeltal in Tenejapa,
Chiapas. The investigation into the death continued at year's end.
According to the Hidalgo State Human Rights Commission, the state
attorney general determined that only 1 of the 4 police officers
originally arrested was responsible for the killing of 22-year-old
Fernando Garcia Morales, and at year's end, that officer (name not
provided) was in jail pending judicial proceedings.
There were no new developments and none were expected in the 2002
shooting of Josue Ulises Cruz Banda by Mexico City police. Early in the
year, the Mexico City Human Rights Commission (CDHDF) found that human
rights violations had occurred, ordered the city secretary for public
security to pay an unspecified sum of money to Mr. Cruz's family, and
asked that mechanisms be put in place to evaluate course effectiveness
regarding use of force. In addition, it ordered the city attorney
general to adhere more closely to autopsy models in its manual on
Prevention and Effective Investigations of Extralegal, Arbitrary, or
Summary Executions.
At year's end, charges remained pending against 3 of the original
14 persons in the 2002 massacre of peasant farmers near Agua Fria,
Oaxaca.
In August, a court released for lack of evidence Vicente Pena
Zuniga, Efrain Cruz Bruno, and Nicasio Bernardino Gomez, accused of the
2001 killing of Fidel Bautista Mejia in Putla, Oaxaca.
There were deaths in prison during the year (see Section 1.c).
There were numerous reports of executions carried out by rival drug
gangs, whose members included both active and former federal, state,
and municipal security personnel. There were several instances in which
members of security forces were apprehended working for or with
narcotics traffickers. Throughout the country, but particularly in the
northern border states, violence related to narcotics trafficking
increased. Local and international press reports indicated a group
known as the ``Zetas,'' composed of former soldiers, was working with
drug trafficking organizations.
There were no new developments and none were expected in the
following cases: The 1997 killing of 45 persons in Acteal, Chiapas; the
suicide case of Air Force Lieutenant Jose Raul Vargas Cortez; and the
1995 case of the massacre of 17 indigenous farmers in Aguas Blancas.
The National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) reported it
received 41 complaints against the military from January through
August. The nature of the complaints was not specified.
There were incidents of vigilante justice, and several occasions
when authorities prevented such incidents. On November 23, two
undercover agents of the PFP were killed and one seriously injured in
the Mexico City district of Tlahuac. The agents were conducting an
operation against narcotics trafficking; however, a mob believed they
were attempting to kidnap children. Thirty-three persons were in
custody at year's end.
Investigations were ongoing at year's end into the March 2003
lynching of Mariano Garcia Escamilla by residents of Tlayecac, in
Morelos State.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, there were credible allegations of police
involvement in kidnappings for ransom. Kidnapping became a larger
problem with kidnappers targeting all economic classes of citizens.
Unofficial estimates indicated 3,000 kidnappings occur per year in the
country, with alleged police involvement in some cases.
In January, federal authorities unearthed the remains of 12 men
buried in the back yard of what apparently was a drug trafficker's
safe-house in Ciudad Juarez. The head of the PGR's anti-organized crime
unit (SIEDO) announced that members of the Chihuahua State Judicial
Police (PJE) had carried out the forced disappearances and killings at
the behest of the Juarez drug cartel. The authorities arrested 13 PJE
agents and 4 more were at large at year's end.
During the year, the bodies of 16 more women were found in Ciudad
Juarez according to media reports (see Section 5).
During the year, the Oaxaca State human rights commission opened an
investigation into the April and June 2003 disappearances of Marcelino
Santiago Pacheco, leader of the Organization of Indigenous Zapotec
People (OPIZ), and his brother Anselmo Santiago Pacheco. At year's end,
both men remained missing.
There were no developments, and none were expected in the 2002
disappearance case of Jesus Angel Gutierrez Olvera.
Late in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the statute of
limitations does not apply to cases from the ``dirty war'' of 60s, 70s,
and 80s. The Court argued such crimes were continuing offenses until
the victim was located. During the year, AFI agents arrested Miguel
Nazar Haro, who directed the Federal Security Directorate, and
Juventino Romero Cisneros, a former agent of the Federal Security
Directorate, for the 1975 kidnapping of Jesus Piedra Ibarra, a member
of a leftist urban guerilla group. At year's end, Nazar remained under
house arrest awaiting trial. Romero remained imprisoned. In July, a
judge denied Special Prosecutor for Investigating Human Rights Abuses
Against Social and Political Movements of the Past (FEMOSPP) Ignacio
Carrillo Prieto's request to issue an arrest warrant against former
President Luis Echeverria for genocide. The Special Prosecutor appealed
the decision, and on October 13 the Supreme Court agreed to review the
case. In November, Wilfrido Castro Contreras, former Guerrero Judicial
Police commander was imprisoned pending his trial for deprivation of
liberty in the case of former guerilla Bernardo Reyes Felix.
The military justice trial of Generals Francisco Quiroz Hermosillo
and Arturo Acosta Chaparro, implicated in the death or disappearance of
143 persons during the 1970s, continued during the year. However, the
judge decided to drop all charges of murder and try them only for drug
trafficking. In November, the military Supreme Court reactivated the
case against General Arturo Acosta Chaparro, who was accused of killing
22 campesinos during the 1970s.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution and the law prohibit such practices;
however, torture, in particular, continued to be a serious problem. The
Constitution excludes as evidence confessions obtained in the absence
of the accused person's defense attorney, and the law excludes coerced
confessions, including those extracted under torture (see Section
1.e.). To be admissible as evidence, confessions must be made to the
Public Ministry or a judge and in the presence of a defense attorney.
However, the police regularly obtained information through torture,
prosecutors used this evidence in courts, and the courts continued to
admit as evidence confessions extracted under torture. Many victims
were afraid to report or follow through on complaints against the
police, thereby hampering prosecution of the perpetrators.
In July, the CNDH reported that in its 14 years of existence, it
has received 84,689 complaints and issued 588 recommendations related
to torture. From June 1990 through August 31, the CNDH found 904 cases
to be human rights violations.
During the year, the Attorney General's office (PGR) established
procedures to comply with the Istanbul Protocol to investigate and
prosecute claims of torture. On June 23, the Commissioner to Eradicate
Violence Against Women in Juarez, Guadalupe Morfin, asked the PGR to
apply these guidelines in the cases of: Cynthia Kiecker and Ulises
Perzabal, accused of the 2003 killing of Viviana Rayas; David Meza,
accused of having killed his cousin in Chihuahua in 2003; and Victor
Garcia Uribe, accused of killing 8 women in Ciudad Juarez in 2001.
According to Commissioner Morfin's office, Chihuahua State officials
blocked the PGR from conducting medical and psychological exams under
the Istanbul Protocol in the cases of Kiecker, Perzabal, and Mesa. In
October, a court convicted Victor Garcia Uribe of the murder of eight
women found in a Ciudad Juarez cotton field in 2001 and sentenced him
to 50 years' imprisonment. That same month, the PGR concluded that
Uribe had been tortured under Istanbul Protocol procedures. Cynthia
Kiecker and Ulises Perzabal were released on December 17.
There were reports police tortured protesters detained in May at
the Third Summit of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the European
Union in Guadalajara. The CNDH issued a report confirming the
protestors' claims and issued recommendations to Francisco Acuna,
Governor of Jalisco and to the Mayor of Guadalajara. At year's end,
neither the governor nor the mayor had accepted the CNDH's
recommendations.
In May, Mario Medina Vazquez claimed he confessed to the killing of
newspaper editor Roberto Javier Mora under torture (see Section 2.a.).
In March 2003, AI published a report that accused all branches of
the security forces of using torture. After detailing the defects in
the police/judicial system that enable the use of torture, the report
recommended that the Government condemn torture, reform national
legislation to forbid torture, end the practice of arbitrary
detentions, and admit only those confessions made in the presence of a
judge and a qualified defense lawyer. Other recommendations concerned
the Public Ministry, police, and judicial changes. In December 2003,
the U.N.'s Diagnostic on Human Rights noted the frequent use of
torture, especially in murder cases.
The authorities rarely punished officials for torture, which
continued to occur in large part because confessions are the primary
evidence in many criminal convictions. Many human rights groups linked
torture to the prevalence of arbitrary detention and claimed that
torture often follows an arbitrary arrest, sometimes without a warrant,
as police or prosecutors attempt to justify the detention by securing a
confession to a crime (see Section 1.d.). Poorly trained and
inadequately equipped to investigate crimes, police officers often
attempted to solve crimes by rounding up likely suspects and extracting
confessions from them by force. According to the Deputy Attorney
General for Human Rights at the PGR, as of August, 50 percent of the
torture complaints it had received occurred in the States of Mexico,
Tlaxcala, and the Federal District.
There were no developments in the case of 17-year-old Valentina
Rosendo Cantu, allegedly raped by members of the 41st Infantry
Battalion in 2002 when she was washing clothes by a creek.
Many citizens distrusted the justice system, including law
enforcement officials, and were reluctant to register official
complaints.
Prison conditions remained poor. Many prisons were staffed by
undertrained, underpaid, and corrupt guards. Prisoners complained that
they must purchase food, medicine, and other necessities from guards or
bribe guards to allow the goods to be brought in from outside. In many
prisons inmates exercised authority, displacing prison officials.
Influence peddling, drug and arms trafficking, coercion, violence,
sexual abuse, and protection payoffs were the chief methods of control
used by prisoners against their fellow inmates. Prisons varied widely
in their ability to meet basic needs of life, keep prisoners safe and
healthy, and provide opportunities for work and education; however,
almost all fall short in some of these areas. In September, the CNDH
released a study on local and municipal jails that found a lack of
investment in facilities, salaries and training, an unwillingness on
the part of officials to solve problems, and extensive corruption
within the jails.
An investigation by the internal affairs division of the municipal
police to determine the responsibility of the guards in the case of a
20-year-old unidentified male, who claimed in 2003 that another inmate
at the Aldama police station in Ciudad Juarez had robbed and raped him,
was ongoing at year's end.
The penal system consists of 448 facilities: 5 federal
penitentiaries, 8 federal district prisons, 336 state prisons, and 99
municipal and regional jails. Prison overcrowding continued to be a
common problem, despite an early release program endorsed by the CNDH,
legal reforms that reduced the number of crimes that carry mandatory
prison sentences, and the construction of new prisons. According to
press reports, the country's 448 penal facilities were overpopulated;
182,530 prisoners were held in facilities with an official capacity of
147,809.
Health and sanitary conditions were poor, especially in rural
poorer States such as Michoacan and Chiapas. Often prisoners must pay
for their own prescription medicine. According to the CNDH, most
prisons did not have any facilities for treating those requiring
psychiatric care.
There were at least five reported deaths in prison during the year.
Mario Medina was killed by another inmate and his death resulted in the
removal of prison officials in the State of Tamaulipas (see Sec. 2.a.).
In August, Dennis Crane Hoffman committed suicide in Acapulco. Alberto
Soberanes was killed in May, Miguel Angel Beltran in October, and
Arturo Guzman in December in the federal prison La Palma.
Female prisoners were held separately from men. Women comprised
approximately 4.6 percent or approximately 8,000 of the total prison
population. Of the 448 prison facilities in the country, 230 had female
prisoners. In March, the CNDH noted that jailed female prisoners lived
in worse conditions than male prisoners.
In May 2003, the CNDH announced the results of a study that
revealed the vulnerability of female prisoners across the country. The
study found that female inmates engaged in prostitution under the
direction of inmates and with the acquiescence of prison officials.
Juveniles were held separately from adults. In July 2003, the CNDH
reported that it had detected serious violations of basic rights in the
majority of 54 juvenile reformatories in the country. The violations
included overpopulation, physical abuse and mistreatment, and
dormitories with metallic mesh that resembled cages.
Although the Constitution calls for separation of convicted
criminals from detainees held in custody, in practice these
requirements were disregarded routinely as a result of overcrowding.
There were no developments in the May 2003 CDHDF recommendation
against the General Directorate of Prevention and Social Readaptation
regarding the torture and abuse in 2002 of inmate Martin Banuelos
Gonzalez by six public servants at the Reclusorio Norte and the request
to the Federal District Secretary of Government for an investigation to
determine responsibility of the six officials for the abuse.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by NGOs and human rights organizations; however, in
practice, the CNDH and state human rights commissions conducted the
majority of prison visits, and such visits occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the police continued to arrest
and detain citizens arbitrarily. Arbitrary arrest and detention
continued to be among the most common human rights abuses. Legally, a
prosecutor may hold a detainee no more than 48 hours before he must
present the accused to a judge, except when the accused is caught in
the act or within 72 hours of committing a crime. In 2001, the federal
legislature criminalized forced disappearance, including illegal
detentions; the law also prohibits sponsoring or covering up an illegal
detention (see Section 1.b.).
The federal and state police are divided into preventive police and
judicial police. The preventive police maintain order and public
security in cities and towns. They do not investigate crimes and only
assist prosecutors (Public Ministry) at their request. The judicial
police, an investigative force, are an auxiliary to the Public Ministry
and act under its authority and command. A recent academic study
concluded that there were more than 350,000 police officers in the
country and about 3,000 different forces at municipal, state, and
federal levels.
Police corruption was a problem. Police have been involved in
kidnappings, armed robbery, and extortion, as well as protection of
criminals and drug traffickers. From January to July, in Mexico City
alone, 140 policemen were charged for various crimes, compared with 502
in 2003. In April, the Governor of Morelos State dismissed all 552
state policemen after the arrest of two top officers for allegedly
protecting drug dealers.
NGO sources reported that a great number of disappearances
eventually were found to be cases of arbitrary detention by security
forces (see Section 1.b.). Many human rights groups claimed that police
or prosecutors attempted to justify arbitrary detention by securing a
confession to a crime, sometimes using torture (see Section 1.c.).
According to the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center (PRODH),
incommunicado detention was a frequent practice (see Section 1.c.).
In February 2003, the U.N. released a 22-page report made by a U.N.
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that visited the country in 2002.
The Working Group found that the lack of procedural guarantees, the
existence of an inquisitorial justice system, difficulties in obtaining
adequate defense, lack of resources, and sentences disproportionate to
the crime all contributed to the prevalence of arbitrary detentions.
Between June 1990 and August 31, the CNDH received 1,703 complaints
of arbitrary detention.
On June 23, Isidro Baldenegro and Hermenegildo Rivas, Tarahumara
indigenous anti-logging activists, were released from prison after
prosecutors concluded that there was no basis for the weapons and drug
charges against them. In March 2003, Chihuahua State police arrested
them and accused them of illegal possession of firearms. On May 26, one
state judicial police (PJE) official was arrested and charged with
planting marijuana and weapons during the initial arrest. Three other
PJE agents implicated in the case remained at large at year's end.
The Constitution provides that the authorities must sentence an
accused person within 4 months of detention if the alleged crime
carries a sentence of less than 2 years, or within 1 year if the crime
carries a longer sentence. In practice, judicial and police authorities
frequently ignored these time limits (see Section 1.e.). There were
previous reports that police demanded bribes to release suspects (see
Section 1.c.). Many detainees reported that judicial officials often
solicited bribes in exchange for not pressing charges (see Section
1.e.). Those able to pay were released from custody. Corruption in the
criminal justice system persisted, although the Government continued
its efforts to address it.
Bail is available in cases that carry penalties of 5 years or less.
Detainees have access to family members and to counsel.
Some human rights groups have claimed that activists arrested in
connection with civil disobedience activities were in fact political
detainees. The Government asserted that the system fairly prosecutes
those charged in sometimes-violent land invasions for common crimes,
such as homicide and damage to property.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, on occasion, especially at the state
level, it was influenced by government authorities. For instance, each
state's executive branch can be key in selecting the president of the
judicial branch. Governors nominate the presidents, who are then
confirmed by the state legislatures. Corruption, inefficiency,
impunity, disregard of the law, and lack of training continued to be
major problems. Judicial reforms have begun to address some of these
problems. Constitutional reforms, passed in 1999, were designed to
streamline the administration of justice and repeal archaic laws. Human
rights groups claimed that these reforms allow prosecutors to disregard
defendants' allegations of violation of due process during criminal
proceedings.
The federal court system consists of a Supreme Court, 91 circuit
courts of appeal, 49 courts of appeal, and 185 district courts.
Based on the Napoleonic Code, the trial system consists of a series
of fact-gathering hearings at which the court receives documentary
evidence or testimony. However, in 2001, AI alleged that judges often
were not present at hearings when defendants give testimony. Most
often, the court's legal secretaries take testimony, and the judge
evaluates the case based on written documents. Court officials may add
notarized documents that are not authenticated into the case file,
which become part of the ``case.'' These documents then become
automatically authenticated. Once admitted, they are subject to
contradiction, but in practice the only way to contradict the document
was to call a witness to impugn it, or produce a contrary document of
``equal'' value. 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 have access to the
official file, although only by special motion.
The Constitution 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 general,
court hearings were open to the public, and it was common to find not
only the accused, but also relatives of the accused and journalists in
the courtroom. However, human rights groups complained that many
hearings took place in busy judicial offices where the public generally
must stand at a distance and often cannot hear the proceedings well. In
some courtrooms glass or plastic panels have been placed between the
tables where the proceedings take place and the public.
On November 25, Nuevo Leon became the first state in the country to
hold oral trials for crimes carrying maximum penalties of 7 years'
imprisonment.
The Constitution provides for the right to an attorney at all
stages of criminal proceedings; however, in practice the authorities
often did not ensure adequate representation for many poor defendants.
Defendants in pretrial detention did not have immediate access to an
attorney to discuss privately issues arising during the hearings.
Moreover, the public defender system was not adequate to meet the
demand. Attorneys were not always available during the questioning of
defendants; in some instances a defense attorney may attempt to
represent several clients simultaneously by entering different rooms to
certify formally that he was present, although he did not actually
attend the full proceedings. Prosecutor salaries and benefits varied by
region and agency. Federal prosecutors usually were paid better than
state prosecutors. Defendants' services were housed either in the
judicial or executive branch, and there were no autonomous public
defender services.
In the case of indigenous defendants, many of whom did not speak
Spanish, the situation was often more complicated. The law provides for
translation services to be available at all stages of the criminal
process; however, in practice courts did not provide translators for
indigenous defendants at all stages of criminal proceedings.
Consequently defendants sometimes were unaware of the status of their
cases, and prisoners were convicted without fully understanding the
documents they had been required to sign.
The CNDH, through the Fourth Inspector General's office, has a
program to assist incarcerated indigenous defendants. The CNDH does not
have authority to intervene in judicial proceedings, but can provide
guidance and make recommendations on defense of rights. CNDH has a
program for the liberation of indigenous prisoners that, in conjunction
with other agencies such as the PGR and SSP, reviewed cases that merit
release, such as commutation of a sentence.
Judges continued to allow statements coerced through torture to be
used as evidence against the accused (see Section 1.c.), and
confessions were the primary evidence in many criminal convictions. A
number of NGOs have declared that judges give 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 does not require civilian trials of soldiers involved in
civilian crimes, and the military continued to handle such cases. The
Constitution 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. In 2002, the judicial
branch reaffirmed that members of the military assigned to the PFP
would be tried by military courts unless a civilian was involved. The
Inter American Commission on Human Rights issued various
recommendations condemning the practice of a special jurisdiction for
members of the military involved in common crimes.
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 search warrants; however, the CNDH received 59 complaints of
illegal searches from January through August. The law allows for
electronic surveillance with a judicial order. The law prohibits
electronic surveillance for electoral, civil, commercial, labor, or
administrative purposes; however, there were reports of illegal
surveillance during the year.
In October, newspapers published transcripts of intercepted
cellular telephone conversations between Democratic Revolution Party
(PRD) legislators. The authorities had not identified those responsible
for the incident by year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. While the overall state of freedom of expression improved
under the Fox administration, threats, libel actions, defamation suits,
and harassment of journalists by politicians, local authorities,
police, and narcotics trafficking organizations continued. Journalists
outside the capital or large cities were the most threatened, as the
majority of harassment cases originated in states outside the capital
and in the northern part of the country. Two newspaper editors and a
columnist were killed during the year.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views, particularly in the capital and other major urban centers. There
were about 300 newspapers operating in the country of which
approximately 10 were national newspapers. All were privately owned and
operated. Approximately 130 foreign correspondents for international
news agencies, newspapers and magazines operated in the country. Direct
criticism of the Government by all types of media was common. However,
while some positive developments occurred during the year, criminal
defamation and libel laws, law suits to reveal journalists' sources,
and a climate of impunity related to crimes against journalists limited
freedom of the press.
The Federal Government tolerated and did not attempt to impede
criticism of the Government; however, local officials frequently
reacted to criticism and unfavorable news articles by harassing
journalists and suing them under criminal libel laws. Journalists and
others advocated for legislative reform of the criminal libel laws. In
addition, government officials at all levels often attempted to obtain
the names of journalists' confidential sources.
Broadcast media were privately held, with Televisa and TV Azteca
accounting for more than 90 percent of the market. The Federal
Government operated two TV stations broadcast in Mexico City and picked
up by an assortment of small local stations and cable companies
throughout the country. Various states minimally financed regional TV
stations. Television news independence was enhanced by greater
political pluralism, generational change in media leadership, and
growing competition for advertisers and viewers.
Most radio stations throughout the country were privately owned
through concessions granted by the Government. The issue of access to
the airwaves and the legalization of community-based radio stations was
a concern as several stations were closed during the year despite
pledges by senior officials in the Fox administration that the status
of each station would be reviewed so that operating licenses could
eventually be granted.
Attacks on and killings of journalists continued to be the most
serious problem for freedom of the press. The Mexican Network for the
Protection of Journalists and Communication recorded 20 acts of
aggression against journalists from January 1 to April 30 including
killings, physical violence, verbal assaults, arrests, lawsuits,
censorship, economic pressure, and other sophisticated administrative
and bureaucratic forms of harassment. NGOs that monitor freedom of the
press and the security of journalists usually received information
indirectly regarding outright attacks and intimidation of journalists,
which were underreported. There were no comprehensive nationwide
statistics; however, on August 9, Jose Luis Soberanes, President of the
CNDH, said that it had received 155 complaints of violations of
journalists' human rights between 1999 and July.
In May, a representative from the Chihuahua State Attorney
General's Office demanded the names of sources from nine print and
television journalists in Ciudad Juarez for stories on the deaths of
women in and around that city. The journalists refused and filed a
complaint with the CNDH.
In June, Reporters without Borders expressed concern about recent
attacks and threats against at least 15 reporters in the country. In
September, more than 200 journalists sent a letter to the President
demanding better security for journalists.
The area along the northern border was the most dangerous place in
the country for journalists, who were targeted by drug traffickers
working with corrupt law enforcement personnel in the region. On March
19, unknown persons killed Roberto Javier Mora, editorial director for
the Nuevo Laredo-based daily El Manana. President Fox ordered federal
authorities to coordinate with their state and local counterparts to
investigate the killing. Six national and international press freedom
organizations participated in a joint fact-finding mission to Nuevo
Laredo to look into the death. The Committee for the Protection of
Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders believe that the
killing resulted from the paper's coverage of narcotics trafficking and
corruption in Nuevo Laredo. Two suspects arrested by police in March
subsequently retracted their confessions after alleging that they had
been tortured. In May, one of the suspects, Mario Medina Vazquez, was
killed by another inmate. Although an investigation was initiated and
the director of the prison fired, there were no other concrete results
at year's end.
On June 22, masked gunmen shot and killed Francisco Javier Ortiz
Franco, a lawyer and co-editor of the Tijuana-based weekly newspaper
Zeta, in Tijuana. By year's end, no arrests had been made; however, on
August 18, prosecutors stated that they believed that the killing was
in retaliation for an article that revealed details and identities
behind a scheme to obtain fake police credentials for members of the
Arellano Felix drug cartel.
On August 31, unknown persons tortured and killed Francisco Arratia
Saldierna, a columnist from the border State of Tamaulipas. Within
hours of the killing, the secretary general of Tamaulipas characterized
Saldierna's death as an ``isolated incident'' that soon would be
solved; however, an investigation was ongoing at year's end.
The widespread lack of investigation into crimes against
journalists fostered a climate of impunity that discouraged
investigation, provoked self-censorship, and jeopardized the physical
safety of journalists and their families.
On May 13, up to 20 local policemen detained, beat, and robbed
Manuel de la Cruz, EFE's correspondent in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. De
la Cruz filed criminal complaints with the Chiapas attorney general's
office, the state human rights commission, and local police.
In August, Jose Martinez Mendoza author of a book that revealed
inappropriate links between government bodies and a foundation headed
by First Lady Martha Sahagun, received death threats and said that he
had been under surveillance after publishing his book.
AI reported that local authorities often used criminal charges on a
state level to deter investigations and, during the year, issued legal
summons to several journalists to reveal their sources.
Attacks against the confidentiality of journalists' sources
continued to undermine investigative reporting during the year. In
August, Jose Luis Soberanes, president of the CNDH, warned against
forcing journalists to reveal confidential sources of information.
International press organizations claimed that the country's
criminal defamation and libel laws violate the freedom of expression.
The IAPA was extremely concerned about changes made to the Penal Codes
in a number of states that provide for stiffer jail sentences in the
case of convicted journalists. In February, the Chiapas State
legislature raised the penalty for those found guilty of criminal
defamation and libel from 3 to 9 years' imprisonment and fines from the
equivalent of 100 to 1,000 days' pay, the highest in the country.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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. Groups that wish to meet
in public areas must inform local police authorities in advance.
Organized, peaceful demonstrations occurred frequently throughout the
country.
There were reports police tortured protesters detained in May at
the Third Summit of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the European
Union in Guadalajara (see Section 1.c.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, there were some restrictions at the local level,
particularly in the South. A generally amicable relationship among the
various religions in society contributed to religious freedom; however,
in some southern areas of the country, political, cultural, and
religious tensions continued to limit the free practice of religion
within some communities. Most such incidents occurred in the State of
Chiapas.
Religious associations must register with the Under Secretariat of
Religious Affairs of the Federal Secretariat of Government (SSAR) to
operate legally. Although the Government may reject applications
because of incomplete documentation, the registration process was
routine. An estimated 6,247 religious associations were registered.
To be registered as a religious association, a group must
articulate its fundamental doctrines and religious beliefs, must not be
organized primarily to make money, and must not promote acts physically
harmful or dangerous to its members. Religious groups must be
registered to apply for official building permits, to receive tax
exemptions, and to hold religious meetings outside of their places of
worship.
To visit the country for religious purposes, foreign religious
workers must secure government permission. The Federal Government
limits the number of visas each religious group is allowed. However,
the Government has granted 49,466 such visas since 1995.
There were incidents of violence between religious groups,
principally in Chiapas, during the year. The situation in Chiapas was a
result of a complex mix of economic, ethnic, political, and religious
tensions. There was a history of religious intolerance in, and
expulsions from, certain indigenous communities whose residents follow
syncretistic (Catholic/Mayan) religious practices and view other
religious practices as a threat to indigenous culture. In parts of
Chiapas, local leaders of indigenous communities sometimes regarded
evangelical groups as unwelcome outside influences and potential
economic and political threats. As a result, these leaders sometimes
acquiesced in, or actually ordered, the harassment or expulsion of
individuals belonging primarily, but not exclusively, to Protestant
evangelical groups. In many cases, these expulsions involved the
burning of homes and crops, closing down of churches, beatings, and,
occasionally, killings.
The most common incidents of intolerance arose in connection with
traditional community celebrations. Protestant evangelicals often
resisted making financial donations demanded by community norms that go
partly to local celebrations of Catholic religious holidays and resist
participating in festivals involving alcohol. While religious
differences were often a prominent feature of such incidents, ethnic
differences, land disputes, and struggles over local political and
economic power were most often the basic cause of the problems.
On June 22, a group that included local officials drove seven
Protestant families from their homes in Las Margaritas Township because
they asked local officials to ensure respect for their freedom of
worship. The families joined approximately 300 to 400 Tojolabal
Christians expelled from their farms in Las Margaritas Township. The
Nuevo Matzan village council ordered 15 evangelical families to abandon
their homes or face severe consequences. By year's end, state
government officials in Chiapas had taken no action because they
claimed that the families left voluntarily.
In Chiapas, traditionalist local leaders denied approximately 150
children access to the local public schools in 6 indigenous communities
every year since 1994 because they were evangelicals. They received
instruction in separate classrooms under a program that began in 2001
to provide education for children who were marginalized due to their
religious affiliation.
According to the CNDH, from June 1991 to March 2003, it received
1,110 complaints of discrimination on religious grounds, especially
from members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, for their refusal to
participate in national anthem and flag ceremonies in schools.
There were numerous reports of Jehovah's Witnesses being fined,
denied building extensions, evicted from their homes, and imprisoned
for not participating in Catholic feast days, not contributing funds
for construction of Catholic churches, and not contributing to Catholic
religious festivals.
In Uripitio, Michoacan State Alejandro Perez, a Jehovah's Witness,
was denied access to drinking water because he did not contribute $600
(6,000 pesos) for the construction of a Catholic church. By year's end,
the local authorities had stopped pressuring Perez.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 permit forced exile, and it was not practiced.
In June, the ICRC noted that the emergency situation no longer
existed among the internally displaced persons in Chiapas and
terminated its humanitarian activities there.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
During the year, the Government participated in a range of UNHCR
training programs. The Government also provided temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/
1967 Protocol.
Corrupt police sometimes violated the rights of illegal immigrants.
There also were credible reports that police, immigration, and customs
officials were involved in the trafficking of illegal migrants.
Migrants who transited a halfway house in southern Chiapas complained
to the director about the double dangers of extortion by the
authorities and robbery and killings by an organized gang called
``Maras Salvatruchas'' who prey on migrants coming from the south.
There was an increase in the number of such gangs, as well as in the
level of violence. Illegal immigrants rarely filed charges in cases of
crimes committed against them because the authorities generally
deported such persons who came to their attention. Many pending cases
brought by illegal immigrants were subject to dismissal because the
complainant was no longer present in the country.
In February 2003, CNDH president Jose Luis Soberanes, in his annual
report to Congress, recognized the government's lack of protection for
migrants. The CNDH found problems at all levels of government,
including corruption, impunity, and the complicity of immigration
officials and local, state, and federal officials.
In March 2003, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of
Migrants, Gabriela Rodriguez Pizarro, reported that she found apparent
complicity among traffickers, delinquents who prey on migrants, and the
authorities who extort migrants. She criticized the lack of facilities
at immigration detention centers in the south of the country, including
the use of local jails. She also noted the precarious medical attention
at migrant stations and the humiliating treatment meted out to migrants
by officials.
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. Presidents are elected every 6 years and cannot be
reelected. While elections were open and generally fair, accusations of
abuses continued to occur, most often in state and local elections. In
2000, voters elected President Vicente Fox, a member of the National
Action Party and candidate of the Alliance for Change Coalition, with
43.3 percent of the vote. In July 2003, federal elections were held to
elect members of Congress. Observers, both international and domestic,
judged the elections to be generally free and fair.
In August 2003, Zacatecas became the first state to allow migrants
to run for state office, including citizens who have never lived in,
and were not born in, the country.
Political parties, opposition groups, and independent associations
functioned freely without government interference or restriction. The
Federal Electoral Code recognizes national political parties as well as
political associations. Political associations can participate in
elections through an agreement with a political party; however, they
cannot use their names or symbols during the election campaigns.
Political parties do not have legal status until they receive their
official designation from the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE). The
IFE has 6 political parties registered and 36 political groups. Parties
must receive at least 2 percent of the vote in national elections to
maintain their registration. The IFE also provided support to state
electoral institutes in running state and local elections and was
instrumental in overhauling electoral district boundaries to reflect
demographic shifts.
There were controversies over state and municipal elections.
During the year, 10 states held elections for governor along with
municipal elections. There were legal challenges to the conduct of the
gubernatorial elections in Oaxaca and Veracruz and the mayoral election
in Tijuana; however, the challenges were all denied. Consequently, on
December 1, the three victors assumed their respective positions.
Corruption was a problem at both the federal and state levels (see
Sections 1.a. through 1.e., 2.a., 2.d., 5, and 6). The CNDH reported in
May that Guerrero, Morelos, the Federal District, and Chiapas were the
states that receive the most corruption complaints.
Two years after the passage of the Law for Transparency and Access
to Information, transparency in public administration, both at the
federal and local levels had not been achieved. The implementation of
procedures to facilitate access to public information and the lack of
clarity in the process by which state officials make information
available to public opinion remained areas of concern. However, on
March 30, the Supreme Court of Justice and Federal Judiciary Council
unanimously ruled that the general public can review court rulings and
settlements made during the litigation process and ordered the
placement of court decisions on the Internet. Many observers noted that
the federal law allows individual states wide liberty in interpretation
and development of procedures, thereby leading to a lack of uniformity.
Fifteen states had Access to Information Laws but only 30 percent of
these can actually provide access to information in a systematic
manner.
There were 28 women in the 128-seat Senate and 117 women in the
500-seat lower house. There was one female justice on the Supreme
Court. The State of Zacatecas elected a female governor. There was one
female cabinet member (Director of Social Development) and two women in
the extended cabinet (the Director of the National Women's Institute
and the Director of the Institute for Indigenous Affairs).
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 who run for
elected office through formal and informal means. Some utilized quotas
requiring that a certain percentage of candidates on a party list are
female. Women candidates often led the ticket in districts where their
parties had little chance of winning. According to statistics from
2002, the PRD's membership was 48 percent female, its leadership was 27
percent female, 26 percent of its representatives and 12 percent of its
senators were female, and it had a female party president. The PAN
utilized more informal methods to increase female registration. An
estimated 24 percent of its leadership was female, and close to 17
percent of representatives and 13 percent of its senators were female.
PRI party rules mandate that 30 percent of its federal candidates be
women. An estimated 24 percent of the party leadership, including its
Secretary General, 16 percent of its representatives, and 18 percent of
its senators were female.
There were no statistics available regarding minority participation
in the Government.
The Constitution provides for the right of indigenous people to
elect representatives to local office according to ``usages and
customs,'' rather than federal and state electoral law. Only the States
of Oaxaca and Quintana Roo have enacted implementing legislation to
effect such local elections. Traditional customs vary from village to
village. In some villages, women do not have the right to vote or to
hold office. In others they can vote but not hold office.
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
allegations of human rights abuses and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials often were cooperative and
responsive to their views. According to the Secretariat of Government's
Directorate of Liaison with Social and Civil Organizations, in 2002
there were 5,339 NGOs active in the country, which played an important
and vocal role in the promotion of civil society. According to the
latest statistics available from the Secretariat of Government's
Directorate of Liaison with Social and Civil Organizations, there were
979 human rights NGOs in the country. Government officials have met
with NGOs in an effort to become more cooperative and responsive to NGO
views.
In March 2003, a decree creating a Commission for Government Policy
on Human Rights was published in the Federal Register. The Commission
convened every 3 months, was responsible for designing a government
human rights policy, coordinating actions, and creating mechanisms for
the implementation of recommendations handed down by the CNDH and other
international human rights organizations with which the Government has
obligations.
Reports of harassment, attacks, and detentions of human rights
workers diminished; however, they continued to occur.
On January 4, AI reported that the president of the Center for
Border Studies and Promotion of Human Rights (CEFPRODHAC), Arturo
Solis, received death threats after calling on authorities to fully
investigate the abduction and killing of Jose Antonio Cervantes Espleta
in Reynosa, State of Tamaulipas. Also in January, General Jose
Francisco Gallardo reported receiving a threatening telephone call
after he had criticized the appointment of an army general to an anti-
terrorist unit with the PGR. Gallardo also reported that he had
observed unknown vehicles monitoring his movements
In August, a Mexico City judge ruled against the injunction
(amparo) asked for by the family of human rights activist Digna Ochoa
and upheld the July 2003 ruling of the Mexico City attorney general's
office (PGJDF) that her death was a suicide.
On July 21, the Mexico City human rights commission (CDHDF) issued
a report that found irregularities and flaws in the police
investigation of the case. For example, written descriptions of the
scene of the crime didn't match photographs and the description of the
injuries Ochoa suffered was incomplete. The CDHDF concluded that the
irregularities did not ``generate certainty.''
In August 2003, an unknown assailant killed human rights defender
Grisdelda Teresa Tirado Evangelio near her home in Puebla. Tirado, a
teacher and an IFE council member in Puebla, was one of the founders of
an indigenous rights association and was involved in litigation of
various agrarian disputes in the indigenous communities. Police were
investigating to determine if Tirado was targeted for her human rights
activity or the victim of a crime. On February 15, Alfonso Garcia Reyes
and Amelia Cruz Sanchez were arrested and detained as the probable
suspects in the crime according to the Puebla Human Rights Commission.
The CNDH is the country's autonomous human rights ombudsman, whose
president is chosen by the Senate for a 5-year term. In October, the
Senate ratified Jose Soberanes for a new 5-year term. Each state also
has a state human rights office (CEDH). In theory, the CEDH were also
autonomous; however, each CEDH president was chosen by the state
governor. In August, AI reported that the president of the Chiapas
State human rights commission, Pedro Raul Lopez, had been suspended by
the state congress over allegations that he had obstructed
investigation into the commission's finances. AI and other NGOs alleged
that Lopez was suspended because of his work on behalf of human rights.
State authorities contended that he was fired due to financial
irregularities. The CNDH issues an annual report to Congress on the
state of human rights in the country. The CNDH made 62 recommendations
as of September. The recommendations were based on investigations
generated by complaints received. During the year, the CNDH promoted
legislation to make its recommendations binding on the recipient
agency.
SEDENA, in coordination with the CNDH and state human rights
commissions, provides its officers with a 4-month human rights course
to teach officers to be human rights trainers. SEDENA reported it had
graduated 250 officers from this course. These officers were
responsible for training at the different unit levels within the Army
and Air Force. The CNDH reported that between March 2002 and July 2003
it had given 61 seminars on human rights to 15,724 members of the Armed
Forces, including 1,200 flag officers. In addition, 12 military
instructors were trained to teach human rights courses.
In April 2003, the Navy adopted a ``Manual on Human Rights for the
Mexican Navy,'' which complements the Disciplinary Law of the Mexican
Navy.
Both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have committees that
monitor human rights and occasionally draft legislation concerning
human rights. They played a significant role with respect to votes in
Congress.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides that men and women are equal before the
law, and that education should avoid ``privileges of race, religion,
groups, sexes, or individual''; the Government continued to make
progress enforcing these provisions. In March 2003, a Secretariat of
Foreign Relations (SRE) study revealed that 90 percent of the
population suffered some type of discrimination. Women, indigenous
groups, and persons with disabilities were the most affected.
Complaints of discrimination against a public official may be filed
with the CNDH. If a complaint alleges discrimination on the part of a
private party, then it must be filed with the judicial system.
Women.--The most pervasive violations of women's rights involved
domestic and sexual violence, which were widespread and vastly
underreported. The law prohibits domestic violence and provides for
fines equal to 30 to 180 days' pay and the detention of violators for
up to 36 hours. According to a survey by the National Statistical
Agency (INEGI), 47 percent of women age 15 and up have suffered at
least one incident of physical, emotional, or sexual aggression.
The DIF for the State of Mexico (DIFEM) reported that between
January and September, it received 1,157 complaints of intra-family
violence involving 2,075 victims, the majority of them women and
children under age 10. According to the PGJDF, 40 women died as a
result of intra-family violence during 2003-04. During the year, 11,396
women called the hotline ``Vida sin Violencia'' (Life Without Violence)
to report some form of violence against them.
In 2001, the Fox administration created the National Women's
Institute, an autonomous organization that promoted public policies
favoring non-discrimination and gender equity. It also publicized
violations of women's human rights to promote debate and change. During
the year, the Institute made recommendations to the Secretary of Public
Security (SSP) to enhance protection of women's human rights in prison.
In addition, it ran a mock court program for law students and trained
judges to help them understand the country's obligations under
international law.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and applies to both
married and common-law couples. Under certain circumstances limited to
the statutory rape of a minor between the ages of 12 and 18, the
Criminal Code allows a judge to dismiss charges if the persons involved
voluntarily marry. In practice, this provision rarely was invoked.
The law does not forbid prostitution. However, pimping is illegal
and it is also illegal for persons under the age of 18 to work in
prostitution. Sexual tourism was a problem, and popular tourist
destinations, such as Acapulco, Cancun, and Puerto Vallarta reported
incidents of sexual exploitation of minors.
In August 2003, AI and the Chihuahua Women's Institute reported
that during the previous 10 years, over 300 women had been killed, of
whom approximately 100 had been sexually assaulted, in Ciudad Juarez
and other parts of Chihuahua State. Subsequently, in October 2003,
President Fox named Guadalupe Morfin Otero as the head of the new
federal Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women in
Ciudad Juarez. With a limited budget, Morfin investigated the issues
surrounding the deaths and disappearances and requested that the
authorities apply Istanbul Protocol procedures in the cases of four
persons charged with having killed women (see Section 1.c.). In
January, President Fox appointed Maria Lopez Urbina as federal Special
Prosecutor for Women's Homicides in Ciudad Juarez as part of the PGR's
Office of Human Rights. During the year, she reviewed approximately 50
cases and in June, she reported that her investigation had not turned
up any evidence of a serial killer. The review revealed that 81 state
and local officials had lost evidence, contaminated crime scenes, and
had been slow to act to protect endangered women. Mario Alvarez, deputy
attorney general, stated that Chihuahua State prosecutors were weighing
criminal abuse of power charges against those officials. By year's end,
Lopez Urbina had cited 130 Chihuahua public servants for negligence.
During the year, the bodies of 16 more dead women were found in
Ciudad Juarez. In March, an AI report reviewed progress made during
2003 and recommended that the authorities take an integrated approach
to prevent and investigate all forms of gender-based violence in
Chihuahua State, investigate the allegations of torture made by
suspects detained and interrogated by state judicial police, and
respect the rights of the victims, their families, and human rights
organizations.
In April, a team of U.N. criminal justice experts returned to
Ciudad Juarez to review progress made on September 2003recommendations.
They found that no attempts had been made to implement the
recommendations, except for some minimal training provided to state
police. During their second visit, the U.N. experts urged the state to
reopen all cases in which the accused perpetrators had alleged torture
at the hands of state authorities.
In April, several members of the lower house of Congress formed a
special commission to follow developments. Marcela Lagarde, head of the
commission and a legislator representing Mexico City, said that the
commission would work for legal action against the former and current
governors of Chihuahua and various officials from both administrations,
due to the severe irregularities throughout the course of the state's
investigations of the killings.
In June, Special Prosecutor Lopez Urbina named 81 current and
former Chihuahua State officials for negligence in investigating the
cases of the disappeared and dead women. In October, she named 49 more
officials. Chihuahua State authorities released the names of 54 of
these officials and were responsible for any prosecution of them. In
November, Chihuahua State attorney general, Patricia Gonzalez
Rodriguez, suspended some of the staff in the state attorney general's
office (PGJE) while investigations were conducted into how they handled
the investigations of women's murders in Ciudad Juarez. At year's end,
as a result of Lopez Urbina's recommendations, Gonzalez asked a judge
for arrest warrants against three current and two former state
officials. She also requested administrative sanctions be taken against
15 more state officials.
In August, the Alameda County, California, sheriff's office
released its findings from DNA tests performed in May on the remains
and family members of several dead or disappeared women from Chihuahua.
The exams revealed that the remains presented by the state as those of
victim Neyra Azucena Cervantes were actually those of a male. The
victim's mother subsequently stated that she planned to pursue the
matter with Chihuahua State authorities.
The United Security Program, launched in Ciudad Juarez in 2003 to
curb crime and protect women, was unsuccessful. Despite the presence of
over 700 federal officers, the overall crime rate increased by more
than 12 percent, and most officers had left the city by year's end.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see Section 5, Trafficking.).
The Federal Criminal Code includes penalties for sexual harassment,
but victims must press charges. Many female victims were reluctant to
come forward, and cases were difficult to prove. Reports of sexual
harassment in the workplace were widespread. Statistics 2001 led the
CDHDF to estimate that at least 80 percent of the women who work in
Mexico City have experienced sexual harassment.
Women also suffered harassment and discrimination from public
officials. In March, the CNDH reported that between February 2000 and
February, it received 3,528 complaints from women who alleged offenses
by federal officials. The leading complaint was abuse of authority,
followed by denial of or inadequate provision of medical services,
denial of or inadequate provision of electrical services, threats, and
denial of the right to file a complaint. The main entity receiving
complaints was the Institute for Social Security (IMSS), which usually
received complaints for negligence in providing medical care to women.
Although the Constitution provides for equality between the sexes,
neither the authorities nor society in general respected this principle
in practice. The legal treatment of women's rights was uneven. Women
have the right to own property in their own names and to file for
separation and divorce. However, in some states a woman may not bring
suit to establish paternity and thereby obtain child support unless the
child was a product of rape or cohabitation, the child resided with the
father, or there was written proof of paternity.
The Constitution and labor laws provide 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.'' However, women in the workforce generally were paid
less than their male counterparts and were concentrated in lower-paying
occupations.
Labor law provides extensive maternity protection, including 6
weeks' leave before and after childbirth and time off for breastfeeding
in adequate and hygienic surroundings provided by the employer.
Employers are required to provide a pregnant woman with full pay, are
prohibited from dismissing her, and must remove her from heavy or
dangerous work or exposure to toxic substances. To avoid these
expensive requirements, some employers, including some in the
``maquila'' industry, reportedly violated these provisions by requiring
pregnancy tests in preemployment physicals, by regular examinations and
inquiries into women's reproductive status (including additional
pregnancy tests), by exposing pregnant women to difficult or hazardous
conditions to make them quit, or by dismissing them. The Secretariat of
Labor made safety and hygiene inspections in private factories and
public institutions to protect the labor rights of workers (see Section
6.e.).
In January, the NGO Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
alleged that in Guadalajara, electronic subcontractors recruited poorly
educated, young women and subjected them to degrading interviews about
their sexual histories and invasive physical examinations that include
internal exams and pregnancy tests.
In August, Ninett Torres Villareal had her scholarship from the
Mexican Writers' Center withdrawn when the director of the Center
discovered she was 6-months pregnant. The Gender Equity Commission in
the Mexican Congress offered to intervene, and the scholarship was
reinstated in September.
Children.--The Government maintained several programs to promote
child welfare that support maternal and infant health, provide stipends
for educating poor children, subsidize food, and provide social
workers; however, problems in children's health and education remained.
Nine years of education are compulsory, and parents are legally liable
for their children's attendance; however, SEP and the Sierra
Neighborhood Foundation maintained that only approximately 30 percent
of youths between 15 and 20 years of age attend school. According to a
1998 academic study, in most areas of the country, girls and boys
attended school at similar rates. In marginalized rural areas, national
statistical agencies reported that 60 percent of girls attended primary
school compared with 70 percent of boys. In July, press reports
indicated that incompetent teachers are protected by the teacher's
union from discipline. The press reported the case of a teacher who
continued to hold his position while never showing up at his class and
alleged that teacher's positions are ``sold'' through the union rather
than competed openly. Primary education is compulsory, free, and
universal. A 2000 study showed that 19 percent of students completed
grade school and 19 percent completed the 9th grade.
In July 2003, the CNDH reported that it had detected serious
violations to basic rights in the majority of the 54 juvenile
reformatories in the country (see Section 1.c.).
The Government provided equal access to medical care for boys and
girls.
Trafficking in children for the purpose of sexual exploitation was
a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
In 2003, DIF received 1,372 complaints of child abuse.
There were an estimated 1,200 street children in Jalisco State,
half of whom were believed to be victims of sexual abuse. The children
were concentrated largely in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and San Juan
de los Lagos, and in areas with a heavy foreign tourist presence.
Child labor was a problem, particularly among migrant farming
families (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--Various laws prohibit aspects of
trafficking in persons; however, trafficking was a serious problem, and
there were credible reports that police, immigration, and customs
officials were involved in trafficking (see Section 2.d.). In February,
press reports charged that immigration officials in Chetumal, Quintana
Roo State were helping a network to traffic persons into the southern
part of the country. There were reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country.
Trafficking in persons is forbidden under the General Population
Law, immigration laws, the Federal Organized Crime law, and federal and
state penal codes, all of which were used to prosecute traffickers of
undocumented migrants, women, and children.
Child prostitution and pornography are felonies under the law;
however, sexual exploitation was a problem. Under a 2000 law, anyone
convicted of corrupting a minor under 16 years of age by introducing
the minor to pornography, prostitution, or sexual exploitation can be
sentenced to 5 to 10 years' imprisonment. If convicted, parents or
guardians automatically lose custody of their children. Accomplices to
sexual abuse or exploitation may be imprisoned for 6 to 10 years. When
physical or psychological violence was used to abuse sexually or profit
from children's exploitation, the minimum and maximum penalties for
these crimes are increased by up to one-half.
The Government had 12 cases in progress against trafficking
organizations in various states. As of September, the authorities had
detained 664 persons for trafficking-related offenses. Through August,
the Government reported the rescue of 2,747 victims.
On February 26, the deputy chief of criminal investigations at the
Chihuahua State judicial police was arrested and accused of raping a
minor and of running a prostitution ring. Five minors formally
complained against him, but the judge released him on bond several days
later for lack of evidence.
On March 19, seven police officers, two former police officers, and
seven INM officials were arrested in Chihuahua State in connection with
a large alien smuggling case. The police officers were released for
lack of evidence, but the INM officials remain in custody and their
court case was pending. It was unclear whether they had been involved
in alien smuggling or trafficking because alien smugglers were often
traffickers of persons, drugs, and arms.
The Government has a Plan of Action to Prevent, Attend, and
Eradicate the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Minors. The program,
which was administered through the DIF, supported by numerous executive
and legislative branch entities, had begun specifics programs in
various states and had supervised 64 operations during which 115 girls
and 7 boys were rescued.
The National Migration Institute (INM), the PGR, the DIF, the
Center for Intelligence and National Security (CISEN), and the PFP were
the key federal agencies devoted to combating trafficking, protecting
victims, and prosecuting traffickers. In September, they launched an
assessment of trafficking in the state of Baja California Norte and the
city of Tapachula being conducted by the International Office on
Migration (IOM). The project began in September and will be concluded
in September 2005. The project, conducted jointly with INM (National
Migration Institute), OAS, INMUJERES, and the Interamerican Commission
on Women (ICW), includes training for immigration agents on both
borders.
The Government continued to cooperate with other countries. In
August 2003, immigration officials from Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States met to
develop strategies against trafficking and smuggling in persons. In
March, the country signed an agreement with Guatemala for the
protection of victims of trafficking on the southern border.
As part of its Memorandum of Understanding with Guatemala, the INM
began a program in which residency permits were issued to trafficking
victims who agree to participate in prosecutions against traffickers.
A 2003 book entitled ``Infancy as Sexual Merchandise'' estimated
that there were 16-20,000 children involved in the sex trade.
The country was a point of origin, transit, overwhelmingly from
Central America, and destination for trafficked individuals. To a much
lesser extent, persons from Brazil, Ecuador, China, Taiwan, India, and
some countries in Eastern Europe transited the country. The poor and
less educated were more at risk for trafficking.
In late 2003 and early in the year, press reports indicated that
women were being trafficked from Cancun to the United States for sexual
exploitation.
In February, law enforcement dismantled an organized crime network
that trafficked women and forced them into prostitution in New York. On
February 10, a judge in Tlaxcala issued warrants for the arrest of 16
suspects in the investigation. Later in February, police arrested six
members of the network in several cities. At year's end, parallel
prosecutions were ongoing in both the United States and Mexico.
Several NGOs, including the Bilateral Border Safety Coalition, the
IOM, Casa Alianza, The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Sin
Fronteras, and Las Mercedes assisted trafficking victims with education
and prevention programs.
The Government supported general prevention campaigns for children
and women and administered assistance programs for children repatriated
to the country. The legal framework exists to protect the victims of
trafficking and provide social services to these victims. However, in
practice illegal immigrants usually were deported.
Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and the
provision of other services continued. A total of 27 of the 31 states
have laws protecting persons with disabilities. Local law requires
access for persons with disabilities to public facilities in Mexico
City, but not elsewhere in the country. In practice, most public
buildings and facilities in Mexico City did not comply with the law.
The Federal District also mandated access for children with physical
disabilities to all public and private schools.
The President's Office for the Promotion and Social Integration of
Persons with Disabilities estimated that there were 267,000 new cases a
year of persons with disabilities owing to accidents, births, or
diseases. According to INEGI, there were 988 registered institutions of
or for persons with disabilities. In Mexico City, 166 NGOs addressed
problems affecting persons with physical disabilities.
In June 2003, President Fox signed a new Anti-Discrimination Law
passed by both houses of Congress that provides for access to health
services, education, culture, transportation, and employment for
persons with disabilities. NGOs claimed the law had little effect since
many persons were not aware of its existence.
The DIF had 62 Rehabilitation Centers in 31 states and the Federal
District and more than 600 Basic Rehabilitation Units throughout the
country.
During the July 2003 congressional elections, the Federal District
Electoral Institute (IEDF) provided ballots, ballot boxes, and a
special ballot holder and marker for the vision and motor skill
impaired voters. The same provisions were made for persons with
disabilities in the various state elections that occurred during the
year.
Indigenous People.--The indigenous population has been long subject
to discrimination, repression, and marginalization.
In June, President Fox created the Consultative Council of
Indigenous People, which was to meet four times a year to help direct
governmental action on indigenous matters.
The National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples
(NCDIP) estimated the indigenous population at 10.25 million; however,
there were unofficial estimates of 12.7 million. Estimates from other
organizations varied from 8 to 10 million. The NCDIP listed: 6 million
native indigenous dialect speakers over 5 years of age and 4.2 million
individuals who identified themselves as indigenous, but did not speak
an indigenous dialect. Indigenous people were located principally in
the central and southern regions and represented 37 percent of the
population in the States of Oaxaca and Yucatan. However, these groups
remained largely outside the political and economic mainstream, as a
result of longstanding patterns of economic and social development. In
many cases, their ability to participate in decisions affecting their
lands, cultural traditions, and allocation of natural resources was
negligible.
According to a study by the Mexican Health Foundation, 81 percent
of the indigenous population lived in poverty.
According to the NCDIP, 66.5 percent of indigenous children less
than 4 years of age resided in areas where the infant mortality rate
was very high.
Lack of resources and the fragmentation of indigenous communities
continued to make enforcement of the 2001 constitutional reforms, which
provided for additional rights and autonomy, extremely difficult.
Indigenous communities continued to insist that they want to have
the power to decide which commercial firms operate in their communities
and which ones should close; however, only the Southern State of Oaxaca
had a state Law of Indigenous Participation.
Media reports indicated a state of heightened tension in Chiapas
due to paramilitary activity. The state government, since taking power
in 2002, has arrested 25 paramilitary leaders.
There were numerous allegations of the use of excessive force and
the violation of international humanitarian law. During much of the
year, the Government maintained troops in selected areas of Chiapas,
and in Guerrero. Incidents of conflict in Chiapas between security
forces and Zaptista Army of National Liberation sympathizers, and in
Guerrero between the army and the Popular Revolutionary Army and the
Insurgent's Revolutionary Army led to accusations of the use of
excessive force; however, the confused circumstances of these clashes
made those allegations difficult to substantiate.
AI reported that on January 14, police used excessive force to
evict indigenous people occupying the town hall in Tlalnepantla,
Morelos. Police shot and killed Gregorio Sanchez and injured 12 others.
Sporadic outbursts of politically motivated and land dispute
violence continued to occur in the Southern States of Chiapas,
Guerrero, and Oaxaca. Historic land disputes were also a cause of
tension in the indigenous regions, especially in Oaxaca, Guerrero, and
Chiapas (see Section 1.a.).
In April, the BBC reported conflict in Chiapas between supporters
of the Zapatistas and other Indigenous groups, occasioned by the
refusal of the rebel supporters who lost their water service to
cooperate in maintaining and paying for the area's water system. There
were reports that the EZLN's campaign to extend ``autonomous
townships'' had caused resentment from neighboring indigenous groups.
In April, members of a dozen indigenous settlements reportedly wrote to
federal authorities to ask that the Zapatistas leave them alone.
On September 20, unknown assailants killed Tomas Sosimo Santos, a
member of the indigenous opposition in La Angostura, Guerrero. An
investigation into his death was ongoing at year's end.
Judges often failed to sentence indigenous detainees within legally
mandated periods (see Section 1.e.). The NDCIP tried to provide
translators and bail assistance to indigenous defendants (see Section
1.d.).
In November, AI reported six examples of sexual abuse of indigenous
women to indict the country's authorities for failure to provide proper
forensic services to indigenous women and of failing to prosecute
soldiers accused of raping indigenous women.
Indigenous people did not live on autonomous reservations, although
some indigenous communities exercised considerable local control over
economic, political, and social issues. In the State of Oaxaca, for
example, 70 percent of the 570 municipalities were governed according
to the indigenous regime of usages and customs, which may not follow
democratic norms such as the secret ballot, universal suffrage, and
political affiliation (see Section 3). These communities applied
traditional practices to resolve disputes and to choose local
officials. Quintana Roo had a similar usages and customs law. While the
laws allow communities in these states to elect officials according to
their traditions, these usages and customs tended to exclude women from
the political process. Usages and customs also 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 prevented these measures from meeting the
needs of all indigenous people.
The General Education Act 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 persons spoke only their native languages, and indigenous
children faced discrimination for speaking their native tongue. In
August, HRW reported that indigenous communities in Guerrero State
lacked teachers for primary schools.
The Government generally professed respect for indigenous people's
desire to retain elements of their traditional culture in practice. The
CNDH's Office of the Fourth Inspector General reviewed and investigated
violations of indigenous rights. More than 130 NGOs were dedicated to
the promotion and protection of indigenous rights.
After a June 2003 visit to several indigenous communities, the U.N.
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Basic Liberties
of Indigenous Peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, called for constitutional
reform to resolve the situation in Chiapas and the crisis of persons
displaced by conflict.
At year's end, four municipal officers, Sergio Cabrera Carrasco,
Tomas Gutierrez Lopez, Jesus Sanchez Gomez, and Arturo Santiago Lopez
from Union Hidalgo, Oaxaca State remained detained pending disposition
of charges for homicide and abuse of authority.
Other Societal Abuses.--On September 23, President Fox called on
the National Multi-Sectoral Council on HIV/AIDS (CONASIDA), and the
secretaries of labor, education, and defense to conduct a rapid
assessment of the prevalence of discrimination against HIV positive
persons in the workplace, in the armed forces, and even among
schoolchildren and to present a plan for corrective action.
In August, CNDH issued a recommendation to the Secretariat of the
Navy to have its physicians refrain from administering tests for
detection of HIV without the consent of the patient. CNDH found that
the Navy violated an employee's right to privacy when it performed the
test without consent. Members of Congress alleged that the military
routinely discharged HIV-positive members.
According to the CNDH, the states that receive the most complaints
from people suffering from HIV were the Federal District, Nuevo Leon,
Jalisco, and Mexico. The most often-cited complaint was the denial of
medical services to HIV patients.
In May, Oscar del Real Lopez died in the Los Mochis prison in
Sinaloa. According to the state's commission on human rights, he was
denied medical attention because he was infected with the HIV virus.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the Federal
Labor Law (LFT) provide workers with the right to form and join trade
unions of their choice and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 15 percent of the total work force was unionized, mostly
in the formal sector, where approximately one-half the labor force was
employed.
In June, 51 employees of the Mexican Petroleum Company (PEMEX), the
state oil monopoly, were fired for trying to form their own union. The
Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the International Labor
Organization were investigating these cases at year's end.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution and the LFT provide for the right to organize and bargain
collectively. Interest by a few employees, or a union strike notice,
compels an employer either to recognize a union and negotiate with it
or to ask the federal or state labor board to hold a union recognition
election. LFT pro-union provisions led some employers to seek out or
create ``white'' or company unions as an alternative to mainstream
national or local unions. Representation elections were traditionally
open, not secret. Traditionally, management and union officials were
present with the presiding labor board official when workers openly
declare their votes, one by one. Such open recounts, which in the past
have resulted in the intimidation of pro-union workers and in reprisals
against them, were prevailing practice but were not required by law or
regulation. Secret ballots were held when all parties agree.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Although few strikes actually occur, informal
stoppages were fairly common, but uncounted in statistics, and seldom
last long enough to be recognized or ruled out of order. The law
permits public sector strikes, but formal public sector strikes were
rare. Informal ones were more frequent. There were 23 strikes during
the year. According to the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, in
the 4 years that the Fox administration has been in office there were
147 strikes nationwide.
Unionization and wage levels in the in-bond export sector varied by
area and sophistication of the manufacturing process. The National
Council of the In-Bond Export Manufacturing Industry claimed that its
members employed approximately 1.14 million persons as of November.
According to INEGI, there were an average of 2,809 active maquiladora
plants in the country as of September, a dramatic drop from the 3,901
reported in 2003. By December, the maquiladora sector appeared to be
experiencing a rebound. Compensation packages in the maquiladora sector
still were lower than in the traditional manufacturing sector. There
was no evidence that the Government opposed unionization of the plants,
although the maquiladora sector tends to be under state jurisdiction.
Protection contracts, to which the workforce was not privy, sometimes
were used in the maquila sector and elsewhere to discourage the
development of authentic unions. These contracts were collective
bargaining agreements negotiated and signed by management and a
representative of a so-called labor organization, sometimes even prior
to the hiring of a single worker.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
forced labor was a problem. In August, a group of indigenous workers
from Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Veracruz claimed to local police that they
had been brought to the State of Chihuahua and forced to live and work
in the fields under inhuman conditions. Several of the Northern States
have experienced an influx of poor and often indigenous workers from
other states, who were sometimes victims of abusive labor practices.
Three such cases presented in Chihuahua during the year were under
investigation by local authorities at year's end.
Forced labor by children was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Constitution prohibits children under 14 years of age from working and
sets the minimum legal work age at 14 years; however, child labor
remained a problem. Those between the ages of 14 and 16 may work only
limited hours, with no night or hazardous work. Enforcement was
reasonably good at large and medium-sized companies, especially in
maquiladoras and industries under federal jurisdiction. Enforcement was
inadequate at many small companies and in agriculture and construction.
It was nearly absent in the informal sector, and the government's
efforts to enforce the law stalled.
There were no reliable statistics on child labor in the rural
areas. Most child labor was in the informal sector (including myriad
underage street vendors), family-owned workshops, or in agriculture and
rural areas. A study conducted by UNICEF and DIF found that urban child
labor dropped by 17 percent from 1998-2003. The same study also found
very little change in the number of hours worked and salaries earned by
child laborers. One study by DIF and UNICEF concluded that 90,000
children in the State of Michoacan worked in slave-like conditions.
In May 2003, the Chamber of Deputies reported that at least 5
million children, mainly indigenous, work in the agricultural sector,
the majority in harsh conditions of exploitation. The Commission for
Rural Development reported that minors were employed by large agro-
businesses, especially in Guanajuato, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Baja
California and received salaries much less than those paid to an adult.
During the first 4 months of the year, 700 unaccompanied minors
were apprehended along the country's northern borders. Most were
between the ages of 15-17 and were caught while acting as drug and
alien smugglers.
The Government, through DIF and programs for indigenous children,
tried to provide education on site to the children of itinerant
agricultural workers, who traditionally travel from place to place
during the harvest season.
Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
Section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Constitution and the LFT
provide for a daily minimum wage. The tripartite National Minimum Wage
Commission (government, labor, and employers) usually sets minimum wage
rates each December, effective on January 1, but any of the three
parties can ask that the wage commission reconvene during the year to
consider a changed situation. For the year, the minimum daily wages,
determined by zone, were: Zone A (Baja California, Federal District,
State of Mexico, and larger cities) $4.12 (46.80 pesos); Zone B
(Sonora, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Jalisco) $3.99 (45.35
pesos); Zone C (all other states) $3.87 (44.05 pesos).
The minimum wages did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. Few workers (approximately 15 percent) earned only
the minimum wage; most workers earned multiples of the minimum wage,
and industrial workers average three to four times the minimum wage,
earning more at larger, more advanced, and prosperous enterprises.
The LFT sets 6 8-hour days as the legal workweek, but with pay for
56 hours. For most industrial workers, especially under union contract,
the true workweek was 42 hours, although they were paid for 7 full 8-
hour days. This was one reason why unions vigorously defended the legal
ban on hourly wages. Workers asked to exceed 3 hours of overtime per
day or required to work overtime on 3 consecutive days must be paid
triple the normal wage.
The law requires employers to observe occupational safety and
health regulations, issued jointly by the STPS and the Social Security
Institute (IMSS), and to pay contributions that vary according to their
workplace safety and health experience ratings. LFT-mandated joint
management and labor committees set standards and were responsible for
workplace enforcement in plants and offices.
STPS and IMSS officials continued to report that compliance was
reasonably good at most large companies. However, because smaller firms
were far more numerous and more difficult to monitor, these officials
were unable to draw any general conclusions about their compliance.
There were not enough federal inspectors to enforce health and safety
standards at smaller firms. There were special problems in
construction, where unskilled, untrained, poorly educated, transient
labor was common, especially at many small sites and companies.
By September, the Secretariat of Labor had made 4,023 safety and
hygiene inspections in private factories and public institutions;
however, the 225 federal labor inspectors and approximately 350 state
inspectors were too few to permit frequent inspections.
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.
__________
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua is a constitutional democracy, with a directly elected
president, vice president, and unicameral legislature. In 2001, voters
elected Enrique Bolanos Geyer of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party
(PLC) as president in a generally free and fair election. The Supreme
Electoral Council (CSE) is ostensibly an independent fourth branch of
government; however, it was subject to political influence. The
Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the
judiciary was susceptible to political influence and corruption.
The President is the supreme chief of the national defense and
security forces. A civilian has led the Ministry of Defense since 1997;
however, the Minister of Defense has limited authority over the
military under the Constitution. The Ministry of Government oversees
the National Police (NNP), which is charged formally with internal
security; however, the police share this responsibility with the army
in rural areas. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces. Some members of the security forces
committed human rights abuses.
The market-based economy is predominantly agricultural; seafood,
apparel assembly, and tourism are also important. The country's
population is approximately 5.4 million. A worldwide drop in coffee
prices, the lack of an adequate legal framework for investors, a
fragile banking system, the high level of external and domestic debt,
and unresolved property disputes stemming from massive confiscations by
the Sandinista government in the 1980s limited economic growth.
Government officials reported 4.2 percent gross domestic product growth
in real terms during the year. While official figures were unavailable,
a November 2003 Gallup poll found 41 percent unemployment. During the
year, the U.N. estimated unemployment at 30 percent. The economy
remains heavily dependent on foreign aid and remittances from abroad.
Wages have generally kept even with inflation. The Government generally
respected the human rights of its citizens; however, serious problems
remained in some areas. At year's end, there were ongoing
investigations of members of the security forces accused of having
committed unlawful killings. Police continued to beat and otherwise
abuse detainees. Some detainees credibly alleged that they were
tortured. Holding cell conditions remained harsh. Security forces
arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens; however, the number of
reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions decreased during the year.
The Government effectively punished some of those who committed abuses;
however, a degree of impunity persisted. The new criminal procedures
code took effect for all new cases at the end of the year. The
judiciary is subject to political influence and corruption. The
weakness of the judiciary continued to hamper prosecution of human
rights abusers in many cases. The office of Human Rights Ombudsman
remained vacant for 6 months due to political disputes between the two
major political parties. Violence against women, including domestic
abuse and rape, remained a concern. Salary discrimination against women
in the labor force is endemic. Violence against children and child
prostitution continued. There were several documented reports of
trafficking in women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Discrimination against indigenous people also occurred. Child labor
continued to be a problem. The violation of worker rights in free trade
zones continued.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of politically motivated killings by government officials;
however, during the year, the police received 20 allegations of
unlawful killings by police officers; each of these was referred to the
IG of the police (IG). In seven cases, the IG's office exonerated the
police officers of any wrongdoing. In 11 other cases, the IG handed
down administrative punishments. The remaining two cases remained under
investigation at year's end. All homicide cases involving police were
automatically referred to the courts for review, but few verdicts had
been handed down by the end of the year. There were 54 reported
injuries inflicted on criminal suspects by police during arrests (see
section 1.d.).
On February 10, unknown persons killed radio journalist Carlos
Guadamuz in what the public and media widely regarded as a political
assassination (see Section 2.a.).
On April 5, police officers Fernando Escobar and Victor Manuel
Jarquin shot and killed Wilfredo Alberto Mereno in Chichigalpa while he
was holding a knife to the neck of and threatening to kill his domestic
partner. Mereno's brother claimed that the police killed Mereno without
trying to negotiate with him and maintained that Mereno had no
intention of harming his partner. However, the Nicaraguan Center for
Human Rights (CENIDH) mounted an investigation during which several
witnesses reported that Mereno was intoxicated and violent and that the
police negotiated, unsuccessfully, with him for an hour; CENIDH
concluded that the police officers acted correctly. CENIDH noted, that,
had the officer who fired the fatal shots been armed with a service
pistol rather than the automatic rifle that many police officers carry,
Mereno might have survived. Both the IG and the court system also
concluded that the officers had acted properly under the circumstances.
On May 4, unknown assailants killed four police officers in
Bluefields (see Section 5).
Although officer Javier Somarriba was dishonorably discharged from
the police force for his June 2003 beating of Saturnino Varela
Escalante, which led to Varela's death in police custody, the courts
declared Somarriba not guilty in December 2003.
Both the police IG and the courts found officer Dimagio Valverde
not guilty in the August 2003 killing of Marvin Jose Miranda.
b. Disappearance There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law makes the use of torture a punishable crime;
however there were credible reports that police beat or physically
mistreated detainees, often to obtain confessions. The IG's Office
recorded 1,336 complaints of mistreatment by police and found 528 to
have merit. The IG punished 781 officers involved in these cases. Among
the complaints were 54 instances in which police seriously wounded
criminal suspects while attempting to arrest them.
The IG's Office reported that it received a total of 632 complaints
of human rights violations by police officers during the year,
including unlawful killings (see Section 1.a.) and complaints forwarded
by the Office of Civil Inspection for Professional Responsibility, and
found 199 to have merit. The IG's Office punished a total of 295
officers for violation of human rights. Of those punished, the police
discharged 10 officers dishonorably, remanded 63 to the courts on both
human rights and corruption charges, and gave the rest lesser
punishments, including demotion, suspension, and loss of pay.
On February 21, several police officers allegedly entered the home
of Mayra Turcios Mojica in Masachapa without a warrant to arrest her
18-year-old son. When Turcios Mojica protested, the officers threatened
to arrest her and her 13-year-old daughter. One of the police officers
knocked the girl unconscious by striking her in the head. The IG
investigated and concluded that the officers had been in pursuit of an
armed robbery suspect and had taken him into custody outside of the
Mojica household. Therefore, they did not need a warrant. The IG found
no evidence of the abuse or rights violations described by Turcios
Mojica and concluded that the officers had acted properly.
In April, Jose Silva of Chaguitillo accused police of shooting at,
detaining, and beating him as they attempted to break up a scuffle. One
of the officers reportedly wounded Silva in the leg, foot, and
buttocks. Silva claimed that the police later tried to prevent him from
going to a hospital. The Internal Affairs Division of the NNP
ultimately determined that voluntary police officer Marvin Huerta
Orellana was responsible for mistreating Silva. The NNP removed
Orellana from the ranks of the voluntary police and referred the case
to the local criminal court in Sebaco, which found Orellana not guilty
on all charges.
No criminal charges were ever filed against officer Marcos Vasquez
for the May 2003 unlawful arrest and beating of Humberto Torres
Mendieta. Vasquez also successfully appealed his removal from the
police for the beating and was reintegrated into the police force,
albeit at a lower position.
In the case of the September 2003 rape allegedly committed by
police officer Andres Montes, both the police IG and the court system
found insufficient evidence to punish or convict Montes.
In the case of the September 2003 police beating of Octavio de la
Rocha, the police IG concluded that one officer had used excessive
force and put him on restricted duty for 30 days. The criminal case
against the officer was still awaiting trial at year's end.
Prison conditions were difficult. According to government
statistics, the prisons, with an official capacity of 5,358, had a
total inmate population of 5,601 in December, up from 5,306 in December
2003. Detainees were held separately from convicted prisoners (see
Section 1.e.).
Prison guards received human rights training from the Human Rights
Ombudsman (PDDH), funded by international donors, and generally treated
prisoners well.
The prison system remained underfunded, and medical supplies ranged
from inadequate to nonexistent. The Ministry of Health continued to
provide some medical care, although it was unclear if this had made an
impact on prisoner's access to health care. For all 8 penitentiaries
and 5,601 prisoners, prison authorities maintained a staff of only 28
medical specialists, including doctors, psychologists, and nurses.
Eleven medical personnel were located in Tipitapa, the country's
largest prison near Managua, and there were at least two in each of the
other seven facilities. Prison authorities reported that 30 percent of
prisoners slept on metal bunks or mattresses on floors. Several
churches and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) donated foodstuffs,
beds, and medicine to help alleviate shortfalls. The quality of prison
food remained poor, and malnutrition remained a problem in local jails
and police holding cells. Prison officials calculated that the daily
expenditure per prisoner for food was about $0.50 (7.2 cordobas). Many
prisoners received additional food from visitors. Many police holding
cells were dark, poorly ventilated, and unhygienic. Conditions in jails
and holding cells remained harsh. Police station holding cells were
severely overcrowded. Suspects regularly were left in these cells
throughout their trials, since budgetary shortfalls often restricted
the use of fuel for frequent transfers to distant courtrooms. At the
Bluefields jail, there were only 2 showers and 4 toilets for more than
100 prisoners. The authorities occasionally released detainees when
they could no longer feed them. Only Managua had a separate prison for
women; outside Managua, women were housed in separate wings in prison
facilities and were guarded by female custodians. As of December,
females made up 6.1 percent of the prison population. The Public
Defender's office assigned two full-time employees to work with the
women's prison system to help ensure prisoners' rights.
As of December, 0.7 percent of the prison population was between
the ages of 15 and 18. All youths were housed in separate prison wings
and were on different schedules than adults for mealtime and
recreational activities.
In 2002, Casa Alianza and the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office
published a survey of 85 underaged detainees throughout the penal
system. According to the survey, the police often failed to inform the
detainees why they were being detained. Approximately half of those
surveyed alleged police mistreatment, said that they were detained 3
days or more before seeing a judge, and were not aware of being
assigned a defense attorney. One quarter said they were incarcerated
with adults.
In July, Julio Cesar Lopez Martinez died in the Modelo prison in
Tipitapa. Prison authorities initially claimed that Lopez died of
cardiac arrest induced by extreme intoxication, but the medical
examiner ruled that Lopez died of cerebral hematoma resulting from a
severe beating. The Lopez family blamed other prisoners for the killing
and accused prison authorities of ignoring threats to Lopez's life and
then attempting to cover up his death. CENIDH investigated the case and
concluded that Lopez's death could have been prevented and that the
prison authorities had failed to protect him. Upon receipt of the
medical examiner's report, the prison authorities opened an
investigation into the death; however, no information on the outcome of
the investigation was available at year's end.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Arbitrary arrest and detention
by the police decreased under the new Criminal Procedures Code. The
Police Functions Law requires police to obtain a warrant prior to
detaining a suspect and to notify family members of the detainee's
whereabouts within 24 hours. Under the Code, a prosecutor must
accompany police making an arrest, and detainees have the right to an
attorney as soon as they are arrested.
The NNP is a single, unified force responsible for law enforcement
throughout the country. Although the NNP has had difficulties solving
some high profile crimes and has not been immune to corruption, it is
generally regarded as one of the more effective and honest state
institutions. The IG's Office investigates all allegations of police
abuses and has been more willing to punish offenders than have the
courts. Police officers received regular human rights training.
The NNP continued to reduce the law enforcement role of voluntary
police, private citizens who help fill staffing gaps in several
precincts. Several voluntary police were implicated in human rights
abuses during the year. The IG remands to the court system for review
all cases in which police use deadly force; however, the courts often
take considerable time to process these cases and most cases never
reach a final resolution (see Section 1.e.). The police do not make a
final decision on cases sent to the courts until the courts respond
with a verdict. While the police await the decisions from the courts,
the IG's office normally applies administrative restrictions, such as
suspension with pay or confinement to precinct. At year's end, the IG
reported that 18 officers involved in cases in which the police had
used deadly force had been remanded to the courts, but had no
information on how these cases were adjudicated.
The IG's Office investigated allegations of abuse by the regular
police and sanctioned the offenders in many cases; however, a degree of
impunity persisted. Inadequate budget support for the NNP hampered
efforts to improve police performance and resulted in a continuing
shortage of officers. However, international assistance programs
provided the police with extensive training during the year. Police
trainees must receive human rights instruction to graduate from the
police academy and become officers. In addition, police officers must
be re-certified in human rights annually. Canadian police and the
Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) trained the
instructors teaching the human rights courses. The army included human
rights training in its core-training curriculum (see Section 4).
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 either must order the accused released or transferred to
jail. Although cumbersome, this law was observed more closely than in
the past, and few prisoners were held illegally beyond the 48-hour
deadline (see Section 1.c.). During the 48 hours, the suspect does not
have access to bail or to visits from family members. The number of
provisionally convicted prisoners awaiting trial continued to drop.
Although the number of prisoners in jail awaiting trial was not
available, statistics from the Department of Prisons indicated that
14.7 percent of all prisoners being held were awaiting final verdicts,
compared with 26 percent in 2002.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was highly susceptible to
corruption and political influence. Arcane legal codes also hampered
the work of the judiciary. Judges' political sympathies and their
acceptance of bribes or influence from political leaders often
influenced judicial actions and findings. The judicial system comprises
both civil and military courts. The 16-member Supreme Court is the
system's highest court and not only administers the judicial system,
but also nominates all appellate and lower court judges. The Court is
divided into specialized chambers on administrative, criminal,
constitutional, and civil matters. Under the Law of the Child and
Family, the Attorney General's Office, rather than the police,
investigates crimes committed by and against juveniles. The military
code requires that the civilian court system try members of the
military charged with common crimes. The 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. Judges were
susceptible to corruption and political influence. Rulings in favor of
those who are politically connected remained the most visible
manifestation of judicial corruption. Both the PLC and Sandinista
(FSLN) parties used the judiciary for political purposes. The FSLN
especially used its control of the judiciary to impede the resolution
of property claims.
In July, the Supreme Court, evenly divided between Sandinista and
Liberal magistrates because of a 2003 deal between the two political
parties, ended an 8-month deadlock over lower level judicial
appointments and divided 16 appeals court positions among judges with
political loyalties either to Arnoldo Aleman or Daniel Ortega. As in
the past, the Supreme Court ignored lists of experienced and
politically neutral candidates proffered by civil society and the
Bolanos Administration.
Also in July, the FSLN-dominated judiciary dismissed all charges or
threw out the defendants' convictions in each of three different
corruption cases against associates of former President Aleman. Both
the media and government officials alleged that the verdicts were part
of an ongoing deal between Aleman and Ortega.
In August, PLC substitute judge Moises Rodriguez convicted
Alejandro Fiallos of corruption charges based solely on limited witness
testimony. Local legal experts described the judge's actions as, at
best, without basis, and at worst grossly illegal. At the time of his
conviction and arrest, Fiallos was the Managua mayoral candidate of
President Bolanos' Alliance for the Republic party and there was
widespread public and media speculation that Aleman and Ortega agreed
upon his conviction to remove a rival to their parties' candidates in
the mayoral race. Fiallos appealed the conviction and was released on
bail after 8 days' incarceration. The CSE ruled that his mayoral
candidacy could continue as long as his appeal was pending. In
November, after the municipal elections, a Sandinista judge rejected
Fiallos' appeal and sentenced him to 45 days' imprisonment and the loss
of his political rights for 1 year. Fiallos fled the country before he
could be arrested and remained in hiding at year's end.
In December 2003, Sandinista judge Julia Mayorga convicted Henry
Ruiz and the other members of the board of directors of the Augusto
Cesar Sandino Foundation (FACS) on charges of document fraud and
illicit association to commit a crime and sentenced them to 1 year's
imprisonment. For years, Daniel Ortega and his allies had used the FACS
as a tool of FSLN patronage, but Ruiz and a new board, elected in 2003,
sought to root out the corruption in the organization. In response, the
former director, Edwin Zablah, a close associate of Ortega, filed a
criminal lawsuit against Ruiz and the other board members. Under the
law, many civil suits can be tried as criminal cases. In December 2003,
Judge Mayorga convicted the members of the board, and in July, another
Sandinista magistrate, Adela Cardoza, upheld the conviction on appeal
and removed Ruiz and the rest of the board from their positions. In
October, three Supreme Court judges loyal to Aleman and three loyal to
Ortega rejected the appeal of this decision made by Ruiz and the other
defendants. The court's decision left the threat of a year of prison
time hanging over the heads of Ruiz and the others and left the FACS in
the hands of Zablah.
At the end of the year, former President Aleman remained under
house arrest for money laundering, fraud, and other corruption charges;
however, press reports indicated that Aleman and Ortega were
negotiating a political deal to erase Aleman's conviction.
The Supreme Court's (CSJ) campaign to reduce incompetence and
corruption in the judiciary continued during the year. Since the
campaign began in 1997, the CSJ has removed 168 judges--more than one-
half of the 300 judges in the system. However, the Supreme Court's
disciplinary commission, which is charged with overseeing judges'
ethics and conduct, was chaired by Rafael Solis, a corrupt Supreme
Court justice with close ties to the FSLN.
The December 2002 Criminal Procedures Code established an
accusatory, as opposed to an inquisitorial, system of justice; more
transparent, it relies on prosecutors, rather than judges, to file
charges. At an arraignment, a judge decides whether the available
evidence merits sending the case to trial. At the trial stage, the
judge takes a neutral presiding role and both sides present their cases
to a jury. Initially applied only to the most serious offenses, in
December the system became responsible for all new criminal cases. The
new system provided greater transparency by allowing the accused
greater access to the process; reduced substantially the case backlog;
and shortened the average time for a verdict to 15 days as the result
of better coordination between all parts of the law enforcement
process. There remained a need for more personnel in the system,
including public defenders.
During the year, the Napoleonic legal system continued in use for
some cases. Police had to present a detained suspect before a judge
within 48 hours. The judge then had to hold a preliminary hearing
within 10 days. These constitutionally mandated deadlines were usually
observed. If a judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence at the
preliminary hearing, the suspect was sent to trial. While awaiting and
undergoing trial, suspects were often held in custody. The trial
consisted of hearings held by the judge to investigate the matter
further, followed by a review of the written record of the hearings by
a five-member jury, which would issue a final decision. Very simple
cases or those with high profile or outside interest could be resolved
quickly, but others languished for months. Although the legal limit for
resolution was 6 months, many suspects were held without trial for
longer periods.
In criminal cases, the accused has the right to legal counsel, and
defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The law provides
for the establishment of a Public Defender's Office, staffed during the
year by 47 public defenders, to represent indigent defendants. The
district court of Managua maintained a staff of 12 public defenders. In
courts other than district courts, where public defenders were not
available, a more archaic system provided for the appointment of
attorneys to represent indigent defendants from a standard list by the
presiding judge. However, many attorneys paid a small fine rather than
represent such clients because the State did not pay for attorneys for
the indigent. Under the new Code, the number of indigent defendants who
went to trial without an attorney decreased as the judges assumed an
oversight role in court proceedings.
The country still lacked an effective civil law system. As a
result, private litigants often filed their cases as criminal
complaints. Often the effect of a criminal proceeding in these matters
was to force one party to concede to the party with more influence over
the judge rather than face the prospect of detention in jail. In
addition, this civil-based criminal caseload diverted resources from an
overburdened Prosecutor's Office that otherwise could be directed
toward genuine criminal matters. There were no reports of political
prisoners.
In 2000, the Government opened property tribunals to handle cases
concerning properties seized during the Sandinista regime in the 1980s.
In 2002, the Supreme Court consolidated these tribunals into a single
tribunal. The property tribunal has been extremely vulnerable to
political pressure.
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. However, several constitutional
provisions potentially qualify freedom of the press. The Constitution
stipulates that citizens have the right to accurate information,
thereby providing an exception by which the freedom to publish
information that the government deems inaccurate could be abridged.
Although the right to information cannot be subject to censorship, the
law establishes a retroactive liability, implying the potential for
sanctions against the press; however, the government did not invoke
these provisions to suppress the media. The independent media were
active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction. The
news medium with the largest national audience is radio; however, polls
showed that television is the primary source of news in the cities.
There are 210 chartered radio stations in the country, 52 am stations
and 158 fm stations; listeners receive a wide variety of political
viewpoints, especially on the 74 stations based in Managua. There are
10 Managua-based television stations, 8 of which carry news
programming, some with noticeable partisan political content. In
addition, there are 63 cable television franchises that offer services
in most large and medium-sized cities.
The Bolanos Administration attempted to standardize the way
government advertising funds were allocated to the various media
outlets by implementing a system based on market share. This forced
some smaller media outlets to close because the media were largely
dependent upon government funding, and there was not enough private
advertising to support them.
On February 10, William Hurtado, a former member of the Sandinista
state security apparatus in the 1980s and a self-proclaimed militant
Sandinista, shot and killed journalist and radio personality Carlos
Guadamuz in Managua. A former Sandinista militant, Guadamuz had broken
with Daniel Ortega and the FSLN leadership after they passed him over
to be the party's 2000 mayoral candidate for Managua. Subsequently,
Guadamuz used his radio program to criticize Ortega and other FSLN
leaders on a wide range of issues, and they expelled him from the
party. On April 19, a court convicted Hurtado and sentenced him to 18
years in prison. However, despite evidence that others were involved in
planning the killing, the short trial failed to address the reasons for
the murder or implicate anyone other than Hurtado.
In August, Sergio Leon Corea, the correspondent for La Prensa in
Bluefields, alleged that police officers were harassing and threatening
him and had broken into his home in search of information related to
his reports on police involvement with drug trafficking on the Atlantic
coast. Stating that the police IG's office had failed to follow up on
earlier complaints he had made, Corea asked CENIDH to investigate.
CENIDH's investigation was inconclusive, but the case nevertheless
prompted the organization to alert the IACHR regarding the threats and
dangers facing journalists in the country.
Also in August, Mirna Velasquez, a journalist for La Prensa in
Managua, filed a complaint with CENIDH alleging that substitute Judge
Carlos Mario Pena had blackmailed and threatened her and her family in
an effort to coerce her to stop writing about judicial investigations
of his actions. A series of Velasquez articles, published in 2003 when
Pena was named to his position in Managua's criminal court, revealed
that he was under investigation for involvement in migrant smuggling.
In August, Velasquez published an article that reported that his
judicial superiors were once again investigating him. Subsequently Pena
allegedly informed Velasquez that he had gathered a great deal of
personal information on her and her family, including information
linking them to drug trafficking. Velasquez accused Pena of blackmail
and conducting an illegal investigation of her and her family. Pena
denied the accusations, and the case remained under investigation at
year's end.
On November 9, the former PLC mayor of El Ayote, Eugenio Hernandez
Gonzalez, shot and killed Maria Jose Bravo Sanchez, a journalist for La
Prensa, outside of the vote-counting center in Juigalpa in front of
dozens of witnesses. Hernandez was arrested shortly after the killing
and at year's end was in jail awaiting trial. Friends and family of
Bravo Sanchez stated that the journalist had received several death
threats from prominent local PLC members prior to the municipal
elections held 2 days before her killing.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet. The
Government did not restrict academic freedom.
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.
The Constitution also recognizes the right to public assembly,
demonstration, and mobilization in conformity with the law, and the law
requires demonstrators to obtain permission for a rally or march by
registering its planned size and location with the police. The
authorities routinely granted such permission; however, many groups
claimed that the process was too cumbersome and marched without
registering.
For several days in May, thousands of university students organized
protests in Managua, Jinotepe, Leon, Esteli, Matagalpa and other cities
regarding the Government's failure to increase the education budget.
During many of these protests, some of the students became violent,
injuring police and bystanders, throwing Molotov cocktails and firing
homemade mortars, damaging property, and disrupting traffic on roads
and highways. The violence sparked confrontations with police, who
often arrested violent participants, usually releasing them the next
day. During each such violent protest, several persons, sometimes
including police, were taken to local hospitals and treated for tear
gas inhalation and other injuries. One police officer in Jinotepe was
killed by a mortar round fired by protesting students. Police
repeatedly affirmed the students' right to protest as long as they
remained peaceful.
The Constitution provides for the right to organize or affiliate
with political parties, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. Opposition and independent associations functioned
freely without government interference or restriction. Private
associations do not have legal status to conduct private fund raising
or receive public financial support until they receive authorization
from the National Assembly, which confers it routinely.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. 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 ``Personeria Juridica''
(legal standing), which the National Assembly must approve. Following
Assembly approval, a church must register with the Ministry of
Government as an association or a foundation. The Roman Catholic Church
is not an official state religion; however, it has traditionally
enjoyed a close relationship with the Government. Its relationship with
the Bolanos Administration was more distant. The Roman Catholic Church
is the most politically active religious denomination and has
significant political influence. At times, there have been allegations
that government officials have given financial assistance to the
Catholic Church. However, the predominance of the Catholic Church did
not have a negative impact on the freedom to practice other religions.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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
right of citizens to return to the country is not established in the
Constitution, but, in practice, the Government did not restrict its
citizens' return. A 2002 amendment to the Constitution affirmed that
citizens cannot be deprived of their citizenship, and that citizenship
is not lost by acquiring another citizenship. However, the Constitution
retains certain citizenship requirements for high-level government
officials, including the provision that they must renounce citizenship
in other countries at least 4 years prior to their election or
appointment.
Exile was not practiced. There were no reports of political
violence against any citizens returning from civil war era self imposed
exile.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. 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. National elections were held in November 2001. The
Constitution distributes power and authority among the four co-equal
branches of government. The President heads the Executive Branch and
appoints a Cabinet. The President is both head of state and head of
government, as well as supreme chief of the defense and security
forces. The Vice President has no constitutionally mandated duties or
powers. Both the President and Vice President are elected to 5-year
terms by direct popular vote, with the possibility of a runoff election
between the top two candidates if one does not obtain at least 35
percent of the vote on the first ballot. The Constitution does not
permit the President to hold consecutive terms in office. A single-
chamber, 92-member National Assembly exercises legislative power. In
2001, voters elected 90 members, including 20 deputies from nationwide
lists and 70 from lists presented in each of the 15 departments and the
two autonomous regions. The outgoing President and the presidential
candidate receiving the second highest number of votes are each given
seats in the National Assembly; however, outgoing President Aleman was
removed from his seat when he was convicted on money-laundering
charges. Members elected concurrently with the President and Vice
President in 2001 are scheduled to complete their 5 year terms on
January 9, 2007. Because of political disputes with the President, at
the end of the year PLC and FSLN deputies in the National Assembly had
begun to enact constitutional changes that would transfer many of the
President's powers to the Assembly.
According to the Constitution, the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE)
is supposed to be an independent fourth branch of government. However,
the CSE was highly politicized and subject to political influence. The
CSE did not function properly throughout the year, paralyzed by
internal political disputes and a top-heavy bureaucracy. It verged on
bankruptcy, even after firing 50 percent of its workers. It could not
pay the remaining employees for months in 2003, and many of them went
on strike, suspending the issuance of national identity cards that are
required to vote. This strike continued throughout the year.
Nevertheless, CSE magistrates raised their own annual salaries by 100
percent to as much as $155,494 (2,332,500 cordobas), roughly 60 percent
more than the salary of government ministers. Many observers feared
that CSE would have problems conducting upcoming municipal and national
elections unless the situation was reversed. In 2002, the CSE prevented
regional election results from being implemented for many months. As a
consequence, the CSE retained little public confidence; in a pair of
July polls, 95 percent of respondents had little or no confidence in
the CSE as an institution and only 49 percent had any confidence that
it could manage upcoming municipal elections in November. Those
elections were in fact marred by serious problems, including poor CSE
maintenance of the voting registry that made it difficult for many
persons to find their correct polling precincts and prevented others
from voting at all. There were also credible allegations that the CSE
invalidated results in key precincts to ensure that a number of close
races were won by the PLC and FSLN.
In 2001, generally free and fair national elections were held under
the auspices of the CSE. Voters elected Enrique Bolanos Geyer of the
PLC president with 56 percent of the vote; FSLN candidate Daniel Ortega
received 42 percent. In the simultaneous legislative elections, the
ruling PLC alliance won 52 deputy seats, the FSLN won 37, and the
Conservative Party won 1 seat. CSE reports indicated that over 90
percent of eligible voters were registered; the CSE also announced that
more than 92 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.
In October, in what was widely considered a political decision, the
Controller General's Office, which was controlled by supporters of
former President Aleman and Ortega, released a long-awaited report
accusing President Bolanos of fund raising violations during his 2001
electoral campaign. The case involved the alleged misuse of government
funds and foreign government donations. The controllers charged that
Bolanos refused to answer fully their questions posed during a 2-year
investigation and recommended that he be fined and that the National
Assembly remove him from office. Bolanos refuted the accusation and
noted that of the 30 PLC leaders investigated in the case, only he had
been charged with any crime. Both the Organization of American States
(OAS) and foreign governments expressed concerns that the political
charges against the president and the efforts to remove him from office
amounted to a threat to the constitutional order. At year's end, the
charges remained, and it was possible that the National Assembly could
take them up at any time.
The Government continued its anti-corruption campaign during the
year, but its efforts were hampered by the corrupt, politicized
judiciary, which threw out a large number of corruption cases (see
Section 1.e.). There was also a widespread public perception of
corruption and political deal making in many state institutions,
including the judiciary, the National Assembly, the CSE, the Controller
General's Office (Controloria), and the Office of the National
Prosecutor (Fiscalia).
No law provided for public access to government information. In
practice the Government sometimes provided such access for citizens and
non-citizens. Because no formal procedure for requesting information
existed, when access was denied a great variety of reasons were given.
No appeal procedure existed.
There are no legal impediments to the participation of women,
indigenous people, and other minorities in government and politics.
Women held ministerial, vice ministerial, and other senior positions in
government, including 21 out of 90 National Assembly seats. In
addition, 4 of the 16 CSJ justices were female, and in 2002, the
Magistrates of the CSJ elected Alba Luz Ramos as president, the first
woman president in the history of the Court. Women held approximately
70 percent of the judgeships in the country. Two members of the
National Assembly claimed indigenous heritage. To ensure participation
by indigenous groups, political parties must include on their party
tickets a certain percentage of candidates from the various indigenous
populations.
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 largest
groups to deal with general issues of human rights were the Sandinista-
influenced CENIDH and the pro-Aleman Permanent Commission on Human
Rights in Nicaragua. Many such human rights groups focused most of
their attention on controversial economic rights, such as access to
employment, social security, healthcare, and education. Other groups
focused on a particular area of human rights, such as Casa Alianza,
which primarily concentrated on children's issues, and the Women's
Network, which addressed domestic violence and other women's issues.
CENIDH continued to conduct human rights workshops at the police
academy, at various police headquarters, and with army units throughout
the country. The military academy instituted human rights training as
part of their core curriculum, and some military officers received
internationally sponsored human rights training. The OAS Technical
Cooperation Mission (TCM) focused on the municipalities affected most
adversely by the 1980-90 civil war and worked on conflict resolution,
reconciliation, improving local government, and extending legal
infrastructure. The TCM and Catholic Relief Services helped maintain
departmental and local peace commissions in the northern and central
parts of the country, intended to give inhabitants of the area a
sustainable means of dispute resolution, a means of monitoring human
rights abuses, and a vehicle for expressing their concerns to
government authorities. Many of the commissions operated in areas that
were without any governmental presence and served as surrogates for
absent police and courts. The Government granted legal standing to
additional such grassroots organizations during the year.
The Ombudsman's PDDH, the autonomous government-financed human
rights office, struggled with budget shortfalls and political
negotiations between the PLC and the FSLN over naming a new Ombudsman
to lead it after the end of the term of the first Ombudsman, Benjamin
Perez, midway through the year. The office remained vacant until
December, when the PLC and FSLN, ignoring the views of civil society
and rejecting more qualified candidates, selected Omar Cabezas to be
the new Ombudsman. Cabezas is a former Sandinista guerrilla accused of
involvement in extrajudicial killings both as a guerrilla in the 1970s
and as a state security official in the 1980s. Cabezas was also
involved in the planning of the forced resettlement of thousands of
indigenous people on the Atlantic Coast in the 1980s, which led to the
deaths of hundreds of persons.
There are also special ombudsmen for children's issues, women's
issues, and indigenous affairs. Under Perez' leadership, the PDDH
investigated human rights violations and demonstrated independence from
the administration, pursuing cases even if they contradicted government
policies. However, the Aleman administration cut the budget of the
Ombudsman's office by nearly 40 percent and its original budget has
never been restored. The PDDH is subject to political pressure. Many of
the cases it receives include economic and social issues, such as
access to health, education, and social security, as well as human
rights issues. Government institutions have been unresponsive in many
of these cases.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of birth,
nationality, political belief, race, gender, language, opinion,
national origin, economic condition, or social condition; however, in
practice, the Government made little or no effort to combat
discrimination. Few, if any, discrimination suits or formal complaints
were filed with government officials.
Women.--The most prevalent violations of women's rights involved
domestic and sexual violence, which were widespread and underreported.
In 2003, the most recent year for which statistics were released, the
government's Women's Institute and United Nations office in Managua
reported that 51,343 women suffered domestic abuse, and that women
filed 49,266 charges with the police. 106 women left home out of fear
of their spouses. The Women's Institute and the U.N. office also
reported that 90 percent of all cases of violence and sexual abuse
against women took place in the home and that 78 percent of the abusers
were the fathers and stepfathers of the victims.
The law criminalizes domestic violence and provides up to 6 years'
imprisonment for those found guilty of such violence. The law also
provides for the issuance of restraining orders in cases in which women
feared for their safety. The NNP, as well as local human rights groups,
confirmed that while police sometimes intervened to prevent domestic
violence, prosecutors rarely prosecuted perpetrators because they
alleged that victims fail to press charges or follow through on
testifying in court. Cases that reached the courts usually resulted in
not guilty verdicts due to judicial inexperience and lack of legal
training.
The Criminal Code provides punishment for sexual abuse and
stipulates that any person convicted of physically abusing or raping
another person can be sentenced to between 9 months and 4 years in
prison; this penalty is increased to 3 to 20 years if the victim is
less than 10 years of age or if the perpetrator is a parent or guardian
of the victim. According to the most recent statistics from the NNP,
the police received 1,234 rape complaints during 2003 and 1327 during
the year, compared with 1,348 reported instances of rape in 2002. Many
women were reluctant to report abuse or file charges due to the social
stigma attached to rape. The police managed 24 women's commissariats,
with at least 1 in each of the country's 17 departments, with a total
staff of approximately 100 persons. Each commissariat is located
adjacent to a police station and is supposed to be staffed by six
police officers, two social workers, one psychologist, and one lawyer.
However, a lack of funding limited the staff size. The commissariats
provided both social and legal help to women and mediated spousal
conflicts. They also investigated and helped prosecute criminal
complaints and referred victims to other governmental and
nongovernmental assistance agencies. The commissariats reported 10,423
cases of domestic violence and 2,245 cases of sexual infractions for
2003 and a total of 17,281 cases of domestic violence (including sexual
infractions) for the year. All of these statistics are far higher than
the figures for 2002. It is not clear that there was an actual increase
in the rate of domestic abuse or if the soaring numbers were due to
other factors, such as the increased confidence that victims have in
reporting their abuse to the women's commissariats and the increased
number of commissariats. Although the Government did not have shelters
for victims of domestic violence, a few NGOs in a handful of cities
provided short-term shelter to battered women.
By year's end, the IACHR had not ruled on the complaint of
Zoilamerica Narvaez that the Government had denied her due process in
2002 by dropping sexual molestation, harassment, and rape charges
against former President Daniel Ortega.
Prostitution is legal and common. According to a number of sources,
including the Director of Police Criminal Investigations and the
Director of Police Economic Investigations, prostitutes worked without
a pimp, since prostitution is legal but pimping is not. Statistics from
the women's commissariats showed few cases of pimping. A number of
studies supported this, including an intensive analysis done during
2003 by the University of Central America in the tourist city of
Granada, in which all the under age prostitutes interviewed told the
researchers that they operated on their own. In Managua most
prostitutes worked on the streets, clandestinely in nightclubs and
bars, or offered sexual services in massage parlors. In several raids
on these businesses, police did not find underage workers, although
there were reports that some workers are below the age of 18. In towns
along the Pan American Highway, women and girls sold sexual services to
truck drivers and other travelers, who were often foreigners driving
north from Costa Rica. In port cities such as Corinto, the primary
clientele were sailors. Corinto was unusual in that prostitutes
received medical examinations and a card certifying if they were free
of disease. In addition, prostitutes in Corinto reportedly often worked
together to maintain a rudimentary price-setting structure that enabled
them to earn much more than they would in other areas. However, in most
areas, prostitutes did not have access to medical screening or
treatment. In September, the National Assembly passed a tourism law
that specified that any traveler engaging in sex tourism would be
prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and specifically prohibited
the promotion of sex tourism. According to the new law, any
organization that promotes sex tourism will lose its operating license.
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, it
continued to be a widespread problem. Penalties are negligible, and the
Government did little to enforce the law. Although the Constitution
provides for equality between the sexes, discrimination against women
persisted. According to a 2000 poll, women comprised approximately 61
percent of the public sector labor force, a number much larger than in
the private sector. Salaries for male and female workers differed
significantly, with men sometimes making twice as much as women in the
same positions. Even with similar qualifications, men advanced more
quickly than women. Women constituted the majority of workers in the
traditionally low-paid education and health service sectors.
Women were generally underpaid, but the majority of women had some
type of employment. A 2001 International Labor Organization (ILO) study
concluded that of the 561,000 employed women, 184,000 were self-
employed and 377,000 were salaried workers. More than 92 percent of
women capable of employment had some type of job, higher than the
national average.
There were many NGO and government programs that targeted
discrimination against women, mostly by analyzing the status of women
in the workplace. Among the most prominent NGOs working on women's
issues were Casa Alianza, the Women's Network, and the Rainbow Network.
Children.--The Government publicly expressed its commitment to
children's human rights and welfare; however, government-wide budget
constraints prevented it from providing adequate funding to children's
programs or primary education. The National Council for the Development
of Children and Adolescents, a broad group of government ministries and
agencies concerned with youth, is responsible for the Government's
policy on youth and developed an ambitious 10-year National Action Plan
for Children and Adolescents. A constitutional provision known as the 6
percent rule automatically allots 6 percent of the annual budget to a
university education consortium, vastly disproportionate to funding for
primary and secondary education programs. Children 15 years of age and
younger made up approximately 39 percent of the population. Education
is compulsory through the sixth grade, but this provision was not
enforced; a 2000 Ministry of Labor survey reported that 49.1 percent of
children and adolescents do not attend school. Another 18.6 percent
said their work interfered with their school attendance. As a result,
the survey classified 22.1 percent of the population as illiterate.
According to the 2001 census, primary school enrollment rates for boys
and girls were estimated at 75 and 80 percent respectively. Juvenile
offenders under the age of 17 comprised less than 1 percent of
incarcerated offenders. This low figure was largely attributed to the
leniency given to juvenile offenders by the Children's Code, which
rarely gives jail time to juveniles. During the year, 65 minors died as
a result of violent crime. During the same period, victims of rape
included 259 children under the age of 13 and 627 between the ages of
13 and 17. These numbers did not include additional cases of incest
(13) and statutory rape (574). There were an estimated 3,502 reported
cases of physical and sexual assault committed against minors and 535
cases of child kidnapping. The NNP estimated that about 62 percent of
sexual abuse victims were under the age of 18 and that 33 percent were
younger than 13. The Child and Family Law provides that juvenile
prisoners cannot be held in adult facilities or be held for more than
24 hours without being charged (see Section 1.c.). Child labor was a
problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law specifically prohibits trafficking
in persons and assigns a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. There was
little documented evidence of a substantial trafficking problem within
the country; however, there was some evidence that the country was a
source area for trafficking in women and children to other countries
for purposes of sexual exploitation. Child prostitution was a problem.
During the year, officials from the Government, NGOs, and other
organizations characterized trafficking as a small, but growing problem
throughout the region. The Government, NGOs and media periodically
reported cases of individual women trafficked to brothels in Guatemala
and Mexico by well organized criminal bands operating throughout
Central America, although few cases were fully documented by the
authorities and there were no reliable statistics on the scale of the
problem. The two main types of trafficking involved women moved from
rural areas to urban nightclubs and massage parlors and women from
urban areas, lured to brothels in neighboring countries by offers of
legitimate employment.
The law does not make prostitution illegal, though it bans its
promotion. The law defines statutory rape as sexual relations with
children 13 years old and younger; thus, there is no legal prohibition
on prostitution by juveniles 14 and older.
The Government continued its awareness campaign with border police
and immigration officials and worked with the ILO to improve the
ability of officials at entry points to Honduras to identify and
question young women not accompanied by family members. In addition,
the Government operated a 56-member Anti-Migrant Smuggling and Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Unit within the police. The women's
commissariats of the police conducted a nationwide trafficking
awareness campaign at high schools, presenting high-risk youth with
pamphlets and presentations warning them against the dangers of
trafficking. According to the Ministry of Labor, strip clubs were
inspected several times each year to ensure that they employed no
underage workers. The Foreign Ministry's consular officers in
neighboring countries assisted with the repatriation of victims.
In late 2003 and early in the year, members of civil society and
the Government formed a national coalition against trafficking in
persons. The coalition is designed to coordinate action against
trafficking in persons by training and empowering national institutions
to find and combat trafficking activity. During the year, it carried
out awareness campaigns, worked to improve coordination between the
Government and civil society in repatriation cases, and launched a
major survey designed to provide the first reliable statistics on the
extent of trafficking.
In July, the Ministry of Government opened an anti-trafficking in
persons liaison office as a primary point of contact for anyone
interested or involved in fighting the problem. The office is also
intended to coordinate the activities of the national anti-trafficking
coalition. Also in July, the National Assembly ratified the 2000 U.N.
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the U.N. Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime.
In October 2003, the National Council for Attention and Protection
of Children (CONAPINA), a quasi-governmental institution composed of
high-level state, non-state, and international actors and charged with
national policy on children, approved a National Strategy Against
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, including
trafficking of children. The highly detailed plan was integrated with
CONAPINA's 10-year national policy on children and developed as a
national consensus. It designates the Ministries of Family, Health, and
Education as the principal governmental organizations to create and
enforce policies against trafficking in persons and other forms of
commercial sexual exploitation. The plan encourages the participation
of local government and civil society for its implementation. It sets
out 12 clearly defined objectives and 9 strategies for implementation,
including prevention, victim protection, victim attention, and
prosecution of traffickers. The plan also has detailed measures for
evaluating progress.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, and in the provision of state services. Despite some efforts, the
government's role in helping the disabled was minimal and often has
been criticized. Despite an ongoing lobbying campaign by NGOs, the
Government has not legislated or otherwise mandated accessibility to
buildings for the disabled.
The National Council for Rehabilitation of the Ministry of Health
addresses the needs of the estimated 535,000 citizens with some type of
disability, few of whom received medical treatment. Through its clinics
and hospitals, the Government provided care to war veterans and other
disabled persons, but the quality of care was generally poor. During
the year, the Government launched a public relations campaign calling
for greater integration of persons with disabilities in society. The
law obligates companies to contract persons with disabilities, not to
let such disabilities affect salaries, and to consider disabled persons
equal to other workers. However, this law rarely was enforced.
Advocates for persons with disabilities contended that many national
and local government officials either were unaware of the country's
laws on equal opportunity or made no effort to put them into effect.
They also criticized the requirement of the new national Civil Service
Law that took effect during the year that all government employees be
``physically and mentally able'' for contradicting constitutional
provisions stating that all persons are equal before the law.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Most citizens are of mixed
background, and ethnicity is not a barrier to political or economic
success. However, various indigenous and ethnic groups from both the
Northern and Southern Autonomous Atlantic Regions (RAAN and RAAS)
sometimes linked the government's lack of resources devoted to the
Atlantic Coast to ethnic, racial, and religious minorities that
predominate in that region. In contrast with the rest of the country,
the region's racial makeup tends to be black and Amerindian, while its
religious makeup is principally composed of various Protestant
denominations.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous people constitute approximately 5
percent of the country's population and live primarily in the RAAN and
RAAS. These regions constitute 47 percent of the national territory,
but include only 12 percent of the population. Based on 1998
information from the Center for Investigation and Documentation of the
Atlantic Coast and other sources, the 4 major identifiable indigenous
groups are the Miskito (with approximately 100,000 members), the Sumo
(10,000), the Garifuna (3,000), and the Rama (1,000).
There were no new developments in the lawsuit brought against the
Government in July 2003 by the Yatama political party before the IACHR
alleging that the Government violated the rights of the Miskito and the
Sumo by disqualifying Yatama in the 2000 municipal elections. However,
Yatama was able to run in the November municipal elections and its
candidate won in Puerto Cabezas, the capital of the RAAN.
During the year, representatives of indigenous communities that
were forcibly relocated and whose property was destroyed or confiscated
by the Sandinista regime in the 1980s called on the Government to
provide them with some form of aid or compensation for their suffering.
In return, they offered to refrain from initiating legal procedures
against the state at the national and international levels. No
information on any government response to the appeal was available at
year's end.
Although the law requires the Government to consult indigenous
people regarding the exploitation of their areas' resources, as in
previous years, some indigenous groups complained that central
government authorities excluded the indigenous people of the Atlantic
Coast from meaningful participation in decisions affecting their lands,
cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural resources. In
August and September, a wide range of local government officials and
NGOs in the RAAN declared a 6-day ``state of emergency'' in the
province, shutting down schools, closing government offices and the
main provincial airport. They sought to draw attention to regional
claims that the central Government not only ignored the people of the
Atlantic Coast when making decisions that affected them, but also
neglected to maintain or improve infrastructure in the region,
including roads, bridges, docks, and electricity. The protest ended
when the Government signed an agreement promising to meet most of the
local demands.
Government health care exists in the Atlantic Coast towns of Puerto
Cabezas, Siuna, Bonanza, Rana, and Bluefields, but a majority of
indigenous people in rural areas had no access to modern health care,
and deteriorating roads made medicine and health care almost completely
inaccessible in many communities. Critics of government policy cited
extremely high unemployment rates among the indigenous, but calculation
of reliable employment statistics was complicated because most of the
working indigenous population on the Atlantic Coast is engaged in
subsistence fishing, farming, and mining.
On May 4, unknown assailants entered the police station in
Bluefields and killed four policemen in the station. Despite the high
profile nature of the incident, a handful of arrests, and rampant
public and media speculation on who was responsible for the killings,
by year's end the NNP had made no progress in investigating the case.
Speculation was widespread that drug traffickers, perhaps with the
collaboration of some elements within the police, were responsible for
the killings. The incident demonstrated how the lack of a government
presence, ethnic tensions, poverty, and drug-based economic opportunity
have created an ungoverned space on the Atlantic Coast. International
drug traffickers increasingly took advantage of the situation.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution provides for the
right of workers to organize voluntarily in unions, and the Labor Code
reaffirms this right. All public and private sector workers, except
those in the military and the police, may form and join unions of their
own choosing, and they exercise this right extensively. The Labor Code
permits the existence of more than one union, representing the same
group of workers, at any place of employment. To become a union, a
group of at least 20 persons must petition the Ministry of Labor for
legal status and the right to engage in collective bargaining (see
Section 6.b.). The Labor Code recognizes cooperatives into which many
transportation and agricultural workers are organized. Representatives
of most organized labor groups criticized these cooperatives and assert
that they do not permit strikes, have inadequate grievance procedures,
are meant to displace genuine, independent trade unions and are
dominated by employers. According to the Ministry of Labor,
approximately 15 percent of the work force was unionized. Unions are
independent of the Government, although most were affiliated with
political parties to varying degrees.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution provides for the right to bargain collectively, and the
Labor Code reaffirms this right. The Government generally sought to
foster resolution of pressing labor conflicts through informal
negotiations rather than through formal administrative or judicial
processes. According to the Code, companies engaged in disputes with
employees must negotiate with the employees' union if the employees are
organized. However, the possible existence of more than one union at
any place of employment means that several unions, each with different
demands, can coexist at any one enterprise. Similarly, management may
sign collective bargaining agreements with each union. The Constitution
recognizes the right to strike; however, legal strikes were rare. The
Labor Code requires a majority vote of all the workers in an enterprise
to call a strike. The Labor Code requires that before a union may
strike, it must first receive approval from the Labor Ministry. To
obtain approval, the union must go through a process that requires good
faith negotiation with management. The Labor Ministry asserts that the
process is necessary to avoid purely political bad-faith strikes in the
highly politicized environment of labor relations that has existed in
the country for several decades. Observers contend that the process is
inappropriately lengthy and so complex that there have been few legal
strikes since the 1996 Labor Code came into effect; however, an ongoing
strike of government workers against the Supreme Electoral Council went
through the approval process relatively rapidly in 2003 (see Section
3). There have been several illegal strikes.
The Labor Code prohibits retribution against strikers and union
leaders for legal strikes. However, this protection may be withdrawn in
the case of an illegal strike. Because the administrative process of
getting the Ministry of Labor to rule a strike legal is so lengthy and
complex, unions sometimes declared strikes without completing the
process. In these cases, the Ministry of Labor consistently ruled the
strikes illegal and employers took advantage of the situation by firing
the striking workers based on the Ministry's ruling.
There were several allegations of violations of the right to
organize, most commonly that employers fired employees who were trying
to form a union. The Ministry of Labor investigated these allegations
and concluded that employers generally acted within the law, taking
advantage of the extensive administrative requirements necessary to
declare a strike legal or organize a union. Notwithstanding the
legality of employer actions, the result was to weaken significantly
the Sandinista Workers Central (CST), an important union politically
associated with the FSLN in the Free Trade Zones (FTZ).
In July, the CST and the Sandinista Mayor of Leon settled their
November 2003 disagreement over the labor rights of city workers and
signed, ratified, and implemented a new collective agreement for the
city's 1,500 workers.
There are 18 enterprises operating in the government-run FTZ,
employing 31,446 workers. There are no special laws or exemptions from
regular labor laws in the FTZs. In addition, there are 13 authorized
private FTZs, with many more under construction, but the 59 enterprises
currently operating in these zones employ some 30,044 workers, for a
total of 61,090 workers in all FTZs. Many workers in the FTZs are
represented by one of 27 different union organizations associated with
5 different labor confederations; however, less than 10 percent of FTZ
workers are actual union members. While some of these unions have real
collective bargaining power, others are primarily symbolic. The
overwhelming majority of the workers in the FTZs are women. Fifteen
thousand workers, or about 25 percent of those in the FTZs, belong to
the labor NGO Maria Elena Cuadra Women's Labor Movement (MEC), which
has a presence in 95 percent of the factories. While not a union, MEC
is a strong independent advocate for the rights of women laborers.
Union organizing efforts have encountered strong employer opposition in
the FTZs. The Ministry of Labor and the management of the government-
owned corporation that oversees the FTZs have worked, with some
success, to settle the resulting labor conflicts.
In May, the Ministry of Labor ruled that King Yong, a Taiwanese
company in the Free Trade Zones, violated the law when it fired
employees in March and April for attempting to organize a CST branch.
The company insisted that it had operated within the law, and the case
was pending before the courts at year's end.
In December, the CST filed a series of complaints with domestic and
international human rights and labor organizations alleging that
between August and November the Ministry of Labor colluded with the
management of the FTZ garment factory Nicotex to deny legal status to a
CST branch in the factory. According to the complaint, the Ministry
delayed the granting of legal status to the union and provided
management with a list of employees who had signed documents for the
formation of the union. The company then allegedly pressured dozens of
would-be union members to renounce their signatures, leaving the union
with insufficient members to qualify for legal recognition. When the
Ministry subsequently denied the union legal status, the company fired
its directors and several dozen other workers. The Ministry denied the
charges of collusion, and the case was unresolved at year's end.
The dispute between union organizers and management at the FTZ
garment factory Presitex that began in 2003 continued throughout the
year. Several suits and counter-suits between the union leaders and the
company remained pending before the courts, and the CST took the case
to the ILO, which had not made any pronouncement by year's end.
The November 2003 lawsuit filed by the CST against KB Manufacturing
in Granada for unpaid overtime between 1999 and 2002 remained pending
at year's end. The CST and the company were negotiating the issue as
part of their efforts to reach a collective agreement on wages and
working conditions.
Fines levied by the Ministry of Labor against employers violating
the Labor Code did not serve as effective deterrents. The maximum fine
is only $620 (10,000 cordobas), and there is no collection mechanism;
companies rarely paid the penalty assessed.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits 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.--The
Constitution provides for the protection of children's rights and
prohibits child labor that can affect normal childhood development or
interfere with the obligatory school year; however, child labor is a
problem. Comprehensive labor legislation protects children up to the
age of 18. The Constitution also provides protection from any type of
economic or social exploitation. The law prohibits child labor in areas
such as mines and garbage dumps and imposes heavy fines for illegal
employment. Children from 14 to 16 years of age may work legally with
parental permission. The law limits the workday for such children to 6
hours and prohibits night work. In October 2003, the President signed
an amendment to the labor Code to strengthen its child labor
provisions. The new law made it more difficult to obtain permission for
children aged 14 to 16 to work, raised fines for violators, and
permitted inspectors to close facilities employing child labor.
However, because of the economic needs of many families, a cultural
legacy of child work among peasants, and lack of effective government
enforcement mechanisms, child labor rules rarely are enforced except in
the small formal sector of the economy.
The Government reported that child labor occurred in both urban and
rural areas. The majority worked in the informal sector, often for
family ventures. In Managua over 6,000 children work on city streets,
selling merchandise, cleaning automobile windows, or begging. The
Ministry of Labor continued to report that some children were forced to
beg by their parents, and that some parents rented their children to
organizers of child beggars. Thousands of children also spent their
days scavenging in garbage dumps, in an attempt to salvage items to use
and sell. In rural areas, children worked on farms and in abandoned
mines. Child prostitution was a serious problem (see Section 5).
The ILO, foreign governments, and a wide variety of domestic and
international NGOs worked with the Ministries of Labor and the Family
to curb the most egregious cases of child labor and get the children
back to school. Some of these programs targeted children working in
garbage dumps and coffee farms and shifted thousands of children from
work to school or prevented them from going to work in the first place.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The statutory minimum wage is
set through tripartite (business, government, and labor) negotiations
and must be approved by the National Assembly. Each key sector of the
economy has a different minimum wage, which must be reviewed every 6
months. A new minimum wage scale took effect in May, raising the
minimum wage by 8 to 10 percent, varying by sector. As a comparison,
inflation for the year was 9.8 percent. The majority of workers earned
well above the statutory minimum rates. By sector, the minimum monthly
wage was as follows: Agriculture, $41.53 (669.30 cordobas) plus food;
fisheries, $64.34 (1,036.6 cordobas); mining, $77.73 (1,251.55
cordobas); industrial manufacturing, $55.74 (897.55 cordobas);
electric, gas, and water utilities $79.62 (1,282.02 cordobas);
construction, $98.01 (1,578 cordobas); restaurants and hotels, $60.12
(968.59 cordobas); transportation, $79.62 (1,282.02 cordobas); banking,
$98.01 (1,578.04 cordobas); community and social services, $60.12
(968.59 cordobas); and central and municipal government (includes
health and education employees), $54.72 (881.10 cordobas). The national
minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. In every sector, the minimum wage falls below the $141
(2,065 cordobas) that the Government estimates an urban family must
spend each month for a basic basket of goods.
The Labor Code incorporates the constitutionally mandated 8-hour
workday; the standard legal workweek is a maximum of 48 hours, with 1
day of rest weekly. This provision was routinely ignored, although
employers claimed that workers readily volunteered for these extra
hours for the extra pay. The Code established severance pay at from 1
to 5 months, depending on the duration of employment and the
circumstances of firing. However, persons fired for cause may be denied
severance pay through a process that requires employers to demonstrate
proof of worker misconduct. The Code also established an employer's
obligation to provide housing to employees who are assigned temporarily
to areas beyond commuting distance.
The Labor Code seeks to bring the country into compliance with
international standards and norms of workplace hygiene and safety, but
the Ministry of Labor's Office of Hygiene and Occupational Security
lacks adequate staff and resources to enforce these provisions and
working conditions often do not meet international standards. Workers
in some factories in the free trade zones have complained of poor
working conditions, being forced to work unpaid overtime and of being
told when they may and may not go to the toilets. During the year, the
Ministry of Labor, in conjunction with NGOs and foreign donors,
provided training and resources to workers and employers in identifying
and resolving workplace hygiene and safety issues. The Code gives
workers the right to remove themselves from dangerous workplace
situations without jeopardizing their continued employment. Between
January and August, 12 workers died as a result of work-related
accidents. Inspectors from the Ministry of Labor investigated 7 of the
12 cases, but no results of these investigations were available.
The enactment of a 2001 law aimed at foreign companies prompted the
filing of lawsuits on behalf of thousands of individuals claiming to be
banana workers affected by exposure to the pesticide DBCP in the 1970s
and 1980s when its use was legal. In 2002, a judge issued the first
decision on one suit, a $489 million (7.599 billion cordobas) judgment
on behalf of 583 plaintiffs. None of the companies named as defendants
participated in the short evidentiary process that led to this
judgment, and the court, citing the law, refused to hear their legal
arguments or accept contrary evidence. The court also apparently did
not consider a non-binding opinion circulated earlier that year by the
acting Attorney General that cited apparent constitutional flaws in the
law. In May 2003, the claimants filed suit in a foreign court seeking
enforcement of the decision. In October 2003, the court judge dismissed
the case. In December 2003, one of the companies named as defendants
filed suit in a foreign court against some of the plaintiffs, alleging
abuse of power and malicious prosecution. The companies have alleged
that the plaintiffs have falsified their numbers and their medical
records. In February, more than 1,000 individuals claiming to be former
banana workers staged a march to the capital to draw attention to their
claims. At year's end, several hundred lawsuits claiming over $10
billion (155.4 billion cordobas) in damages were pending in the
country's courts and in foreign courts.
__________
PANAMA
Panama is a representative democracy with an elected executive
composed of a president and two vice presidents, an elected 78-member
unicameral legislature, and an appointed judiciary. In May, voters
elected President Martin Torrijos of the Democratic Revolutionary Party
(PRD) in generally free and fair elections, observed by domestic and
international organizations. The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judicial system was subject to
corruption and political manipulation.
The Panamanian Public Forces consist of the Panamanian National
Police (PNP), the National Maritime Service (SMN), the National Air
Service (SAN), and the Institutional Protection Service (SPI). A 1994
constitutional amendment formally prohibits the establishment of a
permanent military, although it contains a provision for the temporary
formation of a ``special police force'' to protect the borders in case
of a ``threat of external aggression.'' The Ministry of Government and
Justice oversaw the PNP, the SMN, and the SAN; the Ministry of the
Presidency supervised the SPI. Security forces responded to civilian
authority, had civilian directors, and had internal review procedures
to deal with misconduct. There were occasional reports that some
members of the security forces committed human rights abuses.
The market-based economy, which uses the U.S. dollar as its
currency (calling it the Balboa), was based primarily on a well-
developed services sector that accounted for approximately 80 percent
of gross domestic product. The country had an estimated population of
3.1 million. While the economy experienced 0.8 percent real growth in
2002, it grew 4.1 percent in real terms in 2003. In November, the
legislature's budget commission estimated growth for the year at 6.1
percent. Unemployment was officially estimated at 12.8 percent for
2003; however, private economists believed that it may be several
points higher. Through June, inflation averaged 0.45 percent.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, despite some improvements, there continued to be
serious problems in several areas. Overall prison conditions remained
harsh, with reports of abuse by prison guards. Prolonged pretrial
detention was a problem. The judiciary was subject to corruption and
political manipulation, and the criminal justice system was inefficient
and often corrupt. Despite these shortcomings, the Supreme Court ruled
repeatedly that the statute of limitations would not bar cases
involving killings and disappearances during the 1968-89 military
dictatorship. The media were subject to political pressure, libel
suits, and punitive action by government officials. Women held some
high positions in the Government, including the presidency for most of
the year; however, discrimination against women persisted, and violence
against women remained a serious problem. Trafficking in persons was a
problem despite improved anti-trafficking laws and publicity and a
government crack down on traffickers. Discrimination against indigenous
people and minorities continued to be a problem. The Government
improved its treatment of refugees and its attention to the persons
with disabilities. Child labor 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.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces were suspected of unlawfully killing several
persons during the year. At year's end, the PNP's Professional
Responsibility Office (DRP) reported that it had opened and was
investigating four cases of killings involving PNP officers during the
year. The media reported at least one case of spousal killing by a PNP
officer (see Section 5). At year's end, the investigation continued
into the 2002 killing of a 13-year-old indigenous Wounaan girl, Aida
(or Ayda) Chirimia, in the Darien village of Biroquera, reportedly
within the local national police compound. At year's end, one PNP
officer remained dismissed in connection with the killing.
In August, the Fourth Superior Prosecutor requested that two off-
duty PNP officers be tried for homicide in the 2001 killings of two men
whose bodies were found on the beach in Punta Chame. In October, the
Second Justice Tribunal set December 2005 as the start of the trial.
The officers remained in jail.
In August, former President Moscoso signed a document in which the
country accepted responsibility before the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights (IACHR) for certain crimes committed during the 1968-89
military dictatorship, thereby opening the possibility of a dialog
regarding compensation between the Government and the families of
victims. In October, the Torrijos administration informed the IACHR
that it interpreted this dialog as a mechanism to work individually
with those victims' families who had exhausted all legal remedies
before the country's courts.
In March, the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the Second
Superior Tribunal by ruling that the prosecution of members of the
former National Guard in the death of leftist leader Heliodoro Portugal
was not barred by the statute of limitations. Heliodoro Portugal
disappeared in 1970. In 2000, his family identified his remains by DNA
as those found in an unmarked grave on the grounds of a former military
base in Panama City. At year's end, the Second Superior Court ordered
the detention of Ricardo Garibaldo for his involvement in the
disappearance and death of Portugal and the 2002 petition before the
IACHR regarding the Portugal case remained pending.
As of September, the Office of Truth Commission Continuation,
originally established as the Truth Commission for 6 months in 2001 to
investigate killings and disappearances believed to have occurred under
the 1968-89 military dictatorship, solicited the opening or reopening
of 16 cases and continued to pursue 17 other cases of killings during
the 1968-89 military dictatorship.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
As of September, the Office of Truth Commission Continuation
solicited the opening or reopening of 18 cases and continued to pursue
7 other cases of disappearances during the 1968-89 military
dictatorship.
During the year, there were no reports of kidnapping, rape, or
harassment by Colombian insurgents in Darien or Kuna Yala Provinces.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices, and the public
security forces generally performed in a professional and restrained
manner. However, prison guards occasionally abused inmates, and
according to the PNP's DRP, as of mid-August, there were 16 reported
cases of police abuse against prison inmates.
During the year, police generally exercised restraint in their
treatment of street protesters (see Section 2.b.).
Prison conditions remained harsh and, in some cases, life
threatening, due largely to budget constraints. By December, the prison
system, which had an official capacity of 7,348 persons, held 11,517
prisoners. Most prisons were dilapidated and overcrowded. Many of the
problems within the prisons resulted not only from obvious overcrowding
but also from the lack of separation of inmates according to the type
or severity of the crime committed. Pretrial detainees often shared
cells with sentenced prisoners due to lack of space.
Medical care for prisoners was inadequate. AIDS, tuberculosis, and
other communicable diseases were common among the prison population.
During the year, the La Joya and La Joyita prisons continued to have
water shortages. The European Union funded some legal, medical, and
dental staff for prisons, and there was at least one doctor in each
major facility. As of mid-August, 8 inmates had died.
There were some improvements in the prison system. The General
Penitentiary Inspection Directorate (DGSP) hired 75 new civilian
corrections officers (or ``custodians'') and began using all civilian
custodians within El Renacer prison. In August, the Department of
Corrections closed the Pacific island penal colony of Coiba, where
conditions had been particularly harsh.
The DGSP largely depended on 1,425 PNP officers to supply both
internal and perimeter security at all prisons. There were only 440
custodians for the entire prison system. As a result, regular PNP
officers still were used to fill staffing gaps. PNP officers sometimes
were untrained for prison duty and found the assignment distasteful,
which contributed to tension and abuses within the prison system.
Civilian custodians handled inmates within Nueva Esperanza, Tinajitas,
El Renacer, and the central women's prison, which used only female
officers. The DGSP did not have authority to discipline prison guards
with criminal or civil sanctions; only the PNP disciplinary board could
sanction a PNP agent or a custodian.
Abuse by prison guards, both PNP and civilian, was a recurrent
problem. Police officials acknowledged that they received and
investigated 16 cases as of mid-August.
The main prisons in Panama City included La Joya (a maximum-
security facility), La Joyita, Tinajitas, the Feminine Center (women's
prison), and the Juvenile Detention Center. An additional facility, El
Renacer, held inmates generally accused of less serious crimes. In
March, the Ombudsman's Office recommended that the Government begin the
process of closing La Chorrera prison because of the overcrowded
prison's extremely unsanitary conditions. By August, the Government had
reduced the number of prisoners in La Chorrera from 548 to 379.
In Nueva Esperanza prison in Colon province, both male and female
pavilions had separate sections for inmates convicted of administrative
felonies and those convicted of violent crimes.
There were prisons of significant size in David, Santiago, and
other towns. Small jails attached to local police stations around the
country sometimes held prisoners for the entire length of their
sentences, but the police who guarded them lacked the necessary
custodial training to prevent abuses.
Female prisoners were held separately from male prisoners, and
juveniles were held separately from adults. Throughout the country,
conditions at women's prisons and at juvenile detention centers were
noticeably better than at adult male prisons. However, female
prisoners, especially those in the primary detention area, reportedly
suffered from overcrowding, poor medical care, and lack of basic
supplies for personal hygiene.
There was one modern juvenile detention center near Panama City.
Juvenile pretrial and custodial detention centers throughout the
country suffered from inadequate resources to provide for education or
adequate supervision of children, although a nongovernmental
organization (NGO) provided secondary school instruction to some minors
in custodial detention.
The law and the Penal Code provide for conditional release programs
for inmates charged with minor offenses who have served a substantial
part of their sentence; however, this provision was not implemented
consistently in practice. During the year, conditional releases
decreased due to resistance from the autonomous Attorney General's
office.
The Government generally allowed prison visits by independent human
rights observers. The Ombudsman's office had a well-established prison
visit program, and the Government generally allowed staff from the
Ombudsman's office to speak with prisoners without monitoring.
Prisoners expressed fear of retaliation if they complained. Justicia y
Paz, the Catholic Church's human rights monitoring group, brought
prison abuses to the attention of the authorities. The Association of
New Men and Women of Panama, a gay and lesbian rights group, noted
difficulty in gaining access to prisoners to provide AIDs education and
training.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions. Exceptions were permitted when an officer
apprehended a person during the commission of a crime, or when an
individual interfered with an officer's actions. The Constitution also
provides that suspects are to be brought promptly before a judge;
however, lack of prompt arraignment remained a problem. The law
requires the arresting officer to inform the detainee immediately of
the reasons for arrest or detention and of the right to immediate legal
counsel. Police arrested and detained children for minor infractions
during neighborhood sweeps (see Section 5).
The PNP falls under the civilian authority of the Minister of
Government and Justice. There were approximately 15,000 police officers
with an estimated total budget of $147,820,000. Although its primary
mission was law enforcement, the PNP was detailed for prison and border
security. The Judicial Technical Police (PTJ), a semiautonomous body
with leadership appointed by the Supreme Court, was a separate branch
of law enforcement under the Attorney General's office and performed
criminal investigations in support of public prosecutors. The law
providing the legal basis for the PNP 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. Although not
all PNP personnel were trained in the use of force, the PNP provided
more training during the year. In June, the Human Rights Ombudsman's
office hosted a 3-day course on human rights and penitentiary
procedures for PNP agents working in prisons.
The PTJ and the PNP have offices of professional responsibility
that act as internal affairs organs to hold officers accountable for
their actions. Both have staffs of independent investigators as well as
administrative authority to open internal investigations. In both
organizations, a defined legal process is followed in which, upon
completion of the process, the director of the PTJ or the PNP review
panel, as appropriate, has the final authority to determine the
disposition of each case.
The PNP deputy director and the secretary general addressed human
rights problems that arose in the police force. The offices of
professional responsibility were well known in the community, and the
rate of complaints remained generally constant in the PTJ office. As of
late September, the Ombudsman received 58 complaints against the police
for abuse of authority (see Section 4). At year's end, the PNP Office
of Professional Responsibility received 543 complaints (including 132
cases of physical mistreatment), an average of 10 complaints per week,
an increase from 9 per week in 2003. Through mid-August, the office
penalized 60 officers. Penalties included reduction in rank, and in
severe cases, criminal prosecution. There were 16 dismissals as of mid-
August.
The PTJ received complaints from the public, and officers could
make anonymous complaints of corruption and other problems. By early
September, the PTJ Office of Professional Responsibility had conducted
136 investigations, which resulted in the dismissal of 17 agents. The
majority of open cases were for mishandling official property such as
misplacing guns or radios (53), misconduct or improper behavior (25),
corruption (15), abuse of authority (15), and negligence (10).
Corruption among police officers remained a problem. In some cases,
PNP and PTJ directors enforced other disciplinary measures against
officers with proven involvement in illicit activities; however, both
organizations only reacted to egregious abuses, due to a lack of staff,
independence, and institutional priority. In May, PNP narcotics
officers arrested the entire PNP uniformed shift at the substation in
San Carlos, including the police captain, for off-loading boats from
Colombia that carried illegal narcotics.
The Constitution provides for judicial review of the legality of
detention and mandates the immediate release of any person detained or
arrested illegally. The Constitution prohibits police from detaining
suspects for more than 24 hours without bringing them before a judge.
Under the law, the preliminary investigation phase may last from 8 days
to 2 months and the follow-on investigation phase another 2 to 4
months, depending on the number of suspects. The courts frequently
granted extensions of time limits, leaving those accused in detention
for long periods without having been charged formally. The law permits
these extensions; however, many legal authorities (including court
officials) criticized judges for excessive use of this measure. While
the law provides for bail, in practice judges often declined to grant
bail.
Extended pretrial detention continued to be one of the most serious
human rights problems, due in part to the elaborate notification phase
in criminal cases. According to government statistics, by December,
6,701 prisoners, or about 58 percent of the prison population, 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.
Legal alternatives to prison existed; however, they were not
implemented widely. Options such as house arrest were used in some
cases involving the elderly or minors but required that the defendants
have access to, and understanding of, their legal options. There was a
limited program of work or study in lieu of some sentences. As of mid-
August, the Government had granted 35 work permits and 14 school
permits to prisoners.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was susceptible to
corruption and outside influence, including manipulation by other
branches of government.
The President appoints 9 Supreme Court magistrates to 10-year
terms, subject to National Assembly ratification. The Supreme Court
magistrates appoint appellate (Superior Tribunal) judges, who, in turn,
appoint circuit and municipal court judges in their respective
jurisdictions. Judicial appointments are supposed to be made under a
merit-based system, but the top-down appointment system lent itself to
political influence and undue interference by higher-level judges in
lower-level cases in which they often had no jurisdiction.
At the local level, mayors appoint administrative judges, or
``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 1 year. This system continued to have serious shortcomings
outside of Panama City: Defendants lacked adequate procedural
safeguards; administrative judges outside of Panama City usually were
not attorneys; many had not completed secondary education; and some
were corrupt. In practice, appeal procedures were nonexistent. As of
October, the number of local sentences imposed by corregidores in
Panama City alone was 1,152. Affluent defendants still tended to pay
fines while poorer defendants went to jail, which contributed to prison
overcrowding (see Section 1.c.).
The 1998 judicial reform program started by the Inter-American
Development Bank and the Government finished at year's end.
The Constitution provides that persons 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. Judges may order the presence of pretrial detainees
for the rendering or amplification of statements, or for confronting
witnesses. Trials were conducted on the basis of evidence presented by
the public prosecutor. Under limited circumstances, the law permits
trials without the accused being present. The Constitution and the
Criminal Procedure Code provide for trial by jury at the defendant's
election, but only in cases where at least one of the charges is
murder.
The Constitution obliges the Government to provide public defenders
for the indigent. However, 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
some 550 cases per attorney per year. Thirteen additional public
defenders have been hired since 1992; there were 49 nationwide, with a
similar number of assistants. In 2003, the Government appointed seven
prosecutors to comply with a new law regarding delinquent minors. A
heavy workload continued to undermine the quality of representation,
with many prisoners meeting their public defender for the first time on
the day of trial. The inadequate number of public defenders also
continued to cause a backlog in trial dates, which contributed to the
problem of prison overcrowding.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution provides for the inviolability of the
home, private papers, and telephonic communications, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice; however, 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
placed a representative, whose job was to approve searches, in each of
the PTJ's divisions.
In November, a constitutional reform signed by President Torrijos
and ratified by the National Assembly went into effect, permitting
wiretapping with a court order issued by a competent court that
identifies a specific objective.
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 sometimes
did not respect these rights in practice, and at times the media were
subject to political and economic pressure. The Government and public
figures made frequent use of libel and ``disrespect for authority''
laws to confront and attempt to intimidate journalists who allegedly
were ``irresponsible'' or who besmirched the honor of a particular
government institution or leader. During the year, 10 journalists were
charged with criminal libel according to the Ombudsman's office.
There was an active and often adversarial press and a broad range
of print and electronic media outlets, including newspapers, radio and
television broadcasts, and domestic and foreign cable stations. Seven
national daily newspapers, 5 national broadcast television stations, 2
educational television stations, 1 religious broadcast television
station, and more than 120 radio stations provided a broad choice of
informational sources; all were privately or institutionally owned
except for 1 government-owned educational television station. The law
prohibits newspapers from holding radio and television concessions, and
vice versa. The media carried a wide variety of political commentaries
and other perspectives, both local and foreign.
In the run-up to the national elections in May, government
advertising continued to be distributed along partisan lines and
clearly favored certain newspapers despite their modest circulation. In
October, the Torrijos administration centralized the purchase of
advertising for the central government's non-autonomous entities under
the Secretariat of Communication, which began using its discretion to
purchase advertising on the basis of circulation, purchasing
advertising in all the major newspapers for some topics.
Domestic and foreign journalists worked and traveled freely
throughout the country. The law requires directors and deputy directors
of media outlets to be citizens.
A 1999 law eliminated ``gag laws'' dating from the military
dictatorship; however, legal actions against many journalists remained
pending, and vestiges of the former gag laws still provided a means for
charging journalists with defamation. The IACHR, the Inter-American
Press Association, Reporters Without Borders, and other groups
criticized these measures as efforts to censor the press. A 2002 report
by the Ombudsman's office found that government officials brought 52
percent of the criminal libel suits against journalists and the media.
In November, Constitutional reforms removed judges' ability to jail or
fine persons for contempt without a trial, but did not reform criminal
libel.
In March, police arrested editorialist and former president of La
Prensa, Roberto Eisenmann and charged him with criminal libel in a case
brought against him by the Attorney General. The charges stem from a
January 30 column in which Eisenmann accused Sossa of ``protecting
criminals and filing charges against journalists.''
In August, former President Mireya Moscoso included many
journalists, including Roberto Eisenmann, among a list of individuals
pardoned for various crimes. This pardon reduced significantly the
number of journalists charged with libel and related crimes. At year's
end, as many as 30 cases against journalists continued, including that
of former Agricultural Minister Linnette Stanziola Apolaya against
journalists Rafael Berrocal and Sady Tapia.
The press laws provide for the establishment of a censorship board,
which monitored radio transmissions and had the authority to fine
stations that violated norms regarding vulgar, profane, or obscene
language. Despite occasional public protests over the content of radio
programs, no stations were fined.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
In March, the Disciplinary Commission of the University of Panama
summoned Law and Politics Professor Miguel Antonio Bernal to provide a
statement on April 6 in connection with Bernal's public criticism of
the university rector and university academic policies. On April 6,
Bernal left the hearing site before the hearing began after he received
shouted insults from more than 20 administration personnel. In August,
President Moscoso included Bernal on her presidential pardons list. At
year's end, Bernal continued in his position at the university.
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.
In October, over 28 persons were injured in Bocas del Toro,
including 24 police officers, when anti-riot police attempted to open
roads closed by residents protesting the local private utility company.
The 22 protestors initially detained in the incident claimed after
their release that police brutally beat them in detention and media
published pictures of their injuries. Preliminary investigation by the
Ombudsman's office indicated that protestors tied up police, took and
set fire to their equipment, and tried to set fire to officers. Cases
filed with the Public Ministry by both sides continued at year's end.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion provided that ``Christian morality and public order'' are
respected, and the Government generally respected freedom of religion
in practice.
The Constitution prohibits clerics from holding public office,
except as related to social assistance, education, or scientific
research. However, Catholicism enjoyed certain state-sanctioned
advantages over other faiths. For example, the Constitution mandates
that Catholicism be taught in public schools, although parents had the
right to exempt their children from religious instruction.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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. A 9:00
p.m. curfew for unaccompanied minors in the Panama City area remained
in effect, and enforcement became strict under the outgoing
administration's Operation Hard Hand policy.
The Constitution prohibits exile, and there were no reports of
forced exile.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided 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.'' While the 1998 decree provides for a meeting
every 3 months to determine status, by August the Moscoso Government's
Refugee Commission only met once, reviewed approximately 10 refugee
cases, and granted asylum to 2 persons. The Torrijos Government's
Refugee Commission received training from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and met twice within 2 months and
reviewed 32 cases, granting asylum in 14 cases and deferring 8 to
permit the presentation of additional evidence.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. In April, the UNHCR
and the Government agreed to the establishment of a permanent UNHCR
office in the country, and the Government granted the UNHCR unimpeded
access to refugees and UNHCR project sites. The UNHCR operated out of a
Panama City office and a regional office in Darien to monitor and to
aid displaced Colombians.
The 1998 decree only grants 2 months' temporary protection to
``displaced persons'' in the case of a large influx. The UNHCR
criticized the decree because it put persons at risk for forced
repatriation within a few weeks of entering the country, without
analysis of their possible refugee status. In practice, the Government
did not enforce the 2-month time limit.
According to the UNHCR, there were approximately 821 Colombians
under temporary protective status in the country. The Government did
not permit displaced Colombians to move or work outside of their
assigned villages. The Government generally remained reluctant to
classify displaced Colombians as refugees, but began to work with the
Government of Colombia and UNHCR on steps to regularize the status of
Colombians displaced for several years under other immigration
categories. Some Colombians have lived in the country for years without
formal refugee status. In Jaque, central Darien, and Kuna Yala, the
Government, along with the UNHCR, provided displaced Colombians with
food, medical care, and access to public services, including schools
and clinics. The Catholic Church and NGOs assisted the displaced
Colombians with infrastructure and income generating projects. The
International Committee of the Red Cross provided some limited
assistance to the approximately 40-50 displaced Colombians living in
the remote Alto Tuira border area. In February, the Government, the
Colombian Government, and the UNHCR successfully conducted a voluntary
and transparent repatriation of 24 Colombians from Boca de Cupe.
The authorities continued to refuse entry to Colombians who arrived
by air and could not show that they had at least $500; however,
according to UNHCR, Colombians arriving by air to claim refugee status
generally had $500.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The Constitution provides for direct popular
election by secret ballot of the President, the vice president,
legislators, and local representatives every 5 years. Naturalized
citizens may not hold certain categories of elective office. The
independent Electoral Tribunal arranges and supervises elections. The
Government respected the rights of its citizens to join any political
party, and vote for candidates of their choice. However, the law
requires new political parties to meet strict membership and
organizational standards to gain official recognition and participate
in national campaigns.
In May, Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) presidential candidate
Martin Torrijos defeated Solidarity Party (PS) candidate Guillermo
Endara, Arnulfista candidate (PA) Jose Miguel Aleman, and Democratic
Change (CD) candidate Ricardo Martinelli, winning 47 percent of the
popular vote. Domestic and international observers characterized the
elections as generally free and fair; however, at least one local
contest was marred by reports of vote buying. The PRD gained a majority
of 42 seats in the National Assembly.
In November, several constitutional reforms became effective. The
reforms required political parties to be structured democratically,
permitted independents to campaign for the National Assembly, increased
the autonomy of the Electoral Tribunal, and limited the immunity of
representatives in the National Assembly by permitting the Supreme
Court to prosecute criminal cases against representatives. Beginning in
2009, the reforms would reduce the number of vice presidents from 2 to
1 and cap the number of National Assembly members at 71.
Public perceptions of executive and legislative corruption were
consistently high. In the lead-up to the May election, polls identified
corruption as one of the greatest national problems. Extensive
legislative immunity, granted by the Constitution, continued to hinder
judicial follow-up of accusations of corruption against National
Assembly members. The Torrijos administration established a National
Anti-Corruption Commission under the presidency, audited accounts on an
agency-by-agency level, rescinded improperly granted diplomatic
passports, dismissed employees for malfeasance, and brought charges
against officials for petty corruption.
Immediately upon taking office on September 1, the Torrijos
Administration revoked a Moscoso Administration implementing decree
that impeded enforcement of the Transparency Law intended to provide
public access to information from and about public entities. In May,
the Supreme Court had invalidated on constitutional grounds several of
the decree's most restrictive articles. In November, the Torrijos
administration decreed that cabinet meeting minutes are exempt from
public release under the Transparency Law. In late October, the
Solicitor General interpreted the Constitution narrowly in advising the
Ministry of the Presidency on the disclosure of statements of
officials' assets by notaries, indicating that notaries are only
authorized to disclose the statements to the Comptroller General, the
Ministry of Economy and Finance, and authorities with jurisdiction.
Women held 11 of 78 National Assembly seats. Two women held
positions in the 13-member Cabinet under the Torrijos Administration, 2
female judges were on the Supreme Court, and an Afro-Panamanian woman
was the Solicitor General. There was 1 Afro-Panamanian in the Cabinet.
There were dedicated seats for two Kuna Yala comarca and three Ngobe-
Bugle comarca legislators in the National Assembly. In addition to the
five dedicated seats, Bocas del Toro elected one Ngobe legislator to
the National Assembly. Neither the Madugandi nor the Embera-Wounaan
reserve had its own dedicated legislators.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights organizations,
including both religious and secular groups, operated without
government restrictions, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials were generally cooperative and
responsive to their views.
In November, constitutional reforms went into effect requiring an
Ombudsman's Office under the direction of an Ombudsman named by the
legislature to a five-year term. Prior to the reforms, the Ombudsman
and Ombudsman's office were only authorized by statute. During the
year, the Ombudsman's office received complaints from citizens
regarding abuses or violations committed by public servants or
government institutions, collected information, observed elections,
confronted accused public institutions or employees, provided human
rights training, and conducted studies to promote international human
rights standards. Although the Ombudsman had no coercive authority, he
could confront public institutions and employees with their misdeeds.
In 2001, the legislature elected attorney Juan Antonio Tejada Espino as
Ombudsman for a 5-year term.
As of mid-September, the Ombudsman's office received 652 complaints
against the Government. Of this number, 565 were against public
institutions (58 of them against the PNP), and 87 were against
businesses operating under a government concession. The Ombudsman
improved its comprehensive web site and extended office hours for
receiving complaints.
As of mid-September, the Office of Truth Commission Continuation
solicited the opening or reopening of 16 cases of killings and
continued to pursue 17 other cases of killings during the dictatorship
(see Section 1.a.). As of mid-September, the Office of Truth Commission
Continuation solicited the opening or reopening of 18 cases of
disappearances and continued to pursue 7 other cases of disappearances
during the dictatorship (see Section 1.b.). In December, President
Torrijos announced that he was not extending funding to the Office of
Truth Commission Continuation when it expired at year's end, and that
cases of killings and disappearances during the 1968-89 dictatorship
would continue to be handled through the judicial process.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
birth status, social class, sex, disability, or political views. A 2002
law specifically prohibits discrimination and any kind of ``right of
admission'' to any public or commercial establishment and sets fines
from $250 to $1,000. However, societal prejudices persisted. Cases of
discrimination were difficult to prove, and legal remedies for victims
were complicated, time-consuming, and costly. Many commercial
establishments continued openly to operate a ``right of admission''
policy, which discriminated against dark-skinned persons.
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).
Convictions for domestic violence were rare because victims generally
chose spousal therapy over prosecution. Abusers were commonly convicted
of unintentional killing in cases of spousal death. By October, the PTJ
registered 1,167 cases of domestic violence. The PTJ also received 469
cases of rape and 88 cases of attempted rape by October. At year's end,
the PNP's DRP reported that its office investigated 38 cases of
domestic violence and 5 cases of rape committed by officers during the
year. The media reported at least one case of spousal killing by a PNP
officer (see Section 1.a.).
In Panama City, the Support Center for Abused Women (CAMM) operated
one temporary shelter for abused women and children funded by the
Government and the European Union, but the shelter did not serve women
abused outside of the domestic context. CAMM also provided domestic
violence victims with health and legal services, counseling services
for women and their domestic abusers, and a hotline.
Spouses or other family members frequently were the perpetrators.
The Foundation for the Promotion of Woman (FUNDAMUJER) and the Center
of Colon Women (MUCEC), among other women's advocacy groups and
government agencies, operated programs to assist victims of abuse and
to educate women on their legal rights.
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. The extent of the
problem was difficult to determine because convictions for sexual
harassment were rare and pre-employment sexual harassment was not
actionable.
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. The Family
Code recognizes joint or common property in marriages. However,
insufficient resources hampered government efforts to enforce the
code's provisions effectively. According to a Supreme Court justice,
competent caseload management would require 80 family judges; however,
only 16 of the legally mandated 20 family judges served during the year
due to lack of resources.
The Constitution mandates equal pay for men and women in equivalent
jobs, but wages paid to women were, on average, 30 to 35 percent lower
and increased at a slower rate, according to a 2002 study. There were
credible reports of irregular hiring practices based upon age and
``appearance.'' Female politicians noted discrimination within their
own parties, where they were generally given the least desirable ballot
positions during party primaries.
Through the National Directorate of Women, the Ministry of Women,
Youth, Family, and Childhood 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 concentrated on disseminating information about women's
rights, countering domestic abuse, enhancing employment and other
skills, and pressing for legal reforms.
Prostitution was legal and regulated. Studies of prostitutes over
the past decade, including a 2002 International Organization of Labor
(ILO report), point to domestic violence, initiation of sexual
relations before age 18, poverty, broken homes, and teenage maternity
as the major risk factors for prostitution. In August, the Comunidad
Apostolica Hosanna began a program to remove women from prostitution
and provide them with social services. At year's end, the program had
removed two women from prostitution and was working with eight other
women.
Children.--The Government is committed to children's rights and
welfare. Education is compulsory through the 9th grade and the
Constitution establishes free public education through high school.
Children did not always attend school due to traditional attitudes,
financial and economic constraints, lack of transportation or secondary
schools, and insufficient government resources. The problem was most
extreme in Darien Province and among indigenous groups. According to
the 2000 Census, 65 percent of children nationally between the ages of
15 and 19 had some schooling beyond sixth grade, but only 18 percent of
children ages 15-19 had schooling beyond sixth grade in the Embera and
Ngobe-Bugle comarcas.
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. A central children's hospital in Panama City operated with
government funds as well as private donations. In November and
December, the Government held health fairs to provide children with
vaccinations and medical checkups. According to the Government, from
September to December, the Ministry of Health also provided 75,000
persons with medical, dental, and optometric care through health
caravans that reached rural and indigenous areas.
By October, the PTJ registered 364 cases of child abuse and
neglect. Sexual abuse, including incest, accounted for 135 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.
Neglect of children also was a problem. Malnutrition and inadequate
medical care were generalized problems, most severe among rural
indigenous groups.
Inadequate resources and training available to the family courts
continued to result in controversial decisions, including the return of
children to abusive situations. By July, the 5 juvenile penal courts in
Panama and Colon provinces reported 1,241 new cases against juveniles.
Gang recruitment of minors by young adults was an increasing problem.
Police arrested and detained children for minor infractions during
neighborhood sweeps.
Trafficking in children and child labor were problems (see Sections
5, Trafficking and 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in women and
children; however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, or 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 used similar smuggling routes. Both the Ministry of Government and
Justice and the autonomous Attorney General's office had key roles in
combating trafficking. The Ministry of Youth had a strong role in the
prevention and the protection of victims.
On March 31, the Government enacted a law that included stronger
penalties, better legal definitions of trafficking and pornography, and
proscriptions against Internet predation and the promotion of sex
tourism. The law also enhanced investigation capability by eliminating
the need to initiate a complaint for an investigation, delaying the
running of the statute of limitations in cases involving minors, and
permitting undercover operations and the monitoring of suspects'
computers in sex crime cases. Unfortunately, the autonomous Attorney
General failed to convene CONAPREDES, the institution under the law
that would have provided additional funding to combat trafficking and
to provide victim's assistance. However, during the year the PTJ
created a specialized section for child sexual exploitation and the PTJ
and Public Ministry extended anti-trafficking efforts to the provincial
level.
At year's end, the PTJ's specialized section had begun 24 formal
investigations and transferred 7 cases to the Prosecutor's office for
prosecution. The Prosecutor's office also initiated its own
investigations, including a case involving suspected trafficking to
Europe. Information sharing between the Government and neighboring and
other countries increased, with the PTJ receiving three leads from
Interpol and six leads directly from other countries.
The country was a destination point for trafficked women. There was
some evidence that rural children were trafficked internally to work as
domestic servants in urban areas. Colombia was the primary country of
origin for trafficked women, followed by the Dominican Republic.
Although many Colombians and Dominicans came willingly to the country
apparently intending to become prostitutes, anecdotal evidence
suggested that some were forced to continue as prostitutes.
The country was a transit point for Colombian sex workers to other
Central American countries and the United States. Some of these women
were assumed to be trafficking victims, but evidence of total numbers
was lacking. Alien smuggling was a more prevalent problem. Most aliens
transiting the country using smuggling networks were Ecuadorian,
Peruvian, Colombian, Chinese, and Indian nationals who arrived from
Ecuador, Peru, or Colombia in route to the United States. There was
limited anecdotal evidence that some were trafficked for debt bondage,
including Chinese debt bondage within Panama.
The PNP and the Immigration Department conducted raids every 2 to 3
months on bars and brothels. By mid-November, the Immigration
Department under the Torrijos Administration had conducted raids on two
nightclubs and initiated deportation proceedings for 30 Colombians
working illegally as prostitutes. For the first time, the Immigration
Department also fined the noncompliant clubs. Immigration officials and
the PNP also conducted ad-hoc investigations and raids based on tips
and other leads but did not generally work cooperatively with the PTJ
Sex Crimes Unit. The Immigration Department also suspended issuance of
the ``alternadora'' visa, believed linked to the prostitution of
Colombian sex workers.
Commercial sexual exploitation of minors was a problem. ILO studies
indicated there were at least 100 minors who were victims of commercial
sexual exploitation. Commercial sexual exploitation was primarily an
internal issue except that perpetrators included foreigners, and there
was limited evidence of international trafficking networks of minors to
or through Panama. NGO and government efforts in prevention and
education were limited by lack of resources and coordination problems.
During the year, the Government prosecuted and convicted several
persons for prostituting children.
The March 31 law includes provisions to increase protection of
trafficking victims from traffickers and specifies that victims will
not be criminally responsible for prostitution or immigration crimes.
The law also provides for indemnification of victims of trafficking,
even if they return to their native country for costs of medical and
psychological treatment, temporary housing, legal fees, and emotional
suffering.
In November, the Ministry of Youth, the Ministry of Government, and
the First Lady's Office launched a campaign to combat child sexual
tourism. In November, the Ministry of Youth held a workshop with 40
local officials in the Darien province and a forum with 124
participants in Panama City on child commercial sexual exploitation. In
December, the Ministry of Youth also trained 16 officials in Veraguas
province in combating child commercial sexual exploitation. The
Ministry of Youth provided shelter and other services to victims of
commercial sexual exploitation, using substitute families, its own
shelter, and the shelter of a nongovernmental organization it
subsidized.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was substantial discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, and in the provision of other state services, but the
Torrijos administration took steps to decrease discrimination. The law
mandates access to new or remodeled public buildings for persons with
disabilities; however, the Government generally failed to enforce these
provisions in practice.
While the 2000 Census counted 52,197 persons with disabilities, the
new National Secretariat for Social Integration of the Disabled found
estimates by international organizations of 280,000 disabled persons
probable. The Secretariat coordinated and provided technical assistance
to government and civil society efforts to decrease discrimination
against and increase inclusion of the disabled. In October, the
Government installed a Council for the Social Integration of the
Disabled to support the Secretariat. The Council involved civil society
and more ministries (such as the Ministry of Public Works) and worked
to include the needs of the disabled in ministerial budgets. The
Ministry of Education was responsible for educating and training minors
over the age of four with disabilities, while the Ministry of Women,
Youth, Family, and Childhood provided training to children under four
and protected the rights of the disabled. Children with disabilities
generally were separated from the general population; however, the law
requires schools to integrate children with special needs into the
student body.
The Ministry of Labor was responsible for placing workers with
disabilities in suitable jobs, but placement remained difficult despite
a 1999 law requiring mandatory employment of at least two percent
disabled personnel. 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 be accessible to persons with
disabilities, with fines for the public sector from $100 to $500 for
noncompliance. A national law with similar requirements for new
construction projects generally was not enforced, but the Secretariat
began a campaign to increase voluntary compliance. Awareness of
disability issues increased under the Torrijos administration, and
commercial establishments increasingly provided and enforced
handicapped parking spaces. However, basic services such as
handicapped-accessible sidewalks and bathrooms were largely
unavailable.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country is racially
diverse, with the majority of the population mestizo, Afro-Panamanian,
or indigenous. Minority groups generally have been integrated into
mainstream society with overall success; however, discrimination
against the country's newer immigrants, especially Chinese, sometimes
was overt. There were an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 persons of
Chinese descent or admixture. Cultural differences and language
difficulties hindered and possibly prevented many Chinese immigrants
from fully integrating into mainstream society. In addition,
Panamanians often resented Chinese immigrants. Racial slurs directed at
Asians were used openly among the general population, and substantial
numbers of first generation resident Chinese frequently were treated as
second-class citizens. However, second and third generation Chinese
were seen as distinct from recent immigrants and generally were
accepted in society if they assimilated.
Middle Eastern and Indian residents, like the Chinese, also
suffered from racially motivated discriminatory treatment. All three
groups often worked in the country's retail trade, particularly in
urban areas. Legal and illegal immigrants, especially Chinese, were
accorded fewer legal protections than citizens for their trade
activities. A constitutional provision reserving retail trade for
Panamanian citizens was not enforced in practice; however, immigrants
legally could not own their businesses as sole proprietorships and
sometimes encountered bureaucratic difficulties in practicing their
professions.
Racism against blacks occurred, although it generally was expressed
in subtle terms. Afro-Panamanians comprised at least 14 percent of the
population; however, blacks were underrepresented in the highest
positions of political and economic power. Many Afro-Panamanians
remained clustered in the economically depressed province of Colon and
poorer neighborhoods of Panama City.
Mainstream political elites generally were unconcerned by the
economic and social problems of black populations and a concomitant
rise in drug use, crime, and gang violence. The country's white elite
discriminated against citizens with darker skin through preferential
hiring practices in the private sector and manipulation of government
resources in the public sector. The predominantly Afro-Panamanian city
of Colon, the country's second largest city, suffered from a
conspicuous lack of government services.
Racial discrimination against all ethnic groups was evident in the
workplace. In general, light-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 Constitution protects the ethnic identity
and native languages of indigenous people and requires the Government
to provide bilingual literacy programs in indigenous communities.
Indigenous people have legal rights and take part in decisions
affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation of
natural resources. According to the 2000 Census, indigenous people
numbered approximately 285,000 (approximately 9 percent of the
population) and had the same political and legal rights as other
citizens. There are indigenous reserves for five of the country's seven
native groups, including the Embera-Wounaan, Ngobe-Bugle, and Kuna.
Tribal chiefs govern each reserve. The much smaller Bri-Bri
(approximately 2,500 members) and Naso (approximately 3,000 members)
tribes, residing near the border with Costa Rica, did not have
officially recognized enclaves.
The Ministry of Government and Justice maintained an Office of
Indigenous Policy. Federal law is the ultimate authority on indigenous
reserves, but local groups had considerable autonomy. For example, 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 entire
indigenous population was estimated between 85 and 96 percent,
depending on the group. Discrimination against indigenous people was
widespread.
Kuna Yala leaders have succeeded in enforcing their territorial
boundaries and maintaining their cultural integrity. There were two
Kuna-Yala and four Ngobe legislators (see Section 3). Other indigenous
groups had not succeeded in using their autonomy to preserve their
culture or develop economic independence. Most lived in extreme poverty
and isolation.
Due to their often poor mastery of Spanish, indigenous populations
often misunderstood their rights and failed to employ legal channels
when threatened. In addition, legal tribunals were unavailable in
indigenous areas. The problem was exacerbated by government inattention
to indigenous problems. The Kuna comaraca Madugandi complained of
encroachment by settlers who were deforesting the comarca. The Ngobe
were under threat due to the isolation of their reserves, encroachment
by settlers, and generalized poverty. The Embera-Wounan struggled to
protect their intellectual property in medicinal plants. Indigenous
workers frequently did not receive the basic rights provided by the
Labor Code, such as minimum wage, social security benefits, termination
pay, and job security. Indigenous laborers in the country's sugar,
coffee, and banana plantations worked 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.).
In August, violence erupted between a group of Embera-Wounan and
nonindigenous settlers in a land dispute in the district of Chiman,
less than 200 miles east of Panama City. The PNP posted approximately
55 frontier police in the area to avoid further armed conflict. At
year's end, the situation had stabilized and the additional police had
been removed from the area.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS in employment and
education, but discrimination was common in practice 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; however, the Government had problems maintaining
retroviral medication in stock. In December, the First Lady, President
Torrijos, and two government ministers participated in an HIV/AIDS
awareness event.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Private sector workers had the right
to form and join unions of their choice, subject to the union's
registration by the Government. The Labor Code establishes the minimum
size of unions at 40 workers and permits only one ``establishment
union'' per establishment to represent the workers of that
establishment, but umbrella unions based on skill groups may also
operate in the same establishment. The Code 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. Associations of unions 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. The
code also allows labor leaders to keep their union positions if fired
from their jobs. Approximately 10 percent of the total employed labor
force was organized.
As of September, the Government had not made any additional
payments to 270 public sector electricity and telecommunications
workers whose dismissal the Inter-American Court of Human Rights had
found improper in a 2001 ruling.
The Government and political parties exercised political,
ideological, and/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 it widely. The Labor Code 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 19 public workers
associations, but it did not strike or negotiate collective bargaining
agreements because only approximately 8 percent of government workers
were protected from arbitrary dismissal as certified career employees.
At year's end, the Ombudsman's office reported that it had received
over 200 complaints of 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 the 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 must continue to provide service in the case of
workers providing ``essential public services,'' such as
transportation, firefighting, telecommunications, and mail.
The law governing the autonomous Panama Canal Authority prohibits
the right to strike for its 8,400 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. Temporary
workers were excluded from social security benefits, job security, and
vacation time. In lower-skilled service jobs, employers often had some
employees under ``three-month contracts'' for years, sometimes sent
such employees home for a month, and then rehired them. Employers also
circumvented the law requiring a 2-week notice for discharges by laying
off some workers 1 week before a holiday. In addition, due to labor
laws that made it difficult to fire employees of 2 years or more, it
was not uncommon to hire workers for 1 year and 11 months and
subsequently lay them off.
Employers, following a 2000 Supreme Court ruling, increasingly
negotiated directly with unorganized workers before unions formed or
had a majority presence in the workplace.
Unions and collective bargaining are permitted in export processing
zones (EPZs). A strike is considered legal only after 36 workdays of
conciliation are exhausted; otherwise, striking workers can be fined or
fired. A 1998 ILO observation noted that this regulation did not
mention arbitration or specify procedures to resolve disputes in the
courts and called on the Government to amend the EPZ labor regulations
to conform with international norms. The Government responded that it
considered the time limits reasonable and that the parties may have
recourse to arbitration. The same labor laws governing EPZs applied to
the more recent Call Centers. There were approximately 1,000 EPZ
employees and several times more Call Center employees. Minimum wage
provisions applied 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 Labor Code's compulsory
Sunday rest period on another day and to overtime compensation based on
a straight 25 percent differential, compared to a complex and costlier
system under the Labor Code.
In July, the Government created a special economic area in the
former Howard Air Force Base Area. The law creating the area contains
provisions intended to create greater labor flexibility similar to the
minimum wage and required rest day provisions in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Labor Code
prohibits forced or compulsory labor by adults and children.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law and Constitution prohibit the employment of children under 14 years
of age except children age 12 and over performing light farm work, and
also prohibits the employment of children under age 15 if the child has
not completed primary school. However, child labor was a problem in
some provinces and some economic sectors.
Children under age 18 legally cannot work more than 6 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.
Child labor violations occurred most frequently in rural areas,
during the harvest of sugar cane, coffee, bananas, 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.
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. The Government claimed that due to
insufficient staff, it often was unable to enforce child labor
provisions in rural areas (see Section 6.e.).
Child domestic labor was a problem. According to the 2000 census,
over 6,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 worked as domestic
servants. A 2002 ILO study found that 47 percent of children working as
domestic servants were 13 years old or younger and that 76 percent
received less than minimum wage. Government enforcement of domestic
laborer violations was weak traditionally because the place of work is
a private residence; however, the Torrijos Administration began
training its personnel how to request a warrant and proceed in domestic
labor cases.
Children continued to work for tips as grocery baggers in urban
supermarkets, many during late hours; however, there was some evidence
that supermarkets began employing more children closer to the legal
work age. Some supermarket managers claimed that the children actually
were not employed by their firm, despite the fact that ``baggers''
conformed to schedules, wore uniforms, complied with company codes of
conduct, and took orders from managers as if they were direct
employees.
Many children worked in the informal sector of the economy. An ILO
survey of children and adolescents in two areas of Panama City found
that the majority of child workers were self- employed. The most common
jobs were grocery baggers (54 percent), garbage pickers (11 percent),
bus assistants (10 percent), and street vendors (9 percent).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Code establishes
minimum wage rates for specific regions and for most categories of
labor. The minimum wage ranged from $0.82 per hour to $1.56 per hour,
depending on the region and sector. This wage was not sufficient to
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. In August
2003, the Government raised the base minimum wage by an average of 4 to
5 percent, depending on sector, region, and company size, as part of a
legally required review of the minimum wage. Public workers do not fall
under the Labor Code and were not included in the group of
beneficiaries. Most workers formally employed in urban areas earned the
minimum wage or more; however, about one-third of the population 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 $3 to $6 per day, without benefits; the Government did
not enforce labor laws in most rural areas.
The Labor Code establishes a standard workweek of 48 hours and
provides for at least one 24-hour rest period weekly.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing health and
safety standards and generally did so. The standards are fairly broad
and generally emphasize safety over long-term health hazards.
Inspectors from both the Ministry of Labor and the occupational health
section in the Social Security Administration conducted periodic
inspections of hazardous employment sites and responded to complaints;
however, the Government failed adequately to enforce health and safety
standards. Construction workers and their employers were notoriously
lax about conforming to basic safety measures and approximately 20
construction workers died during the year. In 2001, the Ombudsman's
office published a special report on the use of chemical pesticides in
the banana industry, where poisoning by chemical agents was a recurrent
problem and workers often worked, slept, or ate without proper
protection. The situation improved, but problems continued, especially
in remote areas. Complaints of health problems also continued in the
cement and milling industries.
Workers also 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 may request a health and safety inspection
to determine the extent and nature of the hazard.
__________
PARAGUAY
Paraguay is a constitutional republic with three branches of
government. The President is the head of government and head of state;
he cannot succeed himself. In April 2003, voters elected Nicanor Duarte
Frutos of the Colorado Party as President in generally free and fair
elections. Duarte was inaugurated in August 2003. The Congress consists
of a 45-member Senate and an 80-member Chamber of Deputies. An alliance
of five opposition parties and dissident members of the governing
Colorado Party controlled the Chamber of Deputies, while the five
opposition parties in coalition controlled the Senate. The Constitution
provides for an independent judiciary; however, the courts remained
inefficient and subject to corruption and political pressure.
The National Police has responsibility for maintaining internal
security and public order and reports to the Ministry of the Interior.
On several occasions during the year, especially in response to unrest
and land invasions in the countryside, the Government called on the
military to assist the police in maintaining public order. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces. Members of the security forces committed some human rights
abuses.
The country has a market economy with a large state presence and a
large informal sector. The population was approximately 6.2 million. An
estimated 45 percent of the workforce was employed in agriculture,
which provided 21 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and more
than 90 percent of export earnings. In 2003, real GDP grew 2.6 percent
after falling by nearly a third over the preceding decade.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens
in most areas; however, there were serious problems in some areas.
There were killings by the police and military. Incidents of abuse of
convicted prisoners and other detainees continued. The Human Rights
Ombudsman prosecuted cases of human rights abuses committed during the
1954-89 Stroessner regime, and members of a commission charged with
investigating these abuses were named and began work. Prisons were
overcrowded and violent. Other problems included arbitrary arrests and
detention, lengthy pretrial detention, corruption and inefficiency in
the judiciary, and infringements on citizens' privacy rights. The
Government continued its steps to reduce illegal military conscription,
and treatment of conscripts improved; however, recruitment and
conscription of minors has not been completely eliminated. Police used
force against illegal but peaceful demonstrations. Continuing problems
included violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in
persons, discrimination against persons with disabilities and
indigenous people, inadequate protections of worker rights, as well as
child labor 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.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, the police and military were responsible for some killings
involving the use of unwarranted or excessive force. There were reports
that police officers killed persons while acting outside the scope of
their duties and of deaths in custody.
In May, police officer Carlos Francisco Meyeregger was arrested for
shooting and killing an assistant prosecutor in Paraguari. The
prosecutor had attempted to question the officer about allegations that
he was involved in the theft of livestock.
In June, authorities arrested four police officers, Angel Cantero,
Mauro Luis Benitez Amarilla, Edgar German Insfran, and Jose Dolores
Amarilla Jara, and charged them with the murder of two brothers,
Roberto Orlando and Javier Glitz Velazquez. According to the
indictments, the killings were related to the officers' involvement in
drug trafficking.
There were no developments in the case of Adrian Martinez, a member
of the National Police, who was arrested in September 2003 and charged
with killing two 15-year-old boys.
In August, police officer Roque Fretes Benitez was convicted of the
2002 murder of Cynthia Celeste Fretes Leguizamon and sentenced to 12
years in prison.
No new information was available on the investigation into the 2002
police killing of rural demonstrator Calixto Cabral.
There were no new developments in the pending trial of police
officer Adan Ramirez Olazar in the 2002 killing of Roberto Carlos
Paniagua Jara.
Police used force to disperse illegal protesters on several
occasions, particularly in connection with land invasions, resulting in
deaths and injuries on both sides (see Section 2.b.).
There were no new developments, and none were expected, in the case
of former President Raul Cubas who was freed from house arrest in June
2003, while facing charges over the deaths of seven demonstrators in
1999. Although a judge declared that Cubas bore no responsibility for
the deaths, the charges formally remained in place.
In 2002, lawyers from the Committee of Churches, a nongovernmental
organization (NGO), petitioned the Foreign Ministry to continue
prosecuting a motion to extradite former President Stroessner from
Brazil to stand trial for a murder committed in 1977. The petition
remained pending. In an unrelated case, in September, a judge requested
Stroessner's extradition from Brazil and summoned the former head of
the armed forces and 30 other retired military officers for questioning
in relation to the disappearances of three political figures between
1976 and 1978. There has been no response to the extradition request,
which the Government neither endorsed nor opposed.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Political figures Juan Arrom and Anuncio Marti, accused of
kidnapping Maria Edith Bordon de Debernardi, remained in Brazil, where
they were granted political asylum in 2003. Brazil rejected the
government's request for their return. In October, Interpol authorities
in Spain detained Marti, who was traveling to a conference in Madrid
with a Brazilian travel document. The Government requested Marti's
extradition, but Spanish authorities allowed Marti to attend the
conference and return to Brazil. Arrom and Marti accused police, with
the complicity of a cabinet minister, of kidnapping and torturing them
over a 2-week period in early 2002. Carmen Villalba, an accused
accomplice arrested in 2003, escaped from the women's prison at Buen
Pastor but was recaptured.
The Supreme Court maintained documents related to abuses committed
during the Stroessner regime in an Archives of Terror that were
available for research by academics and the general public. During the
investigation of the alleged Arrom/Marti abduction, authorities
discovered additional documents that were added to the Archives.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however,
torture (primarily beatings) and brutal and degrading treatment of
convicted prisoners and other detainees continued. The Paraguay Human
Rights Coordinating Board (CODEHUPY)--a group of 32 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. The Attorney General's office and the NGO
Committee of Churches compiled numerous examples of police abuse.
In April, an air force colonel accused his superior and a fellow
officer of beating him for refusing to obey an alleged order to falsify
a weapons inventory. A military investigation found the charges
unsubstantiated.
In July, Ramon Benitez Irala, accused of involvement in a fight at
a street party in Hernandarias, was shot when police raided his
apartment. The officers held him incommunicado in a cell for 8 days and
refused to allow him to be treated for three bullet wounds. The
officers were not charged.
In September, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the
Government liable for a fire in 2000 at the Panchito Lopez juvenile
detention facility and imposed a fine of $5 million.
There were no developments, and none were expected, in the case of
Elvio Riquelme, who claimed in September 2003 that four policemen
tortured him in the course of questioning.
Police used force to disperse illegal protesters on several
occasions, especially in connection with land invasions in the
countryside, resulting in deaths and injuries on both sides (see
Section 2.b.).
The Constitution allows the Human Rights Ombudsman (Defensor del
Pueblo) to prosecute and seek monetary compensation in cases of human
rights abuses stemming from the 1954-89 Stroessner regime. Since his
appointment in 2001, the Ombudsman, Manuel Paez Monges, has ruled that
596 of 1,646 victims who filed petitions pursuant to a Senate
resolution were entitled to compensation, and awards in the resolved
cases ranged from $583 to $17,500 (3.5 to 105 million guaranies). In
August, the country inaugurated a Truth and Justice Commission to
investigate and document human rights abuses between 1954 and October
2003. The Government requested that the U.N. release confidential
documents relevant to the Commission's investigation.
There were several reports, most recently in November and December,
of members of the military harassing and beating civilians living near
a military base in Puerto Falcon and, in two cases, leaving unexploded
ordnance in civilians' backyards. The reason for such incidents was
unclear.
Prison facilities were deficient, and prison conditions were
extremely poor. Overcrowding, unsanitary living conditions, and
mistreatment were the most serious problems affecting all prisoners.
Tacumbu Prison--the largest in Asuncion--was built to hold 800 inmates
but held over 2,500 for most of the year. A majority of those held were
awaiting trial. Regional prisons generally held approximately three
times more inmates than originally planned.
There was also a makeshift maximum-security facility for housing
dangerous offenders, or those considered to be high escape risks, in
solitary confinement. Inmates were held in a facility not designed for
prison use nor officially recognized as a prison.
Security was a problem throughout the prison system. For example,
there were approximately 130 guards for over 2,500 prisoners at Tacumbu
Prison. Inmates frequently had weapons, particularly at the Emboscada
prison in Minas. In February, an appeals court ordered that two inmates
at Tacumbu receive protective detail after several attempts had been
made on their lives within the institution. Escapes and escape attempts
were frequent. In August, two inmates were shot to death by guards as
they attempted to escape from Tacumbu. In September, 10 inmates escaped
from the Itapua facility in Encarnacion, severely injuring a guard who
confronted them. There were a number of instances of prisoners killing
other prisoners. In January, violence in the Tacumbu and Emboscada
prisons left six inmates dead from knife wounds. Corruption among
prison guards remained a problem. In September, two guards were accused
of assisting a group of 10 prisoners to escape from Tacumbu.
Female prisoners generally were held in separate facilities from
male prisoners. Although some smaller institutions held prisoners of
both sexes, it was government policy to hold them in separate wings. In
December, 19 women who had been moved from the Buen Pastor women's
prison to the higher security Emboscada men's prison for alleged
misconduct were returned to Buen Pastor after complaining that they had
been subjected to inhumane conditions and abuse, including forced
prostitution with male inmates. At year's end, the Senate Human Rights
Committee was investigating the allegations of abuse and conditions at
the prison.
Juvenile prisoners generally were held separately from adults;
however, in smaller, regional prisons outside the capital, adults and
juvenile prisoners continued to be held together. In November, the
Human Rights Committee of the Senate complained that 260 detainees aged
18 to 20 who were transferred from the Panchito Lopez juvenile
detention facility to the Tacumbu Prison were not properly separated
from adult prisoners. Despite the Committee's involvement, conditions
remained unsatisfactory at year's end.
Pretrial detainees generally were held separately from convicted
prisoners.
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 unannounced visits.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution 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 persons without a warrant if they catch
them in the act of committing a crime, but they must notify a
prosecutor. In practice, the authorities did not always comply with
these provisions. A few defendants alleged that police arrested them
and held them incommunicado for days.
The main police agency is the National Police, which is under the
authority of the Minister of Interior. 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. There were reports that police were involved in narcotics
trafficking and provided support to the more notorious kidnapping
rings. On October 28, the National Police Chief announced the dismissal
of 60 police officers for acts of corruption, citing the dismissals as
an example of a zero tolerance policy with regard to police corruption.
The overall crime rate fell, and police made arrests in a number of
high-profile cases, such as kidnappings. A new 911 system for reporting
emergencies to police generated positive results.
The Penal and Criminal Procedures Code provides that, after making
an arrest, police have up to 6 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 will prosecute the case.
The average time from arrest to trial was approximately 240 days.
The Constitution 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. 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.
The law grants accused criminals the right to counsel; however, the
Government lacked the resources to provide counsel to poor defendants,
and many continued to go 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.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, courts remained inefficient and subject
to corruption and political influence. Politicians and other interested
parties often pressured judges, although the judiciary was not allied
with any one political group.
The nine-member Supreme Court appoints lower court judges and
magistrates, based upon recommendations by the Magistrate's 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.
The Constitution 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 Penal Procedures Code introduced expedited oral proceedings and
requires prosecutors to bring charges against accused persons within
180 days. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, and defendants
and the prosecutor may present the written testimony of witnesses as
well as other evidence. The judge alone determines guilt or innocence
and decides punishment. A convicted defendant may appeal his or her
sentence to an appeals court, and the Supreme Court has jurisdiction
over constitutional questions.
In late 2003, as the first step in an effort to combat corruption
in the judicial system, four justices of the Supreme Court resigned
under pressure, and two were impeached and removed for corruption.
Following a public consultation process, in which several civil society
organizations vetted the nominees, the Senate chose, and the President
appointed, six new justices as replacements.
In July, the Attorney General suspended Judge Hugo Sosa Pasmor and
ordered him to go before a review board. Sosa had ordered financial
crimes charges dropped against several individuals accused of looting
Banco Oriental during its failure in 2001 and never declared a conflict
of interest stemming from his friendship with one of the defendants.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits police entry into private
homes except to prevent a crime in progress or when the police possess
a judicial warrant; however, at times, the Government infringed on
citizens' privacy rights. While the Government and its security forces
generally did not interfere in the private lives of citizens, human
rights activists claimed that local officials and police officers
abused their authority by entering homes or businesses without warrants
and harassing private citizens. There were allegations that some
government offices occasionally spied on individuals and monitored
communications for partisan or personal reasons. In September,
authorities arrested three police officers in Fernando de la Mora for
extortion and running a protection scheme with small businesses.
Over the past several years, the Government has established review
procedures for military conscripts to prevent enlistment of minors and
to investigate and report on abuses and conditions. During the year,
the Government required all military officers responsible for
recruiting to ensure that all conscripts met the legally minimum
mandated requirement age of 18 for military service. The armed forces
also had a human rights office responsible for helping NGOs investigate
alleged uses of forged documents and illegal recruiting practices. In
October, the Government's Inter-Institutional Committee on Human
Rights, including judges, attorneys, legislators, and NGO
representatives, visited military bases around the country to inspect
conscripts' records and did not identify any minor soldiers. Although
there were continued reports of mistreatment of conscripts during the
year, the Inter-Institutional Committee reported that treatment and
conditions improved considerably.
The Constitution provides for the deferral of military service for
conscientious objectors, but there is no legal framework to guide the
military's treatment of those claiming the status. Approximately
112,000 conscripts have been recognized as conscientious objectors
since 1993. The Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies
reported that it received 20 claims of conscientious objector status
per day.
In May, the Government expropriated land in Marquetalia invaded a
year earlier by squatters from San Lorenzo and turned it over to the
squatters.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
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 media
commonly criticized the Government and freely discussed opposition
viewpoints.
In July, members of the youth wing of the Colorado Party, led by
Raul Sanchez, beat and choked Daniel Duarte, a photographer from the
daily La Nacion, when he attempted to take a photograph at one of their
meetings. The parties reached a private settlement, and no criminal
charges were filed.
In August, policeman Alfredo Mino beat a photographer from the
Ciudad del Este daily Vanguardia when the photographer took his picture
as a reporter questioned him about a search he had performed without
obtaining a warrant.
Application of libel law was irregular. Judges were biased toward
plaintiffs and frequently ruled in their favor regardless of the merits
of a case. Several political figures sued journalists for libel or
defamation during the year. A prominent Senator from the ruling
Colorado Party, who sued the leading daily newspaper, ABC Color, for
defamation, was awarded $100,000 (6.0 million guaranies). It was the
fifth time in 5 years the Senator had sued the newspaper. Other
political figures used police or private security officers to threaten
or intimidate journalists.
On several occasions, politicians and prosecutors issued public
death threats to journalists who revealed embarrassing information
about them, typically related to corruption.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights awarded $35,000 in damages
to journalist Ricardo Canese, who was imprisoned without trial in 1992
after losing a libel suit by then-presidential candidate Juan Carlos
Wasmosy.
The Government did not restrict use of the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of peaceful assembly, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice; however, in some cases, police used
violent force against illegal but nonviolent assemblies.
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.
Some groups opposed these restrictions. 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 Constitution prohibits closing roads as a
form of protest; however, demonstrators did so on many occasions during
the year.
Several campesino organizations held demonstrations throughout the
year. Members blocked several national highways, and campesinos invaded
and occupied numerous rural properties, calling on the Government to
expropriate farmland for redistribution. Although the Government sought
to avoid violent confrontations, violence between security forces and
protesters erupted on several occasions, which resulted in deaths on
both sides.
The Constitution provides for the right of all 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 that all religious groups register
with the Ministry of Education and Culture but imposed no controls on
these groups, and many unregistered churches existed.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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.
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 Constitution
expressly prohibits exile, and the Government did not use it. Several
individuals accused of offenses have fled the country and referred to
themselves as exiles. In June, Lino Oviedo, the former general now
imprisoned for coup plotting in the late 1990s, as well as several of
his associates, returned from self-imposed exile.
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. In practice, the Government provided
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared prosecution. The Government granted refugee status or
asylum. The Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. In October 2003, a new
National Commission for Refugees, an office of the Foreign Ministry
created with the assistance of the UNHCR, adjudicated its first asylum
applications.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The Constitution and the Electoral Code mandate
general elections every 5 years with voting by secret ballot.
In the April 2003 presidential and congressional elections,
multiple parties and candidates contested the country's leadership
positions. Five parties won representation in Congress, and the
opposition Liberal Party won several of the departmental governorships.
Debate in Congress was free and frank, and the Congress often rejected
the executive branch's proposals. The Senate was under the control of
the opposition parties, and an alliance of five opposition parties and
dissident members of the governing Colorado Party controlled the
Chamber of Deputies.
Observers from the Organization of American States characterized
the April 2003 elections as free and fair. There were no reports of
systematic nationwide irregularities, although Transparency Paraguay,
an NGO, cited irregularities at several polling stations. Turnout was
approximately 70 percent. For the first time in a national election,
about half of the electorate cast ballots on electronic voting
terminals, which were less prone to manipulation than paper ballots.
The highest electoral court ruled that future elections would be
conducted with electronic machines at all stations.
There were several reports of political intimidation of prosecutors
attempting to investigate official corruption. In June, Cuidad del Este
prosecutor Amilcar Ayala reportedly received death threats related to
his investigation into smuggling and falsification of video games. The
prosecutor's office stated that it believed the threats came from
corrupt officials in Customs, but no formal investigation took place.
Ayala himself has been implicated in corruption cases.
Miguel Corrales, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, threatened to
use his position as a congressional representative on the Magistrates'
Review Board to impeach a prosecutor who ordered Corrales' son to take
a breathalyzer test. In response to political pressure, Corrales
requested an indefinite leave of absence--tantamount to resignation--
from the board.
The Government signed a number of agreements with civil society
organizations to promote transparency in the public sector. The
Ministry of Finance signed agreements with three local NGOs and the
National Council for the Implementation of the National Integrity
System to strengthen the Council's work. NGOs obtained information
regarding the government's royalty transfers to local governments to
promote greater oversight of the use of such transfers. However, in
another case, Transparency Paraguay, which had been asked by the
Government to promote transparency and provide oversight of procurement
by the national oil company, removed itself from monitoring the company
after it had difficulties in gaining access to information.
There are no legal impediments to women's participation in
government and politics. There were 11 women in Congress (4 of 45
senators and 7 of 80 national deputies), 1 woman on the Supreme Court,
1 woman elected as a departmental governor, and 3 women headed
government ministries. The Electoral Code requires that 20 percent of
each party's candidates in their internal primaries for elective office
be women.
Members of indigenous groups are entitled to vote, and the
percentage of indigenous people who exercised this right continued to
grow. The national electoral court estimated that 50 percent of the
approximately 40,000 indigenous people eligible to vote did so in the
2003 general elections. The court attributed the increase to its voter
education campaign and political parties' voter assistance initiatives.
The inhabitants of some indigenous communities reported that they were
threatened and prohibited from fully exercising their political rights.
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, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases; however, the Government had a mixed
record in cooperating with or responding to recommendations from such
groups.
Local NGO human rights groups included the Committee of Churches
(an interdenominational group that monitored human rights, investigated
refugee claims, and provided legal assistance), Luna Nueva (a group
dedicated to the protection of children's rights), and Peace and
Justice Service or SERPAJ (a group that defended conscientious
objectors and provided legal assistance to those with grievances
arising from military service). CODEHUPY's annual report highlighted
abuses of police authority and mistreatment of military recruits.
In October 2003, Ombudsman Paez Monges was re-appointed for a
second 2-year term as the country's human rights advocate.
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
clearinghouse for information on human rights and trained thousands of
educators in human rights law.
The Human Rights Office of the Foreign Ministry 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 to coordinate their efforts and focused principally on
combating trafficking in persons.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution and other laws prohibit discrimination based on
race, sex, disability, language, or social status; however, certain
groups, such as indigenous people, faced significant discrimination in
practice.
Women.--The most pervasive violations of women's rights involved
sexual and domestic abuse, which were underreported. Spousal abuse was
common. Although the Penal Code criminalizes spousal abuse, it
stipulates that the abuse must be habitual before being recognized as
criminal and then is punishable only by a fine. Thousands of women were
treated for injuries sustained in violent domestic altercations. In
recent years, there has been a trend toward the increased reporting of
complaints, although statistics were unreliable.
According to women's rights activists, official complaints rarely
were filed or were withdrawn soon after filing due to spousal
reconciliation or family pressure. In addition, the courts allow for
mediation of some family violence cases, although the law does not
include this provision. 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. In practice, these
services were available only in Asuncion. The Secretariat also
conducted training courses for the police, health care workers,
prosecutors, and others.
The Women's November 25th Collective, an NGO, 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. No shelters for battered and abused women were available
outside of Asuncion.
The law makes rape, including spousal rape, illegal and provides
penalties of up to 6 years in prison. The Government generally
prosecuted rape allegations that were reported; however, many rapes
went unreported because victims feared their attackers or were
concerned that the law did not provide adequate respect for their
privacy.
The law prohibits the sexual exploitation of women, but the
authorities did not enforce the prohibition effectively. Prostitution
by adults is legal for persons over the age of 18, and exploitation of
women, particularly underage prostitutes, remained a serious problem.
The Labor Code prohibits but does not criminalize sexual
harassment, and it remained a problem for many women in the workplace.
Claims of abuse may be filed with the courts and the Ministry of
Justice and Labor, but most complaints were settled privately.
Women generally enjoyed the same legal status and rights as men.
Sex-related job discrimination was widespread and widely tolerated. The
Secretariat of Women's Affairs occasionally sponsored programs intended
to give women free and equal access to employment, social security,
housing, ownership of land, and business opportunities.
Women had higher illiteracy rates than men. In 2003, an estimated 7
percent of women were illiterate, compared with 5 percent of men. In
addition, maternal mortality rates were high, and as many as 65 percent
of such deaths were related to poor health care. Several groups worked
to improve conditions for women, including Women for Democracy, which
was active in civic and electoral education. Other groups included
Sumando, an NGO that promoted educational reform and voter
participation in elections, and the Women's Education and Research
Service, which focused on women, public policy, and the participation
of women in local development.
Children.--The Constitution 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 UNICEF, the rate of
enrollment for children between the ages of 6 and 14 was 88 percent in
2003; the rate of enrollment for children between the ages of 15 and 17
was 31 percent. Boys and girls legally are entitled to equal access to
education; at all ages, enrollment among girls was slightly greater
than enrollment among boys. Rates of enrollment in urban areas were
slightly higher than rates of enrollment in rural areas. The greatest
area of inequality was between indigenous and non-indigenous children;
only 59 percent of indigenous children between the ages of 6 and 14
were enrolled in school. According to UNICEF, the national literacy
rate was 94 percent.
A 2003 survey reported that 42 percent of children age 14 or
younger lived in poverty, and 11 percent of those suffered from chronic
malnutrition, with both figures trending upward. Boys and girls
generally had equal access to medical care.
Abuse and neglect of children was a 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.
Sexual exploitation of children also was a problem. In its most
recent survey, released in 2001, the NGO, AMAR, identified 619 child
victims of sexual exploitation, the vast majority of whom lived in
Asuncion and Ciudad del Este. Approximately 33 percent of the victims
were under the age of 16.
The 2001 Child and Adolescent Law created a Child and Adolescent
Secretariat and required municipalities to create a new office to
promote the rights of children and adolescents. The Secretariat,
although now funded, has not been effective; however, since 2001, the
number of municipalities with Child and Adolescent offices increased
from 60 to approximately 120.
There were reports of trafficking in girls for the purpose of
sexual exploitation (see Section 5, Trafficking).
There continued to be reports of the conscription of underage youth
(see Section 1.f.), and, at year's end, an NGO and members of Congress
were seeking to investigate allegations that the problem persisted.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Constitution proscribes and the Penal
Code criminalizes trafficking in persons; however, there were sporadic
reports of trafficking to, from, and within the country for sexual
purposes.
The Penal Code punishes trafficking in persons with up to 10 years
in prison; the Code also outlaws compelling anyone to travel outside
the country or to enter the country for the purpose of prostitution or
compelling a minor under 18 years of age to work as a prostitute.
The Secretariats of Women's Affairs and of Children and Adolescents
were responsible for combating trafficking, and the Secretariat for
Repatriations had a mandate to assist women who were trafficked abroad;
however, the Secretariats' small budgets limited their effectiveness.
The Government's primary focus was on the repatriation of its own
citizens.
The country was a source for trafficked persons, and trafficking
also took place within the country. 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. Most victims came from the rural interior of the country,
particularly the departments of Alto Parana, Canindeyu, and Caaguazu.
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 domestic servants, both domestically and in neighboring countries.
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.
In February, police in Ciudad del Este broke up a Taiwanese-run
network that smuggled underage women between the country and Brazil.
Authorities arrested six Taiwanese nationals.
In March, police arrested several Chinese nationals attempting to
smuggle a group of Bolivian women into the country.
In June, Spanish police discovered more than 50 Paraguayan women
working at brothels. The women claimed to have been trafficked by a
group of men in Villarica promising them work in Spain as supermarket
clerks. Two of the women escaped and returned home, where they reported
the incident to the local police. Two of the traffickers were convicted
and sentenced to 6 years in prison.
On several occasions, Argentine police rescued Paraguayan women
from Buenos Aires brothels, where they had been forced to work as
prostitutes.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized several interministerial
roundtables to discuss trafficking in persons, and sponsored the visit
of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights' Special Rapporteur on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography. In October, the
city of Asuncion sponsored a daylong conference on trafficking,
featuring presentations by government ministries, NGOs, and
international organizations.
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 ran a hotline and
shelter for trafficking victims in Ciudad del Este. The International
Labor Organization continued work on a study of child sexual
exploitation in the tri-border area.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Constitution provides for equal
opportunity for persons with disabilities and mandates that the State
provide them with health care, education, recreation, and professional
training. It further requires that the State formulate a policy for the
treatment, rehabilitation, and integration into society of persons with
disabilities; however, the Congress never enacted legislation to
establish such programs or provided appropriate funding. 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 the vast majority of the country's
buildings, both 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 at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Asuncion were
substandard, and some patients reportedly were kept unclothed in cells
and were not treated for their mental illnesses. The physical
facilities of the hospital lacked running water, electricity, or even
roofs, and the hospital was severely understaffed. The patients were
not fed adequately, in many cases receiving only bread or crackers and
tea. Parasitic and skin infections were widespread and rarely treated.
Children were housed with adults in the facility and were subject to
sexual assaults from older patients. President Duarte made several
unannounced inspections of the hospital and replaced a series of
hospital directors for incompetence and corruption. In March, a team
from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission inspected the hospital.
The First Lady took a strong interest in the hospital, overseeing
kitchen renovations and the donation of clothing and bedding.
Indigenous People.--The Constitution provides indigenous people
with the right to participate in the economic, social, political, and
cultural life of the country; however, the indigenous population
(numbering more than 89,000, according to 2002 census data) 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 people to the political and economic system. The
Constitution also protects the property interests of indigenous people,
but these rights were not codified fully. The Constitution 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. Many
indigenous people found it difficult to travel to the capital to
solicit land titles or process the required documentation for land
ownership.
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.
In August, CODEHUPY reported that armed men forcefully evicted 43
families of the Kelyenmagategma community from their lands in the
Department of Presidente Hayes and that a private company seized their
land. It further reported that the families had not found new homes and
were living without shelter. In October, the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights ruled that the Government should take steps to protect and
assist the community, conduct a criminal investigation, and return the
families to their ancestral lands. The Government provided security
personnel to protect the community and building materials to construct
basic shelter and met with the community to discuss a possible criminal
investigation and the eventual return of the families to their
ancestral lands.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution 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 Constitution contains
several provisions that protect fundamental worker rights, including an
anti-discrimination clause, provisions for employment tenure, severance
pay for unjustified firings, collective bargaining, and the right to
strike. Approximately 121,000, or 15 percent, of workers were organized
in approximately 1,600 unions.
In general, unions were independent of the Government and political
parties. One of the country's three labor centrals, the Confederation
of Paraguayan Workers (CPT), was aligned closely with the ruling
Colorado Party.
All unions must be registered with the Ministry of Justice and
Labor. Although the official registration process was cumbersome and
could take a year or more due to government bureaucracy, the Ministry
of Justice and Labor issued provisional registrations within weeks of
application. Employers who wish to oppose the formation of a union can
delay union recognition by filing a writ opposing it. However, almost
all unions that requested recognition eventually received it.
The Constitution prohibits anti-union discrimination, but the law
was not always enforced. The 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
9 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. There
were several cases of workers who 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 was generally
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.
The Constitution provides for the right to strike, bans binding
arbitration, and prohibits retribution against strikers and leaders
carrying out routine union business; however, 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 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 the firing of
union officials, 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 issues.
There are no export processing zones. Maquiladora factories, which
assemble imported parts for re-export, operated in the eastern part of
the country. The Mercosur trade association accepted the country's
maquiladora factories 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, cases of
abuse of national service obligations (compulsory military service for
all males, unless exempted as conscientious objectors) occurred, as
there were reports of conscripts forced to work as construction workers
for military officers in their privately owned businesses.
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;
however, in general, the Government did not enforce minimum working age
regulations, and child labor was a problem. 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 14
years of age.
According to 2001 census data, 5 percent of the workforce was under
the age of 14. The Statistics Bureau reported that from August to
December 2000, 55 percent of boys between the ages of 10 and 19 worked.
According to the NGO Coeti, 265,000 children, or 13.6 percent of
children between the ages of 5 and 17, worked outside their homes, many
in unsafe conditions. In supermarkets, boys as young as age 7 bagged
groceries and carried them to customers' cars. They were not employees
of the stores and received no compensation other than tips. In August,
several such boys died in a supermarket fire. Thousands of children in
urban areas, 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.
Some employers of the estimated 11,500 young girls working as domestic
servants or nannies 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 field; 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.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The executive, through the
Ministry of Justice and Labor, established a private sector minimum
wage sufficient to maintain a minimally adequate standard of living for
a worker and family. There was no public sector minimum wage. In
practice, most (but not all) government agencies adjusted the hours of
work for government workers to be paid at a rate comparable to the
private sector minimum wage. The minimum salary is adjusted whenever
annual inflation exceeds 10 percent, and has been approximately $162
(972,000 guaranies) per month since 2002. However, the Ministry of
Justice and Labor was unable to enforce the minimum wage and estimated
that 50 percent of workers earned less. The Labor Code 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 Labor Code allows for a standard legal workweek of 48 hours (42
hours for night work), with 1 day of rest. The law also provides for an
annual bonus of 1 month's salary and a minimum of 6 vacation days a
year. The law requires overtime payment for hours in excess of the
standard. However, many employers violated these provisions in
practice. There are no prohibitions on excessive compulsory overtime.
Workers in the transport sector routinely staged strikes to demand that
their employers comply with the Labor Code's provisions on working
hours, overtime, and minimum wage payments.
The Labor Code also stipulates conditions of safety, hygiene, and
comfort. The Government did not devote sufficient resources to 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 recognized such conditions formally. Although there
are laws intended to protect workers who file complaints about such
conditions, many employers reportedly took disciplinary action against
them.
In the wake of the August 1 fire at the Ycua Bolanos supermarket in
Asuncion (see Section 6.d.), the national and municipal governments
began a campaign to ensure the safety of supermarkets and shopping
centers, in particular, requiring them to install more emergency exits
and to ensure that they were accessible to customers and to employees.
__________
PERU
Peru is a multiparty republic. In 2001, Alejandro Toledo of the
Peru Posible party won the presidency in elections that were widely
regarded to be free and fair. Although the judiciary was widely
perceived to be corrupt and inefficient, it is independent.
The Peruvian National Police (PNP) and the military shared
responsibility for internal security and were under effective civilian
control. There were several instances of serious human rights abuses
committed by members of the security forces.
The country had a market-oriented economy and a population of
approximately 27.5 million. Banking, retail services, agriculture,
mining, manufacturing, and fishing were key economic sectors. The
estimated real gross domestic product growth was 4.5 percent. The
poverty rate was 54 percent, and 24 percent of the population lived
under conditions of extreme poverty. Unemployment and underemployment
totaled 56 percent, and the Government lacked revenues for social
investment. Wages and benefits rose faster than inflation in Lima.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems in a number of areas.
Police on occasion tortured, beat, and otherwise abused detainees.
Prison security forces abused inmates, and abuse of military recruits
continued. Impunity remained a problem, and security forces sometimes
harassed victims or other witnesses to keep them from filing charges.
Overall prison conditions remained poor and were extremely harsh in
maximum-security facilities. Pretrial detention continued to be
prolonged, and trials frequently were subject to inordinate delays.
Local authorities and other pressure groups, including coca growers,
sought to influence the media through harassment and threats of legal
action; however, the media were active and generally independent.
Violence and discrimination against women continued. Violence against
children and discrimination against persons with disabilities,
indigenous people, and minorities remained problems. Trafficking in
persons was a problem, which the Government took steps to address.
Labor leaders asserted that some labor laws unduly restricted
collective bargaining rights. Child labor remained a serious problem in
the informal sector.
The terrorist organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) was
responsible for killings and other abuses.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of politically motivated killings by the Government or its
agents. There were no reports of unlawful or unwarranted killings by
police. Two military recruits died under possibly suspicious
circumstances during the year, compared with four such cases in 2003.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of death from
torture.
Police killed two protesters during the October 19 takeover of a
hydroelectric dam in Puno by coca growers (cocaleros). Reportedly, the
two cocaleros, Mauro Pepe Surco Palomino and Florencio Quispe Coaquira,
were killed when they tried to seize weapons from police officers in
charge of clearing the dam. Two police officers were also wounded in
the clash.
On October 7, the Sixth Court of Chincha sentenced four agents of
the National Penitentiary System to 5 years in prison for the 2001
killing of inmate Esteban Minan Castro.
During the year, authorities opened a criminal case against four
police officers accused of the 2003 torture and killing of Edgar Lopez
Sancarranco. The case remained in the instruction phase (the first part
of a criminal case) at year's end.
At year's end, the Cuzco Prosecutor was investigating as a homicide
the 2003 death in custody of Julio Alcazar Dolmos.
There were no further developments in the 2003 cases of Leonel
Sanchez Rivero, killed by police gunshot in July, and Freddy Campos
Avendano, who died from a gunshot at his military barracks in
September.
In August, a court found three members of the security forces
guilty of the 2002 killing of Jose Reina Rincon. They were awaiting
sentencing at year's end.
At year's end, there were no new developments and none was expected
in the 2002 case of the death of a protester in San Clemente.
At year's end, the Provincial Prosecutor of Canta was investigating
police involved in the 2002 death of Gerardo Adrianzen Otarola on
charges of abuse of authority and torture.
At year's end, there were no new developments and none was expected
in the trials of the police officers charged with manslaughter in the
2002 deaths of Edgar Pinto Quintanilla, Fernando Talavera Soto, and
William Santos Tuesta.
On June 23, Peter Vasquez Chavez, a 23-year-old military recruit at
the Cangari-Huanta Military Base in Ayacucho, was found dead. The
military alleged that Vasquez Chavez died as a result of an attack by
Sendero Luminoso. According to local residents, there was no such
attack that day. The Public Ministry autopsy found that Vasquez Chavez
died from a knife injury. A second autopsy by the army concluded that
bullets killed Vasquez Chavez but did not mention a Sendero Luminoso
attack. The case remained under investigation at year's end.
On October 3, Army corporal Edgar Ledesma Lopez was found dead in
the military barracks of Puqio in Ayacucho. Military sources alleged
that Ledesma hanged himself by his bootlaces, but area residents
questioned this version of events. A police investigation was pending
at year's end.
At year's end, there were no new developments in the 2003 case of
the killing of Edy Quilca Cruz and the injuring of 30 other persons by
soldiers that fired on a group of protesting students.
Lima's Northern Cone Prosecutor was investigating the 2003 beating
and death of Army recruit, Corporal Magno Ariza Paitan, at year's end.
The investigations into the 2003 deaths of recruit Henry Dante
Martinez Ayala and Corporal Jhon Lenon Olortegui Perea remained ongoing
at year's end.
Prosecutors appealed a 2003 acquittal in the 2000 murder case of
Air Force recruit Jose Luis Poma Payano, and the Fifth Penal Court of
Lima ordered a retrial of the case. There were no further developments
by year's end.
The Government continued to arrest members of La Colina death
squad. Since 2001, authorities have arrested 13 members of the group.
All former La Colina group members in custody were awaiting trial at
year's end.
The case involving charges of extrajudicial killing in the 1997
rescue of 74 hostages at the Japanese ambassador's residence continued
to progress through the judicial system. In 2002, the Supreme Court
decided that the military court system had jurisdiction in the case of
the commandos who carried out the attack. The Court also ruled that
four others--former Intelligence Service Director Vladimiro Montesinos,
former Armed Services Chief General Nicolas Hermoza, Colonel Roberto
Huaman, and Colonel Jesus Zamudio--were subject to civilian criminal
court jurisdiction in this case. In May, the Supreme Court of Military
Justice officially closed the case against the commandos, concluding
that the commandos had acted properly in the operation and that the
MRTA terrorists killed had died in combat. At year's end, Montesinos
(who has been convicted on other criminal charges), Hermoza, Huaman,
and Zamudio were in custody, and the courts had completed the
instruction phase of the case.
At year's end, a private group was conducting forensic research on
the remains of the victims of the 1986 massacre of inmates at El
Fronton jail. In November, the Prosecutor's Office filed charges
against 11 marines allegedly responsible for carrying out the massacre,
and the case was pending in the courts at year's end. Some human rights
groups complained that the accusations in this case should have been
directed at higher authorities, including then President Alan Garcia
and his Minister of the Interior, so as to determine who ordered the
killings.
In December 2002, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
issued its first official report of a 1980 massacre where soldiers
allegedly tortured and killed eight peasants in Chuschi, near Ayacucho.
In April 2003, a criminal judge in Cangallo opened a trial against two
army officers and five police officers for this crime. The Ministry of
Defense also opened a trial in military court against the same
officers. Whether military or civilian courts had jurisdiction in the
case remained unresolved at year's end.
The terrorist group Sendero Luminoso continued to kill civilians as
well as military and police officials. There were 120 terrorist
incidents from January to December, the vast majority of which occurred
in Junin, Huanuco, and Ayacucho, rural areas that historically suffered
from Sendero Luminoso's violence. On June 4, Sendero terrorists killed
two policemen and one navy non-commissioned officer in Aguaytia,
Ucayali.
On February 14, a reporter was killed, allegedly at the orders of a
local mayor in Yungay (see Section 2.a.). In April, protesters lynched
the mayor of Ilave, whom they accused of corruption (see Section 2.b.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
In April 2003, PNP Commander Juan Carlos Mejia Leon and PNP
officers Antonio Lopez Trujillo, Atanulfo Zamora Garcia, and Victor
Eduardo Marquino Alvarado were charged with the kidnapping of a student
who disappeared after being detained by the PNP in 1990 as a suspected
terrorist. During the year, four members of the security forces were
charged with the 1990 kidnapping and disappearance of Ernesto Rafael
Castillo Paez. They were awaiting trial at year's end.
The trial of 11 policemen for the 2003 disappearance of Andy
Williams Garces was ongoing at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution and the law prohibit such practices;
however, there were reports of torture of detainees and the excessive
use of force against protesters. Abuse of military recruits remained a
problem. The authorities who allegedly committed abuses were seldom
held responsible.
Torture often occurred immediately following arrest, when families
were prohibited from visiting suspects being held incommunicado and
when attorneys had only limited access (see Section 1.d.).
In some cases, police and security forces threatened or harassed
victims, their relatives, and witnesses in an attempt to keep them from
filing charges of human rights violations. According to Amnesty
International (AI) and the Human Rights Commission (COMISEDH), some
victims were reluctant to pursue judicial proceedings against their
abusers, fearing that the abusers would be released without being
charged. COMISEDH reported 22 cases of aggravated torture by security
forces, compared with 10 in 2003.
On January 22, John Robert Osorio Morales went to the police
station in Montserrate with a friend to try to resolve a dispute
between them. At the station, police officers allegedly detained and
beat Osorio, handcuffing him to a pole for more than an hour. COMISEDH
filed charges of torture against the police officers involved, and the
case was under preliminary investigation at year's end.
On August 28, police in Lima detained two brothers, Pablo Fabio and
Miguel Sanchez Conde, who were suspected of planning to rob a local
restaurant. After their detention, police beat the two suspects, abuse
that was confirmed by a medical exam. The police involved in the case
were under judicial investigation for torture at year's end.
On September 13, the Prosecutor lodged charges of torture against
the prison guards in the 2003 beating case of inmate Wilder Escobedo
Contreras. The case was in the judicial instruction phase at year's
end.
During the year, there were the following developments in cases
from 2003 of alleged abuse: John Paolo Alvino Ricalde and his family
withdrew their complaint of his beating by police, COMISEDH alleged
that the family did so out of fear of police retribution. A prosecutor
dismissed the charges against prison guards for lack of evidence in the
alleged abuse of inmate Richard Coronado Calderon. A prosecutor charged
Piura police officers with the torture of six members of community
self-defense groups in 2003; at year's end, the case was in the
instruction phase, and the six community self defense members also were
accused of abuses and remained in detention at year's end.
In September 2003, in Challapalca Prison in Tacna, several guards
allegedly took a prisoner from his cell and beat and tortured him for 2
days. He was held in the prison's hospital clinic for 8 days before
being returned to his cell. The case remained under investigation at
year's end.
The 2003 case of the alleged torture by prison guards of Miguel
Angel Vela del Aguila remained under judicial investigation at year's
end.
The 2002 case of alleged torture by police officers of Renzo Vega
Hidalgo was in the instruction phase in the Second Court of Lima at
year's end.
The police involved in the 2002 beating of Jair Martin Rodriguez
and his brother were accused of torture, and the case was awaiting
issuance of formal charges by the prosecutor at year's end.
The trial of six prison guards in the 2002 beating of inmate
Alfonso Valle Oquendo was ongoing at year's end.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the Human Rights Ombudsman
continued to receive complaints that military officers beat or
otherwise abused some lower-ranking soldiers. There were two reported
incidents in which military recruits died under suspicious
circumstances (see Section 1.a.).
Soldier Freddy Cardenas Maucaylle dropped charges against a
superior officer for an alleged 2002 beating in Andahuaylas. There were
reports that Maucaylle was paid to drop the case.
The criminal court trial of the three military officers who
allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted a soldier in the barracks in
Ayacucho in 2002 was ongoing at year's end. The officers were charged
with torture and obstruction of justice.
In March, a court issued a 4-year suspended sentence to Raul Ochoa
Ravello for aggravated torture in the 2002 assault of a soldier and
ordered payment of approximately $1,200 (4,152 soles) in damages to the
victim. Ochoa appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, where it
remained at year's end.
Citizens at times took the law into their own hands, meting out
severe physical punishment to persons suspected of committing offenses
such as robbery, burglary, rape, and child molestation. According to
police statistics, during the year, there were almost 2,000 such
incidents, resulting in 19 deaths. The majority occurred in the
countryside, although Lima registered an increase (to 695) of cases
where mobs seized and punished suspected thieves. Local experts
explained that lack of police presence and lack of faith in the justice
system had led to outbreaks of violence against suspected criminals.
Persons seized were beaten, tied to lampposts, and sometimes sprayed
with gasoline and set afire.
Prison conditions varied greatly. For prisoners without funds,
conditions were poor to extremely harsh in all facilities. Prisoners
with funds had access to a range of amenities. For example, they could
dine in restaurants within the prisons or could even receive meals sent
to them from the outside. Overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and poor
nutrition and health care were serious problems. Inadequate training of
security forces and lack of control within the prison system also were
serious problems. Inmates in all prisons had only intermittent access
to running water; bathing facilities were inadequate; kitchen
facilities remained generally unhygienic; and prisoners slept in
hallways and common areas due to lack of cell space. Illegal drugs were
abundant in many prisons, and tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS were reportedly
at near-epidemic levels. For regular inmates, prison authorities
budgeted only approximately $0.70 (2.4 soles) per prisoner per day for
food. At Lima's San Juan de Lurigancho men's prison, the country's
largest, more than 7,000 prisoners lived in a facility built to
accommodate 1,500.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported a
shortage of trained medical personnel, unreliable and insufficient
legal representation for prisoners, an insufficient number of social
workers and psychologists, and a general lack of organization in prison
administration.
Conditions were particularly harsh in maximum-security facilities
located at high altitudes. Human rights monitors, including AI,
asserted that the Challapalca Prison in Tarata, Tacna, seriously
violated international norms and standards, particularly as a result of
its isolation and 14,000-foot altitude. According to the Ombudsman'
Office, the Government has progressively closed the Challapalca Prison,
and, at year's end, it held only 4 inmates, compared with 200 inmates
in 2000.
Although there were no reports of security forces killing inmates,
prison guards and fellow inmates reportedly routinely victimized and
abused prisoners. Corruption was a serious problem among poorly paid
prison guards, some of whom reportedly engaged in sexual abuse,
blackmail, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and the acceptance of
bribes in exchange for favors.
Detainees were held temporarily in pretrial detention centers
located at police stations, judiciary buildings, and, in large cities,
at the Public Ministry. Detainees are to spend a maximum of 24 hours in
these areas after which time they are to be released or formally
charged. Persons detained for espionage, drug trafficking, and
terrorism may be held for a longer period, up to 15 days. During their
time in detention, detainees are to have access to food, water, fresh
air, and communications with family and counsel. The Public Ministry
oversees the detention centers, whose conditions are also monitored by
the Ombudsman's Office.
In practice, the above norms often were not fully realized. Persons
detained in remote areas were sometimes held for longer periods due to
difficulties in getting access to counsel and formulating charges. Some
remote, rural police stations also lacked basic facilities. In general,
oversight of pretrial detention centers was more effective in the
cities than in rural areas.
Male and female prisoners were held separately. In high security
prisons, female inmates were allowed to see their children once a week.
For regular prisoners, conjugal visits were permitted for men and
women. In women's prisons, children 5 years of age and younger lived
with their jailed mothers. There were also separate juvenile
facilities, in which conditions were not as harsh as those in adult
prisons. Pretrial detainees were held together with convicted prisoners
in most cases.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, including the ICRC. The ICRC made 125 unannounced visits to
inmates in 59 different prisons, detention centers, and juvenile
detention facilities during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution, Criminal Code,
and anti-terrorist statutes prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention,
although the Organic Law of the PNP permits police to detain a person
for any investigative purpose. The Constitution 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, this must be accomplished as soon as practicable.
The PNP, with a force of 92,000, was responsible for all areas of
law enforcement in the country. It functioned under the authority of
the Minister of the Interior, a cabinet-level position. 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,
counter-narcotics, and terrorism) and local police units. Each
department, province, city, and town has a PNP presence.
The PNP was considered undermanned, had problems with
professionalism, and was often ineffective against common criminal
activity, and unable at times to meet its mandated responsibilities,
such as witness protection. Corruption and impunity were problems.
The Interior Ministry and the PNP attempted to address these
weaknesses. In August 2003, the PNP formed the Green Squad, a special
unit to fight street crime in response to citizen complaints when local
police proved ineffective. The Green Squad was particularly effective
in raiding clandestine brothels that were often engaged in trafficking
in persons as well as other crimes (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The PNP also worked with a local human rights NGO, the Peruvian
Institute for Education in Human Rights and Peace, which trained 531
officers in human rights in 5 regions of the country.
The law requires police to report to the Public Ministry within 24
hours whenever a suspect is arrested while committing a criminal act.
The Public Ministry, in turn, must issue a report assessing the
legality of the police actions.
The law allows the authorities to detain suspects in investigations
for corruption for up to 15 days without arraignment and permits
authorities to prohibit such suspects from traveling abroad. Police may
detain terrorist suspects for a maximum of 15 days and hold them
incommunicado for the first 10 days.
The law provides the right to prompt judicial determination. On
average, 20 hours elapse between the time that a person is detained and
the person's appearance before a judge. Judges then have 2 hours to
decide whether to release or continue to detain the suspect.
There was a functioning bail system; however, economic limitations
prevented many defendants from posting the required payments.
Criminal detainees are allowed prompt access to a lawyer and to
family members.
In August, the Justice Ministry launched a program, Free Legal
Assistance, to establish offices across the country where indigent
persons could access attorneys' advice at no cost. The first two of
nine such offices were opened in San Juan de Miraflores and Los Olivos,
with a public defender lawyer and a mediator available for
consultations. Along with the legal defense offices, the Ministry set
up a toll-free legal defense hotline, which started operation in
October.
Lengthy detention before trial and sentencing was a problem.
According to a study prepared by the Technical Secretary of the Special
Commission for Integral Reform of the Justice System (CERIAJUS), of
29,581 person held in prison, only 30.8 percent actually had been
sentenced, while 69.2 percent were cases still being tried. If
prisoners are held more than 18 months (or 36 months in more complex
cases) without being sentenced, they are released.
During the year, judges in charge of processing criminal cases
implemented standards promulgated in 2003 by the Executive Council of
the Judiciary to streamline case handling procedures and accelerate
trial processing. As part of the reform process, the Superior Court of
Lima completed an inventory of cases in its 14 districts and 6 criminal
courts with pretrial detainees, which identified various bottlenecks in
the processing of pending cases. For example, it took almost 2 years on
average for a case to move from initiation to sentencing. The longest
delay came in the period of preparation for oral hearings, which often
lasted 3 months. The Superior Court of Lima used the results of the
case inventory to design a plan to reduce delays in the processing of
oral cases and began to implement a backlog reduction program.
In July, a new Criminal Procedures Code was approved, which will
take effect gradually, entering into full application in February 2006.
The Code establishes an accusatory system for criminal cases that
divides the processing of such cases into three phases: The preparatory
investigation, the hearings phase, and sentencing. Under the new
system, judges, prosecutors, and police will assume added duties, which
will require extensive training.
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 and superior
courts, and a Supreme Court of 30 judges. A Constitutional Tribunal of
seven members operates independently of the Judicial Branch. The
independent National Judicial Council (CNM) appointed, disciplined, and
evaluated all judges and prosecutors who have served in their position
for 7 years or more. Failure to be certified by the CNM disqualified a
judge or prosecutor from working in that capacity again. Several of the
more than 100 judicial officials failing to gain certification filed
complaints with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
that this certification process was unfair. In September, the Ministry
of Justice created a high-level commission to find a solution to the
problem of judicial officials who were not qualified to be presented to
the IACHR, and its work continued at year's end.
Judicial reform continued to be a priority of the Government, but
implementation was irregular. CERIAJUS members include the President of
the Supreme Court of Justice, the Attorney General, the president of
the National Judicial Council, a representative of the Constitutional
Tribunal, the president of the Judicial Academy, the Minister of
Justice, the Ombudsman, two representatives of the Justice and Human
Rights Commission of Congress, and five representatives of civil
institutions participating in the National Accord.
In April, CERIAJUS presented its national plan to reform the
justice system, and, by year's end, the Judicial Branch had set up two
follow-up commissions to focus on two specific issues recommended by
CERAIJUS: Legislation providing a career system for judges and
prosecutors and a system to organize and publicize jurisprudence. On
December 28, the commission charged with drafting legislation dealing
with judges and prosecutors' careers presented its plan to the Plenary
of the Supreme Court of Justice. The second commission recommended the
inclusion in the judicial website of the rulings of the Supreme Court
of Justice. As a result, 1,000 decisions were posted in the judiciary
web site, and the judiciary continued scanning 9,000 more Supreme Court
decisions for posting on its website.
In September, the Executive Branch created a Special Commission
consisting of six jurists to oversee the implementation of the national
plan for justice sector reform.
Since its reestablishment in 2000, the CNM has carried out eight
selection processes for judges and prosecutors, including the naming of
four justices to the Supreme Court. Reform efforts reduced the
percentages of provisional justices and prosecutors from 84 percent of
judges and 73 percent of prosecutors in 2001 to 27 percent and 35
percent, respectively.
The justice system is based on the Napoleonic Code. In civilian
courts, criminal cases moved through three distinct phases. First, a
prosecutor investigated cases and submitted an opinion to a first
instance judge, who determined whether there was sufficient evidence to
open legal proceedings. If there was, the judge conducted an
investigation and, in over 90 percent of cases, determined facts, guilt
or innocence, and issued a sentence. In some cases, particularly those
involving violence or public officials, the law requires that the first
instance judge pass the results of the investigation to the superior
court for a trial before a three-judge panel. Anyone convicted and
sentenced by a first instance judge may appeal to the Superior Court
and then to the Supreme Court. All defendants have the right to be
present at their trial. Defendants also have the right to counsel,
although the public defender system often failed to provide indigent
defendants with qualified attorneys.
There was a presumption of innocence, defendants could call
witnesses, and attorneys had unimpeded access to their clients.
Under the military justice system, judges in the lower courts had
the power to sentence and were required to pass judgment within 10 days
of a trial's opening. Defendants could then appeal their convictions to
the Superior Military Council, which had 10 days to make its decision.
A final appeal may be made to the Supreme Council of Military Justice,
which must issue its ruling within 5 days. At the Superior Military
Council and Supreme Council levels, a significant number of judges were
active-duty officers with little or no professional legal training.
On August 24, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled, in a case brought
by the Ombudsman, that the military-political commands created to
maintain order during states of national emergency were not
constitutional. The Tribunal held that the commands would be only
military commands and not structures that displaced those of
legitimately constituted local authorities. The Constitutional Tribunal
also ruled that cases involving human rights violations committed by
military or police forces had to be judged in civilian courts as common
crimes and could not be regarded as strictly military matters subject
to military justice.
On December 2, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that
the 2001 civilian court trial conviction of U.S. citizen Lori Berenson
on charges of collaboration with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(MRTA) terrorist group was fair.
Before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights could rule in the
cases of Maria Teresa de la Cruz and Wilson Garcia Asto, the
Government, through the Anti-Terrorist Court, initiated a study of both
cases that led to their release in August.
During the year, in accordance with the decisions of both the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Tribunal,
the Special Terrorism Court continued to re-try defendants previously
convicted by military tribunals. The Terrorism Court handed down 250
sentences. Another 307 cases remained to be decided. The Terrorism
Court convicted 65 percent of those accused. It absolved 600 persons as
a result of sentences completed, time off granted for cooperation, and
lack of substance to the charges against them. At year's end, there
were 1,400 people in prison sentenced for having committed acts of
terrorism. The trial of Sendero Luminoso leader Abimael Guzman in
civilian court was ongoing at year's end.
As a follow-up to the recommendations put forward by the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the NGO Institute for Legal Defense
(IDL), in cooperation with the Special Terrorism Court, completed a
study in September of the official list of those wanted for terrorism
and found that there remained a backlog of 51,684 summons or orders for
capture against 12,582 suspects allegedly involved in terrorism.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice; however,
there were reports that the authorities did not always obtain warrants
before entering private dwellings.
There were reports that some young men from poor, rural areas, who
were unaware that military service was no longer mandatory, were taken
into military service when they went to register. Also, in some rural
areas, families reported to human rights NGOs that their sons were
taken into the military before they turned 18, which the military
explained by saying that young men who were eager to join their ranks
sometimes lied about their age.
There were no reports of forced conscription by the MRTA terrorist
organization, most of whose surviving members were in prison. A second
terrorist organization, Sendero Luminoso, continued to coerce
indigenous persons to join its ranks (see Section 5).
Cases claiming monetary compensation, as recommended by the IACHR,
for women sterilized under a Fujimori-era program, remained under
consideration at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom; however, there were multiple reports of press harassment by
provincial authorities or from private groups or organizations such as
protesting coca growers (cocaleros). Harassment took the form of
attacks on journalists, illegal arrests, or threats of judicial action.
Two reporters, Alberto Rivera and Antonio de la Torre, were killed;
local officials were suspects in both slayings.
The press represented a wide spectrum of opinion, including those
in favor of and in opposition to the Government. In the greater Lima
area, there were 25 daily newspapers, 7 television stations, 65 radio
stations, and 2 news channels on 2 commercial cable systems. There were
numerous provincial newspapers, television, and radio stations. All
were privately owned except for one government-owned daily newspaper,
one government-owned television network, and one government-owned radio
station.
On July 15, the Government approved a new Radio and Television Law,
which went into effect in November. Although the law was aimed at more
impartial media regulation, critics said that it gave excessive
regulatory power to the Transportation and Communications Ministry and
that it did not address adequately the problem of payoffs to
journalists and media moguls, the problems that motivated the law in
the first place. Regulations for the law were not published by year's
end.
Journalists and media outlets reportedly were intimidated during
the year. According to the National Journalists Association, 2
reporters were killed and 121 cases of harassment were reported (mainly
in the provinces), which was approximately 3 times the number of
harassment incidents reported in 2003. The Press and Society Institute
issued 72 alerts on these cases. The majority of these incidents took
the form of verbal or physical violence, threats, judicial pressure,
restrictions on freedom of information, and charges of slander from
local politicians, civilians, police, military officials, or unknown
persons. They reflected the general lack of effective state presence in
many parts of the countryside.
On February 26, Huanuco regional president Luzmila Templo, filed
suit against the managing editor of the country's most important daily,
El Comercio, for reporting on Templo's links with cocalero leaders.
In March, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Criminal Provincial
Prosecutor accused opposition daily La Razon of attacks against public
peace and calm, conspiracy, and assaults on the constitutional order
for its February 4 front-page article on an alleged audiotape of a 2000
meeting between President Toledo and Valdimiro Montesinos. Members of
the Government cited this incident to support their allegations that
Montesinos continued to influence some elements of the media.
Montesinos had been photographed on February 3 making notes at his
trial that suggested the theme of the audiotape that became the subject
of La Razon's story the following day. President Toledo stated that La
Razon's report was false. Eight of the newspaper's journalists resigned
in protest of Montesinos' alleged continuing influence over La Razon.
An investigation by the Attorney General's office was pending at year's
end.
On April 20, Rocio Vasquez, a Chimbote reporter, claimed that she
had received a death threat for denouncing a fishing industry magnate,
who denied the charges. Later, Vazquez resigned from her job at the
Chimbote daily Ultimas Noticias, stating that the paper had blocked her
investigations regarding the same individual.
On May 6, Alejandro Miro Quesada Garland, publisher of El Comercio;
his son, Alejandro Miro Quesada Cisneros, the managing editor; Fernando
Ampuero, the director of El Comercio's investigative unit; and Miguel
Ramirez, a member of the investigative unit, denounced a $100 million
(346 million soles) lawsuit filed against them by alleged narcotics
trafficker Fernando Zevallos.
On February 14, David Moises Julca, the fiance of local mayor Amaro
Leon's daughter, killed Antonio de la Torre, a reporter with Yungay's
Orbita radio station who had been investigating local political
corruption. Leon was accused of paying Moises Julca to kill de la Torre
and, on March 18, was arrested in connection with the killing. At
year's end, police had not yet located Julca.
On March 23, a group of unknown persons entered the studio of the
Lider radio station and stole the station's broadcasting equipment. The
station had accused Ilo mayor Jorge Mendoza of corruption, nepotism,
and destruction of the environment. Mendoza sued the station for
slander. As a result of the theft, Lider was off the air for 1 week.
On March 25, the brothers Mendel and Samuel Winter, two former
minority shareholders of TV Channel 2, were sentenced to 5 years in
prison for having accepted bribes from Vladimiro Montesinos. They were
set free soon afterward because they had cooperated with prosecutors
and had completed two-thirds of their sentence. On June 26, a court
ordered Channel 2 to return $3.74 million (12.94 million soles) that
Vladimiro Montesinos had given to Samuel and Mendel Winter to increase
the station's capital. Montesinos himself was convicted, fined, and
sentenced to a 15-year prison term for various abuses of office (see
Section 3).
On April 21, Alberto Rivera, the anchorman of Pucallpa's
``Frecuencia Oriental'' radio station, was killed by two unknown
persons. An investigation continued at year's end.
On May 31, Huaraz reporters Edgar Palma and Javier Pomaillo
publicly denounced alleged telephone death threats they had received
from persons who said they belonged to the municipality of Huaraz and
to the Ancash regional president's office. The two reporters had been
investigating corruption complaints against officials working in both
offices.
On June 28, Ayacucho reporter Jose Atauje received death threats
from persons who said they belonged to the Central Regional Committee
of Ayacucho, after the reporter had disseminated an interview with
Shining Path leaders.
On May 20, customs officials prevented British reporter Sally Bowen
from leaving the country because of an arrest order originating from
the defamation suit filed by accused narcotrafficker Fernando Zevallos.
Zevallos also filed a claim against the U.S. reporter Jane Holligan,
seeking $10 million (34.6 million soles). Holligan and Bowen had
collaborated on a book, ``The Imperfect Spy,'' in which they cited
accusations of drug trafficking by Zevallos.
On January 30, a court declared reporter Juan de Mata Jara innocent
of charges of terrorism that had been brought against him under the
Fujimori regime, and he was released the next day.
In January, Congressman Jorge Mufarech sued Pedro Salinas, a daily
Correo columnist, for $1 million (3.46 million soles) for defamation,
for articles Salinas had published in 2002 and 2003. Salinas claimed
this action sought to silence his criticism of Mufarech and the
Government.
There were no government restrictions on the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the authorities
generally respected these rights in practice.
The law does not require a permit for a public demonstration;
however, organizers must inform the Ministry of Interior's political
authority (prefect) about the kind of demonstration and its location.
Demonstrations could be prohibited for reasons of public safety or
health. The police used tear gas and occasional force to disperse
protesters in various demonstrations during the year.
Although most demonstrations were peaceful during the year,
protests in some areas turned violent. In April, protesters lynched the
mayor in Ilave, whom they accused of corruption. The deputy mayor and
four other persons were arrested and charged with the killing. In
October, police used force to clear a group of cocaleros from a
hydroelectric dam in San Gaban in Puno Province. Two protesters were
killed when they reportedly tried to seize PNP officers' weapons (see
Section 1.a.). Two police officers were also wounded in the clash. In
August, the Ombudsman's office issued a report that noted the
prevalence of rural unrest (see Section 4).
On September 13, a crowd of 500 protesting students at the National
Engineering University tossed rocks and sticks at police officers,
briefly seized 3 officers, beat them, and took away their helmets and
parts of their uniforms. Some students also tried to crash a university
truck into a police wagon. Police responded with tear gas and cleared
many university buildings of demonstrators.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the Catholic Church received preferential treatment
from the Government. The Constitution establishes the separation of
church and state but also acknowledges the Catholic Church's role as
``an important element in the historical, cultural, and moral
development of the nation.'' The Catholic Church and Catholic clergy
received extra benefits from the Government in education, taxation of
personal income and institutional property, and remuneration. By law,
the military could hire only Catholic clergy as chaplains, and
Catholicism is the only recognized religion of military personnel.
All faiths were free to establish places of worship, train clergy,
and proselytize. Religious denominations or churches were not required
to register with the Government or apply for a license. Missionaries
could enter the country and proselytize.
In 2003, the Ministry of Justice established an Office of
Ecclesiastical Affairs to be a link between the Ministry and the
religious hierarchies of all faiths. Churches were asked to register
voluntarily with the Ministry to receive tax benefits and exemption
from import duties on religious materials.
The Ministry of Education required Catholic religion courses in all
primary schools, public and private. Parents could request an exemption
by writing to the school principal.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution provides for these
rights of free movement; however, the authorities legally may restrict
persons with pending criminal and, in some cases, civil charges against
them from leaving the country. Police could check travelers at control
points throughout the country.
Sendero Luminoso occasionally interrupted the free movement of
persons by setting up roadblocks in sections of the Upper Huallaga,
Apurimac, and Ene River valleys.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
The Constitution prohibits the revocation of citizenship. However,
according to the Nationality Law, naturalized citizens may lose their
citizenship for, among other reasons, committing crimes against the
State, national defense, and public security, as well as for reasons
that ``affect the public interest and the national interest.''
The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has established a
system for providing protection to refugees. In practice, the
Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared prosecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in granting refugee status 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.
At year's end, the CMC reported that 462 persons had requested
asylum or refugee status since 2000, the majority of them originally
from Colombia. The CMC had granted resident status to 116 of the 462
and rejected 12. At year's end, there were 902 refugees in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides for the right of citizens to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
mandatory voting and universal suffrage (except for members of the
armed forces and the police).
In 2000, President Valentin Paniagua took power and led a
transition government after then President Alberto Fujimori resigned
and was dismissed from office. In July 2001, President Alejandro Toledo
assumed the presidency following a peaceful transfer of power through
free and fair national elections held in April and June 2001. The two
principal parties represented in the 120-member Congress were Peru
Posible (37 seats) and APRA (28 seats).
Registration of a new political party requires the signature of 1
percent of the voters who participated in the past election. The
presidential term is (5 years), and the Constitution prohibits the
immediate reelection of a president. Groups that advocate the violent
overthrow of the Government are barred from participating in the
political process.
Corruption was a major problem, which the Government took steps to
address. On January 3, the Labor Minister resigned after the
Comptroller General presented a report that supported allegations of
nepotism and influence peddling against him. During the year, the Anti-
Corruption Courts handed down 14 final decisions. Two sentences, one of
9 years and 8 months in prison and the other for 15 years in prison,
were entered against former President Fujimori's advisor, Vladimiro
Montesinos, for various abuses of office. The Anti-Corruption courts
continued to work on 143 cases that involved 1,453 defendants, only 7
percent of whom have arrest warrants. Since the creation of these
courts, the Government has recovered more than $174 million (602
million soles) misappropriated during the Fujimori era. At year's end,
an additional $82 million (283.7 million soles) was in the process of
being recovered. The Judicial Branch extended the powers of the Anti
Corruption Courts to take on new corruption cases, not just from the
Fujimori era.
Pursuant to the Transparency and Access to Public Information Law,
most Ministries and central offices provided key information on their
web pages, and, in some offices, information requests were expedited.
However, implementation of the law was incomplete, particularly in
rural areas. In addition, there was a widespread lack of awareness of
the law, and relatively few citizens understood and exercised their
right to information. The Ombudsman's office made efforts to promote
citizen awareness of transparency rights and to encourage regional
governments to adopt transparency practices. In July, the Ombudsman's
office issued its annual report that ranked regional governments in
terms of transparency, citizen access to information, clear financial
accounting, and ability to work with different social actors.
Women and some minorities participated actively in government and
politics. There were 22 women in the 120-member Congress and 3 female
regional presidents. Almost 3 percent of the mayors and 25 percent of
the city council officers elected at the local level were women. There
were two women in the Cabinet, the Attorney General was a woman, and
there was one woman on the Supreme Court. The Law on Political Parties
mandates that at least 30 percent of the candidate lists for electoral
offices at all levels be women.
Traditionally, an elite minority of persons of European descent
held most leadership positions in government. President Toledo was the
country's first elected president of mixed Caucasian and indigenous
ancestry. It was rare for indigenous persons, who make up more than
one-third of the population, to hold high public office. Congress had
one self-declared indigenous member. Three congressmen represented the
Afro-Peruvian minority, estimated to be 3 to 5 percent of the total
population, but there were no Afro-Peruvian Ministers.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Numerous 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.
According to COMISEDH, military commanders did not grant 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 took some steps to implement recommendations in the
August 2003 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC),
which had stated that approximately 69,000 persons died during the
armed conflict of 1980-2000. The TRC report concluded that the Sendero
Luminoso terrorist group, motivated by a ``genocidal ideology,''
carried out most of the political killings. During the year, the
Government filed charges in 47 cases involving 150 persons whom the TRC
identified as possible human rights violators, but most cases remained
under prosecutorial investigation; only 16 persons have been formally
charged. The Government also followed up on a TRC recommendation to
create a multi-sectoral commission to oversee the implementation of
proposals put forward by the TRC. In August, the Constitutional
Tribunal ruled that military authorities could not assume political
functions during states of emergency and that human rights crimes
committed by the military must be tried in civilian and not military
courts.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equal rights for all citizens and
specifically prohibits discrimination based on ethnic origin, race,
gender, language, opinion, or economic condition. However,
discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, indigenous
people, and racial and ethnic minorities persisted, although there was
progress in a number of areas.
Women.--Violence against women, including rape, spousal abuse, and
sexual, physical, and mental abuse of women and girls was a chronic
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 1
month to 6 years in prison. The domestic violence law gives judges and
prosecutors the authority to prevent the convicted spouse or parent
from returning to the family's home; authorizes the victim's relatives
and unrelated persons living in the home to file complaints of domestic
violence; and allows any health professional to certify injuries. The
law requires police investigation of domestic violence to take place
within 5 days and obliges authorities to extend protection to women and
children who are victims of domestic violence.
During the first 5 months of the year, the Ministry of Women and
Social Development (MIMDES) centers reported 13,191 cases of domestic
violence. From 2002 until August, the centers assisted 78,163 victims
(including men as well as women). The monthly average of reported abuse
cases was approximately 2,500. Women constituted 88 percent of the
victims.
The war against terror waged by the Government from 1980-2000
sharply increased the population in rural areas of war orphans and
female rape victims, who often were stigmatized and marginalized in
traditional regions such as Ayacucho.
The MIMDES and NGOs stated that many domestic abuse cases never
were reported. NGO sources contended that the majority of reported
cases did not result in formal charges due to fear of retaliation from
the accused spouse or because of the cost involved in pursuing a
complaint. In addition, legal and physical protection was limited by
delays in legal processes, ambiguities in the law, and lack of
alternative shelter and income for victims.
MIMDES ran the Women's Emergency Program, which focused on the
legal, psychological, and medical problems facing women and children
who were victims of domestic violence. At year's end, MIMDES operated
39 centers, which brought together representatives of various
government institutions--police, prosecutors, counselors, and public
welfare agents--charged with helping victims of domestic violence.
During the year, MIMDES continued a public education campaign to
sensitize government employees and the citizenry to domestic violence.
With NGO assistance, MIMDES trained police about gender issues, human
rights, and domestic violence and instructed officers on processing
domestic violence cases. MIMDES worked closely with the Women's Office
of the Police Ombudsman. Nonetheless, the national Ombudsman's office
continued to complain that officers reacted indifferently to charges of
domestic violence, although the law requires all police stations to
receive such complaints.
During the year, new laws increased the penalties for rape and for
pimps and for clients of underage prostitutes. Rape is now punishable
by a sentence of 4 to 8 years in prison. If the victim is between 14
and 18 years of age, or if the perpetrator uses a weapon or abuses his
or authority to commit the crime, punishments range from 8 to 15 years
in prison. If the victim is less than 14 years of age, punishments
range from 20 years to life in prison. The new laws also more closely
define trafficking in persons, criminalize Internet child pornography
and sexual tourism involving children, and provide punishments for
those who derive financial benefit from these activities. Penalties for
pimps and clients of underage prostitutes range from 4 to 8 years in
prison.
There were no current official statistics available on rape.
Women's organizations noted that alcohol abuse and traditional
attitudes subordinating women, particularly in rural areas, aggravated
the problem of rape and sexual abuse.
Prostitution is legal for women over 18 years of age if they were
registered with municipal authorities and carried a sanitary
certification.
Sexual harassment was a problem. A 2003 law defined sexual
harassment as a labor rights violation subject to administrative
punishment. Punishments differ depending on the professional situation
where the violation took place, such as in education or the private
sector, domestic service, the armed forces, and the police.
The Constitution provides for equality between men and women, and
95 amendments to the Employment Promotion Law--as well as other laws
relative to marriage, divorce, and property rights--prohibit
discrimination against women. Racial and sexual discrimination in
employment advertisements or announcements of educational opportunities
were prohibited; however, they continued to occur in practice. The law
prohibits the arbitrary dismissal of pregnant women.
Traditional assumptions and misconceptions often impeded access by
women to leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. Women
primarily from the upper and upper-middle classes advanced in recent
years into leadership roles in various companies and government
agencies. Due to societal prejudice and discrimination, women
historically suffered disproportionately from the country's pervasive
poverty and unemployment.
Women's rights groups, such as Flora Tristan and Manuela Ramos,
studied discrimination against women and suggested ways to address this
problem, which often involved education and efforts to change
traditional attitudes. During the year, Flora Tristan prepared a study,
not yet published, on human trafficking in eight of the country's urban
areas.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
The Government provided free, compulsory education through
secondary school. Education was generally available throughout the
country, but there was a shortage of qualified teachers, primarily in
jungle regions. Fees for uniforms and books often were prohibitive for
poor families. Largely because of widespread poverty, approximately
one-third of all school-age children and adolescents worked during
daytime hours rather than attended school. Children living in poverty
averaged only 7.8 years of education, compared with 9.4 years for
children living above the poverty line. Approximately 6 percent of
children age 6 to 12 and 17 percent of adolescents age 12 to 17 either
never attended school or abandoned their education. School
nonattendance was highest in rural and jungle areas: In Lima, more than
90 percent of children were enrolled in primary school and more than 80
percent in secondary school, but, in some remote areas of the country,
fewer than 60 percent of children attended school. Approximately 50
percent of the students who went to primary school completed high
school.
Boys and girls had equal access to education. Pregnant school-age
girls had the right to begin or continue attending school.
Working adolescents, particularly those who worked as childcare
providers and female domestics, could attend classes at night schools
operated by the Ministry of Education; however, attendance often
obliged young people to go out at night in areas of Lima and other
major cities that could be unsafe. During the year, the Ministry of
Education initiated a tutorial program in the daytime schools, whereby
teachers made themselves available to give extra help to working
students and keep those students in regular school programs.
A 2003 National Statistical Institute survey estimated that nearly
60 percent of the country's 10 million children less than 18 years of
age lived in poverty, approximately 20 percent of them in extreme
poverty. Approximately 25 percent of children under age 5 were
malnourished. The infant mortality rate was 33 per 1,000 in the year
2000 and 34 for 2002. The Government's Integral Health Security program
offered poor mothers and infants as well as school-age children access
to health care. The program includes children not attending school.
Boys and girls had equal access to health services under this system.
Violence against children and the sexual abuse of children were
serious problems. Based on information from its women's emergency
centers, MIMDES reported that, during the year, there were 769 cases of
violence or sexual abuse of children 5 years of age and under; 1,879
cases for children ages 6 to 11; and 2,721 cases for children ages 12-
17.
According to NGOs, many abuse cases never were reported to the
authorities, since many persons believed that such problems belonged
within the family and should be resolved privately. The Women's
Emergency Program worked to address the problems facing children who
were victims of violence.
The Children's Bureau of MIMDES coordinated child- and adolescent-
related government policies and programs. At the grassroots level,
1,312 Children's Rights and Welfare Protection Offices received and
resolved complaints ranging from physical and sexual abuse to child
support, abandonment, and undetermined guardianship. 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 cases, officials typically referred them to the local
prosecutors' offices of the Public Ministry. Settlements adjudicated by
these offices were binding legally 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.--Trafficking statutes, which were updated
during the year, prohibit trafficking in persons and provide
punishments 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) from 5 to 10
years' imprisonment. If the trafficking victim is under 18 years of
age, the punishment is 10 to 15 years' imprisonment. Laws prohibiting
kidnapping, sexual abuse of minors, and illegal employment were
enforced and also could be used to punish traffickers in persons.
In May, Congress enacted legislation that significantly increased
penalties for the sexual abuse of minors. In particular, the new
statute levied punishments (4 to 8 years' imprisonment) against those
who were pimps or clients for prostitutes under the age of 18. The law
also punishes those who would profit from such activities and made
Internet child pornography illegal. The effect of the new laws was felt
almost immediately, as the Minister of Agriculture was forced to resign
for having been partial owner of a hotel allegedly used by underage
prostitutes.
The Ministry of the Interior and the PNP have taken the lead on
attacking domestic trafficking. The Foreign Ministry and Immigration
authorities are responsible for cases of international trafficking.
Although there were no authoritative estimates of its extent, there
were isolated reports that persons were trafficked from the country,
and trafficking within the country occurred. In March, the Government
formed a permanent, ministerial-level Multi-Sectoral Committee (MSC) to
work on the issue of trafficking in persons. The Committee is chaired
by the Ministry of the Interior and includes representatives from 10
government ministries and agencies, 3 international organizations, and
5 national NGOs.
Under the MSC's leadership, the Government took a number of actions
against traffickers. PNP officers repeatedly raided clandestine
brothels, including in La Rinconada, a distant mining town in the Andes
that is a notorious center of underage prostitution. The raids rescued
a number of young women who were returned to their families. At year's
end, one international trafficker had been arrested and awaited trial.
Other domestic traffickers had been detained in raids and then released
pending investigation. The Government had yet to develop a statistical
system for following trafficking prosecutions nationwide.
In April, the media reported the case of Irene Oblitas Arone, who
was trafficked in 1988 to Japan where members of the Japanese Mafia
``purchased'' her and forced her into prostitution. Oblitas
subsequently returned to the country. NGO representatives complained
that the Government did not provide adequate protection for persons
like Oblitas, who continued to fear retaliation from traffickers after
her identity became known. PNP officers detained Maria Yataco, a
citizen of Japanese ancestry who had been Oblitas' first contact with
the network that trafficked her to Japan. At year's end, investigations
of Yataco and other traffickers associated with her were ongoing.
In August, the Foreign Ministry appropriated money for the
repatriation of a second trafficking victim and her son, who were in
Japan. At year's end, the victim remained in Japan completing
arrangements for her return to the country, and the case against her
traffickers remained under investigation by a Lima penal court.
Prosecution also continued at year's end in the case of Liliana
Mendoza, a trafficking victim rescued from a brothel in Trujillo by PNP
and NGO representatives in 2003.
Trafficking to Spain and, particularly, to Japan operated through
organized criminal networks.
Internal trafficking was a far greater problem. NGOs and
international organizations maintained that significant domestic
trafficking occurred, particularly to bring underage women from the
Amazon district or the Sierras into the cities or into mining areas to
work as prostitutes or to work in homes as domestics. This trafficking
took place through informal networks that could involve boyfriends and
even the families of the young women victims.
The Government coordinated its anti-trafficking activities with
NGOs. A Catholic order of nuns, the Adoring Sisters, operated 3
programs for underage female prostitutes, 1 a live-in center for
approximately 75 girls (and 20 children of the victims) in Callao and 2
other walk-in centers in Lima. All facilities offered medical
attention, job training, and self-esteem workshops in an attempt to
remove underage girls from the streets. The Government's Institute for
Adolescents and Children provided the Adoring Sisters with the live-in
facility and paid for utilities and food.
During the year, the International Organization for Migration
worked with Movimiento El Pozo, an NGO dedicated to helping
prostitutes, to set up a hotline to warn and assist victims of
international trafficking. The hotline was instrumental in bringing a
victim's case to the attention of the Government. Hotline staff worked
closely with the PNP to verify information they received from callers
about suspicious job offers.
During the year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began an
aggressive advertising campaign warning travelers about the dangers of
trafficking. The Ministry of Commerce and Tourism also initiated an
anti-trafficking campaign, warning hoteliers and others about the
dangers of trafficking. In August and October, both ministries hosted
major public conferences with various NGOs on trafficking in persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Constitution provides that persons
with disabilities have ``the right to have their dignity respected and
to be provided by law with protection, care, rehabilitation, and
security.'' Legislation that established the National Council for the
Integration of People with Disabilities specifies rights, allowances,
programs, and services. The law prohibits discrimination, mandates that
public spaces be barrier-free and buildings be architecturally
accessible, and provides for the appointment of a disability rights
specialist in the Human Rights Ombudsman's office.
Despite an increased focus on persons with disabilities, the
Government devoted few resources to efforts in this area. Many persons
with disabilities remained economically and socially marginalized.
Although the law prohibits discrimination in the workplace, it does
not specify sources of funding for programs to enable workers with
disabilities to be productive. As a result, persons with disabilities
and the private agencies serving them generally relied on public
charity and on funding from international organizations.
Although construction regulations mandate barrier-free access for
persons with disabilities to public service buildings, little effort
was made to implement this provision. There were no accommodations,
such as interpreters for the deaf in government service offices and
Braille or recordings for the blind.
According to officials of the Institute for Social Security, less
than 1 percent of persons with severe disabilities actually worked.
Some private companies initiated programs to hire and train persons
with disabilities, and a private foundation provided small loans to
persons with disabilities to start businesses. Nevertheless, such
persons faced discrimination by potential employers.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Constitution provides all
citizens equality before the law and forbids discrimination, including
by reason of race, origin, and language. The law criminalizes racial
discrimination. The country's population included several racial
minorities, the largest of which were persons of Asian and African
descent. Afro-Peruvians, who tended to be concentrated along the coast,
often faced discrimination and social prejudice and were among the
poorest groups in the country. Afro-Peruvian civil rights groups
contended that official surveys and censuses did not accurately reflect
their numbers.
Afro-Peruvians generally did not hold leadership positions in
government, business, or the military. Both the navy and the air force
were believed widely to follow unstated policies that minimized the
number of blacks in the officer corps. The law prohibits newspaper
employment advertisements from specifying the race of the candidates
sought, but employers often found discreet ways to relegate blacks to
low-paying service jobs. NGOs alleged that frequently employers
required job applicants to submit personal photos to ensure that they
had the correct ``presence'' for desired jobs. The law prohibits
various forms of discrimination by retail establishments against
prospective customers. However, the law did not deter discriminatory
practices. Afro-Peruvians often were portrayed unflatteringly by the
entertainment industry as individuals of questionable character or as
comedic stereotypes.
Indigenous People.--The Constitution prohibits discrimination based
on race and provides for the right of all citizens to speak their
native language; however, the large population of indigenous people
faced pervasive societal discrimination and prejudice. Many factors
impeded their ability to participate in, and facilitated their
deliberate exclusion from, decision-making directly affecting their
lands, culture, traditions, and the allocation of natural resources.
Pervasive discrimination and social prejudice intensified perceptions
of inferiority and second-class citizenship. Many indigenous people
lacked basic identity documents that normally would identify them as
full citizens and enable them to play an active part in society (see
Section 5, Other Societal Abuses).
Other factors contributed to the marginalization of indigenous
people in society. Poor transportation, language barriers, and
inadequate communications infrastructure in the highlands and in the
Amazon jungle region made political mobilization and organization
difficult. The geographic isolation of much of the indigenous
population and the centralization of government in Lima further limited
the access and participation of indigenous people in society. UNICEF
reported that indigenous people in rural areas did not have equal
access to public services, particularly health and education: 90
percent lived in poverty; only 39 percent completed primary school; and
there were higher child and maternal mortality in indigenous areas,
where only 20 percent of births took place in public health centers.
The indigenous population of the Amazon region, estimated at
between 200,000 and 300,000 persons, faced pervasive discrimination and
social prejudice. In accordance with local culture and traditions, most
of the indigenous communities had a spiritual relationship with their
land, and the concept of land as a marketable commodity was alien to
them. Nevertheless, according to the director of the Human Rights
Ombudsman's Native Communities Program, the only right still
statutorily set aside for this indigenous population with respect to
its land is that of ``unassignability,'' which prevents the title to
such lands from being reassigned to some non-indigenous tenant by right
of tenure. However, the marketing and sale of the lands were not
prohibited.
Indigenous groups continued to resist encroachment on their native
lands. Many indigenous people did not have title to the land on which
they lived. For those who did, title to land does not include mineral
or other subsoil rights, which belong to the State; this problem led to
conflicts between mining interests and indigenous communities.
The National Commission on the Amazon Region and Indigenous and
Afro-Peruvian Affairs (CONAPA) is assigned to the office of the
president of the Council of Ministers. The Commission's members
included officials from a variety of relevant ministries as well as
representatives of the indigenous peasant population in the highland
and coastal areas, the indigenous population of the Amazon jungle, and
the Afro-Peruvian community. CONAPA worked with minority communities to
choose local leaders to collaborate in efforts to extend social
services to historically marginalized peoples. During the year, CONAPA
also worked with the Government's National Citizen Registry, on an
identity rights campaign for undocumented citizens (see Section 5,
Other Societal Abuses).
The two principal NGOs that represented the interests of the
indigenous population of the Amazon region were the Inter-Ethnic
Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP) and
the Confederation of Amazonian Nationalities of Peru (CONAP). Both
organizations were part of the Permanent Conference of Indigenous
Peoples, an umbrella body that coordinated the activities of the
country's indigenous population. CONAP advocated for indigenous
communities' rights to share in the benefits of mining and other
development operations. AIDESEP opposed territorial encroachments.
Sendero Luminoso continued to be a leading violator of the rights
of indigenous people. The terrorist group coerced indigenous peasants
into joining its ranks and demanded war taxes. Terrorist pressure on
indigenous communities continued during the year, with Sendero
representatives attempting to recruit followers among indigenous people
living in the Pangoa and Tambo River valleys in Junin Province.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Constitution
provides all persons with the right to a name, nationality, and legal
recognition, and the exercise of civil, political, economic, and social
rights; however, sources estimated that more than 1 million
undocumented citizens, including at least 312,000 women, had no
identity documents and thus were unable to avail of these rights.
UNICEF calculated that approximately 15 percent of children were not
registered, the majority of whom were illegitimate children, children
of farm workers, or children of undocumented parents. The displacement
of persons during the war against Sendero Luminoso and the constant
movement of rural inhabitants to the cities worsened the problem of
persons without documentation.
Undocumented citizens were socially and politically marginalized
and had difficulties accessing government services. They also faced
barriers to registering their children, becoming candidates for
political office, or holding title to land and homes.
One of the most significant obstacles to obtaining a National
Identity Document (DNI) was the requirement to present supporting
documents, such as a birth certificate and a public utility receipt, to
the DNI. Persons in rural areas faced special challenges in meeting
these requirements. First, women were not always able to give birth at
health establishments, which issue the certificate of live birth
required for obtaining the birth certificate. Second, rural dwellers
frequently did not have access to public utilities. Mothers who gave
birth at home faced obstacles in retroactively obtaining a certificate
of live birth. The Ministry of Health, in an effort to lower infant
mortality, fined women who did not give birth in clinics or hospitals.
In many rural areas, these women could not pay the fines and,
consequently, did not register their children.
During the year, various entities of the Government, including the
Ombudsman's office, the National Registry of Identification and Civil
Status, and the ministries of Education and Health, as well as MIMDES,
began work on this problem in cooperation with Oxfam, a human rights
NGO. The Government eased requirements for citizens to obtain identity
papers, requiring only a birth certificate or an identity issued by the
military, instead of both, as previously required.
Despite the absence of formal prohibitions, homosexuals faced
extensive discrimination. On August 11, a Lima supermarket's manager
asked two male members of the Homosexual Movement of Lima to leave
after they exchanged kisses in the supermarket's public cafeteria.
Other clients had complained about their behavior.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution and the law provide
for the right of association; however, worker rights advocates claimed
that the laws were overly restrictive. Approximately 5 percent of the
formal sector workforce of 8.5 million belonged to organized labor
unions.
Labor regulations provide that workers may form unions on the basis
of their occupation, employer affiliation, or geographic territory.
Workers were not required to seek authorization prior to forming a
trade union, nor could employers legally condition employment on union
membership or non-membership.
A 2003 Law for Domestic Workers regulated the hours for and
established fundamental rights for this overwhelmingly female section
of the work force; however, the Ministry of Labor's limited ability to
inspect the conditions of domestic workers minimized the law's effect.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution recognizes the right of public and private sector workers
to organize and bargain collectively; however, it specifies that this
right must be exercised in harmony with broader social objectives. A
union had to represent at least 20 workers to become an official
collective bargaining agent. Representatives could participate in
collective bargaining negotiations and establish negotiating
timetables.
Although a conciliation and arbitration system exists, union
officials complained that their proportionate share of the costs of
arbitration often exceeded their resources. In addition, union
officials claimed that, as the law prohibits temporary workers from
participating in the same union as permanent workers, companies have
resorted to hiring workers ``temporarily'' to prevent increases in the
number of union members. The law restricts the number of temporary
workers hired to 20 percent of a company's work force; however, some
labor advocates claimed that some companies did not comply with the
law.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, the law restricts unions that
represent workers in public services deemed essential by the Government
from striking. According to the Ministry of Labor, there were 2 legal
strikes and 95 illegal strikes during the year. It was difficult to get
approval for a legal strike. Labor movement leaders believed that the
Ministry of Labor, which grants permissions for legal strikes, was
reluctant to do so for fear of hurting the economy. In practice, labor
movement representatives considered this as limitation on the right to
strike.
There are four export processing zones (EPZs). Special regulations
for the EPZs provide for the use of temporary labor as needed, for
greater flexibility in labor contracts, and for setting wage rates
based on supply and demand.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred.
Narcotraffickers and Sendero Luminoso terrorists held indigenous
families captive in remote areas, using their labor, including that of
children, to grow food crops and coca (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Child and Adolescent Code governs child and adolescent labor practices
and restricts child labor based upon the age of the child, hours
worked, and occupation; however, child labor was a serious problem. The
legal minimum age for employment is 14; however, children between the
ages of 12 and 14 may work in certain jobs for up to 4 hours per day,
and adolescents between ages 15 to 17 may work up to 6 hours per day if
they obtain special permission from the Ministry of Labor and certify
that they also were attending school.
In practice, the law's provisions were violated routinely in the
informal sector. In certain sectors of the economy, higher minimums
were in force: Age 15 in industrial, commercial, or mining work and age
16 in the fishing industry. In 2003, the Ministry granted 1,020 permits
to children between the ages of 12 and 17 to work in compliance with
labor and education laws. The law prohibits children from engaging in
certain types of employment, such as work underground, work that
involves the lifting and carrying of heavy weights, work where the
child or adolescent is responsible for the safety of others, work at
night, or any work that jeopardizes the health of children and
adolescents, puts at risk their physical, mental, and emotional
development, or prevents their regular attendance at school. An
estimated 1.9 million children labored primarily in the informal sector
to help support their families. Of this total, NGOs estimated that
approximately 600,000 children were less than 12 years of age.
Significant numbers of children from rural areas, most of them
female, often were moved to cities where they lived and worked in
families as domestics.
Employers frequently required longer hours from their live-in
charges, compelling them to carry out comprehensive duties, including
cooking and childcare, for wages as low as $20-30 (70-105 soles) per
month. Child and adolescent laborers worked long hours in the
agricultural sector. Other children reportedly were employed at times
in dangerous occupations or in high-risk environments, such as informal
gold mining, garbage collection, brick making, coca cultivation, or
work in stone quarries and fireworks factories.
Although there were no reliable statistics on its extent, NGOs and
other observers maintained that the country suffered a growing problem
with adolescent prostitution (see Section 5), as demonstrated by police
raids on clandestine brothels employing adolescent sex workers.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor
laws, and its inspectors had legal authority to investigate reports of
illegal child labor practices. Inspectors conducted routine visits
without notice to areas where child labor problems were reported. Firms
found guilty of violating child labor laws may be fined and have their
operations suspended. Inspectors levied fines against 132 firms for
violations of health and safety issues. Over the last 5 years, the
Ministry of Labor carried out an average of nearly 4,000 inspections
per year.
Inspectors maintained contact with a wide variety of local NGOs,
church officials, law enforcement officials, and school officials. The
Ministry of Labor reported that there were 170 labor inspectors (of
whom 120 worked in Lima) responsible for all labor inspections.
Inspections focused on the formal sector. The PNP and local prosecutors
exercised law enforcement authority.
Narcotraffickers routinely violated the rights of children in their
efforts to produce illegal drugs. In August, the National Commission
for Development and Life Without Drugs estimated that 5,000 children
were employed in the illegal narcotics industry, an activity that
exposed them to a variety of toxic chemicals that could have effects
that range from death to damage to a person's nervous system, blisters,
or burns.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Constitution states that
workers should receive a ``just and sufficient'' wage to be determined
by the Government in consultation with labor and business
representatives, as well as ``adequate protection against arbitrary
dismissal.'' In September 2003, the Government raised the statutory
minimum wage from $124 (410 soles) a month to $153 (460 soles), which
was not considered sufficient to provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. The Government estimated the poverty line to
be approximately $65 (214 soles) a month per person, a figure that
varied by region. INEI's 2003 survey showed the poverty line at $75
(260 soles) a month per person for Lima, compared with $55 (180.5
soles) for the rural jungle. According to some estimates, as much as
half the workforce earned the minimum wage or below, because such a
great proportion worked in the largely unregulated informal sector. The
Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, which
was enforced in the formal sector.
The Constitution provides for a 48-hour workweek, a weekly day of
rest, and an annual vacation. A Supreme Decree states that all workers
should work no more than 8 hours per day; however, labor advocates
complained in recent years that workers were pressured to work longer
hours to avoid dismissal. The law requires companies to pay overtime to
employees who work more than 8 hours, to provide additional
compensation for work at night, and to provide a 45-minute meal break
to employees during their 8-hour shift. Labor, business, and the
Government reported that the majority of companies in the formal sector
complied with the law.
While occupational health and safety standards exist, the
Government lacked the resources to monitor firms or enforce compliance.
The Ministry of Labor continued to receive worker complaints and
intervened in hundreds of cases. When firms were found to be in
violation of the law, the Government punished them most often with
fines. In cases of industrial accidents, the level of compensation
awarded to the injured employee usually was determined by agreement
between the employer and the individual involved. The worker did not
need to prove an employer's culpability in order to obtain compensation
for work-related injuries. No provisions exist in law for workers to
remove themselves from potentially dangerous work situations without
jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
Saint Kitts and Nevis is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy and
federation, governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and a unicameral
legislature, with a governor general as titular head of state. 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 the
October 25 national elections, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas's St.
Kitts and Nevis Labor Party (SKNLP) won 7 of 8 St. Kitts seats in the
11-seat legislature, and he remained Prime Minister. International
observers considered the electoral process flawed. In elections on
Nevis in 2001, Premier Vance Amory's Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM)
won four of five seats in the Nevis Assembly. The judiciary is
independent.
The security forces consist of a small police force, including a
30-person Special Services Unit that received some light infantry
training, a coast guard, and a small defense force. Military forces
patrolled jointly with the police. The civilian authorities maintained
effective control of the security forces. Some members of the security
forces committed human rights abuses.
The country had a mixed economy based on sugar cane, tourism, and
light industry; the population was approximately 45,000. Most
commercial enterprises were owned privately, but a state corporation
owned the sugar industry and 85 percent of arable land. The gross
domestic product, which rose 2.1 percent in 2003, was expected to rise
by 4 percent during the year following growth in the tourism sector and
contraction in the sugar sector. The unemployment rate was estimated at
5 percent. In January, the Government raised public sector salaries by
10 percent.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas. Poor prison
conditions, opposition complaints about access to government-controlled
media, and violence against women remained the principal problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of the arbitrary of unlawful deprivation of life committed by
the Government or its agents.
During the year, one person died in prison, and one person died
while in police custody; however, foul play was not suspected in either
case.
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.
Prisons were overcrowded, and resources remained limited. The
prison on Saint Kitts had a capacity for 155 prisoners but held 183
prisoners at year's end; some prisoners slept on mats on the floor. A
low-security prison on Nevis held 35 inmates. Corporal punishment is
legal; a court can order that an accused person receive lashes if found
guilty. The prison provided voluntary work and education programs. The
prison staff periodically received training in human rights.
Unlike in 2003, there were no reported deaths in prison during the
year.
Female inmates were held separately from male prisoners, and
juveniles were segregated from adult prisoners. Pretrial detainees were
held separately from convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits occurred during the year. In addition, the
Ministry of National Security appointed ``visiting justices,'' who
volunteered to oversee the treatment of prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
The police force consists of 370 officers (72 officers in Nevis),
with 27 auxiliary members. Senior officers investigated complaints
against members of the police force, and criminal offenses are referred
to the Director of Public Prosecutions. The police force continued to
conduct its own internal investigation when complaints were made
against its members. There were 27 complaints filed during the year,
resulting in 10 warnings to police, 3 disciplinary actions, and 1
dismissal.
Starting in July, officers received human rights training based on
resources provided by the International Red Cross.
Police may arrest a person based on the suspicion of criminal
activity; warrants are not required. The law requires that persons
detained be charged within 48 hours or be released. If charged, the
police must bring a detainee before a court within 72 hours. There is a
functioning system of bail. Family members, attorneys, and clergy were
permitted to visit detainees regularly.
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 a 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.
The Constitution provides that every person accused of a crime must
receive 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. Free legal assistance was
available for indigent defendants in capital cases only.
As of September, there were 75 persons in pretrial detention. The
length of pretrial detention varied according to offense and charges;
persons may be held for days, weeks, or months. In April, authorities
tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging Joseph Hazel. Hazel
had been in pretrial detention since 2001 for the 2000 murder of Tony
Fetherston. At year's end, his sentence was under appeal.
In December 2003, the legislature passed legislation to empower the
courts to pass noncustodial sentencing such as discharges, suspended
sentences, probation orders, and community service orders.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
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 and did not restrict academic
freedom. 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.
There was one daily independent newspaper and four independent
weekly newspapers, as well as papers published by the major political
parties. Several privately owned radio stations also operated.
In March, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ordered the PAM
newspaper to pay two government ministers a total of $35,000
(EC$95,000) for libel. Two other libel cases filed by government
ministers against the PAM publication during the year resulted in
judgments of $13,000 (EC$35,000) and $9,200 (EC$25,000).
In December, Clive Bacchus, a Guyanese national and the general
manager of the WINN radio station, was informed that the renewal of his
work permit was delayed pending verification that no qualified citizens
were interested in his job. Since work permit renewals are granted
routinely and recruitment of citizens was not a requirement, the
incident was criticized as a government attempt to suppress the
independent media.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
On July 16, police arrested and briefly detained leaders of the PAM
during a peaceful demonstration. PAM organizers claimed that police
changed their demonstration route at the last moment. When
demonstrators attempted to follow the originally approved route, their
leaders were arrested.
In September 2003, PAM leaders received a court summons for having
a public gathering without a permit. PAM officials alleged they had
requested a permit and the Government knew about the gathering but
deliberately refused to issue a permit. The cases were adjourned
indefinitely and no trial date was set.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 does not address forced exile, but the Government
did not use it.
Although the country is a signatory of the 1951 U.N. Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees, 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. All
citizens 18 years of age and older may register and vote by secret
ballot. 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.).
In October general elections, Prime Minister Denzil Douglas's SKNLP
was returned to office after winning 7 of 8 St. Kitts-assigned seats in
the 11-seat Parliament. The PAM won one seat after nearly 5 years
without representation. Nevis Premier Vance Armory's CCM won two of the
three parliamentary 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 Government also deported
and refused reentry to an important political consultant to the
opposition party.
The Governor General appoints three senators, two on recommendation
of the Prime Minister and one on the recommendation of the Leader of
the Opposition. The island of Nevis has considerable self-government,
with its own premier and legislature. In the 2001 Nevis elections,
Premier Amory's CCM won four of the five seats in the Nevis Island
Assembly.
During the year, in accordance with its rights under the
Constitution, the Nevis Assembly again proposed secession and initiated
formal constitutional procedures to hold a referendum on the issue.
While opposing secession, the Government acknowledged the
constitutional rights of Nevisians to determine their future
independence. The referendum was delayed and had not been rescheduled
by year's end.
The PAM continued to allege widespread employment discrimination by
the SKNLP against public sector employment of persons perceived to be
PAM supporters.
The PAM claimed that electoral reform is needed to correct
inequities and to prevent irregularities in voting, asserting that in
the previous election the Government encouraged voters to register in
districts where they did not reside and unduly influenced voters by
providing airfare and hotel accommodations to overseas citizens willing
to return to vote. The PAM also charged that some people voted more
than once by voting in different jurisdictions. Citing these
irregularities, the PAM proposed that photographic voter identification
cards be issued and the existing register of voters be nullified. The
PAM also recommended changes to the electoral commission to correct
what it perceived as a bias toward the party in power. The PAM
criticized the Government's failure to appoint any PAM representatives
to the Select Committee of the National Assembly on Constitutional
Reform, which will take up matters of electoral reform. The PAM did not
have any representatives in the prior assembly; their newly elected
representative had not been placed on the Select Committee by year's
end.
There were a number of allegations of corruption in the Government.
The PAM party continued to allege corrupt electoral practices. In
Nevis, the Reformation Party accused the ruling CCM of corruption in
the sale of land at preferential prices, among other corrupt practices,
and called for an official inquiry. Businesses also complained of high-
level corruption in large foreign investment projects.
No laws provide for public access to government information;
however, in practice, the Government maintained a website with limited
information concerning government actions.
There were 2 women in the 11-seat National Assembly and no women in
the cabinet; 3 of 4 magistrates were women, the court registrar was a
woman, and 6 of 11 permanent secretaries were women. In addition, in
Nevis, one cabinet member and the president of the House of Assembly
were women. The Government participated in an Organization of American
States program to encourage the participation of women in leadership
roles, with a focus on politics.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
While there are no governmental restrictions, there were no local
human rights groups. 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 on grounds of race, place
of origin, birth out of wedlock, political opinion or affiliation,
color, sex, or creed, and the Government generally respected these
prohibitions in practice.
Women.--Violence against women was a problem. The Domestic Violence
Act criminalizes domestic violence, including emotional abuse, and
provides penalties of up to $5,000 (EC$13,500) and/or 6 months in
prison for abusers. Although many women were reluctant to file
complaints or pursue them in the courts, there were publicly reported
cases of both domestic violence and rape and a few convictions. The
Department of Gender Affairs, under the Ministry of Social Development,
Community, and Gender Affairs, was active in the areas of domestic
violence, spousal abuse, and abandonment. It offered counseling for
victims of abuse and conducted training on domestic violence and gender
violence for officials of the police and fire departments, nurses,
school guidance counselors, and other government employees. In
addition, the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Gender Affairs
participated in a weekly radio program to discuss gender issues,
including domestic violence. The Department reported 30 cases of
domestic violence during the year. There was no separate domestic
violence unit in the police force.
The law prohibits rape; however, spousal rape is not addressed in
the legislation.
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 leadership positions for women. It operated three programs
for rural women, providing them with market skills and training as
entrepreneurs. The Department provided clients assistance with problems
such as lack of housing, unemployment, childcare, technical training,
and personal development. It also ran the Viola Project, a program to
encourage young mothers to complete their education, which had 17
participants during the year. The Department produced three handbooks
on sexual harassment, equal opportunity and employment, and equal pay
for work of equal value. The Department continued its programs focusing
on men as perpetrators of crimes of violence against women.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare and has incorporated most of the provisions of the U.N.
Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic legislation. The
law mandates compulsory education up to the age of 16; it was free and
universal. More than 98 percent of children completed school.
Free medical care was provided for children, and boys and girls had
equal access.
Under the law, the age of consent is 16. During the year,
authorities brought charges in 22 cases involving alleged sexual
activity with minors (statutory rape) and 5 cases of incest (which
includes sexual activity with any member of the household).
Trafficking in Persons.--No laws address trafficking in persons
specifically; however, 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.--There was no 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. During the
year, the Government amended the National Development Plan, which
emphasized opportunities in education and employment to include blind
and visually impaired persons.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers exercised the 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 law permits the police, civil service, and
other organizations to organize associations that serve as unions. The
major labor union, the St. 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 try to stifle other unions that would threaten the
SKTLU in the workplace.
The law prohibits anti-union 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 1 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 this right in
practice. If a union obtains membership of over 50 percent of employees
at a company, the union 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.
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
law prohibits slavery, servitude, and forced labor of children, and the
Department of Labor effectively implemented this law in practice. There
were no reported cases 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 are 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. Society does
not consider domestic work exploitative 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 average wage
varied from $67 (EC$180) per week for full-time domestic workers to
$166 (EC$443.50) per week for skilled workers. The wages provided a
decent standard of living for a wage earner 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. Workers who
were unemployed for more than 12 weeks received a lump sum payment from
the Government based on previous earnings and length of service.
The law provides for a 40- to 44-hour workweek, but the common
practice was 40 hours in 5 days. Although not required by law, workers
receive at least one 24-hour rest period per week. The law provides
that workers receive a minimum annual vacation of 14 working days and
provides for premium pay for work above the standard workweek.
While there were no specific health and safety regulations, the
Factories Law provides general health and safety guidance to Department
of Labor inspectors. The Labor Commission settles disputes over safety
conditions. Workers had 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 governed by a
prime minister and a cabinet, which represent the majority party in the
lower house of the bicameral Parliament. Queen Elizabeth II appoints a
governor general who has some residual powers under the Constitution.
In generally free and fair elections in 2001, Prime Minister Kenny
Anthony's Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) retained power, winning 14
seats in the 17-member House of Assembly. The judiciary is independent.
The Royal Saint Lucia Police numbers 704 officers and includes a
35-officer Special Services Unit, which had some paramilitary training,
and a coast guard unit. The civilian authorities maintained effective
control of the security forces. There were occasional allegations that
members of the security forces committed human rights abuses.
The country has a market-based economy dominated by tourism, trade,
communications, and transport. The population was approximately
160,000. Economic growth was 3.4 percent during the year, and inflation
was estimated at approximately 2 percent. Unemployment at the end of
2003 was 19.7 percent.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas. There were some
allegations of physical abuse of suspects and prisoners by the police;
long delays in trials and sentencing, domestic violence against women,
and child abuse also were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, security forces killed three suspects while attempting to
apprehend them.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed torture. Prisoners and
suspects regularly complained of physical abuse by police and prison
officers. Through October, the Police Complaints Commission
investigated more than 100 complaints of police beatings. There were
three disciplinary recommendations against police officers and three
criminal convictions.
Prison conditions generally met international standards at the
Bordelais prison, which had a capacity of 500 prisoners. In December,
it held 485 prisoners, and 184 staff positions were filled. The prison
had separate facilities for females, young offenders, and those
awaiting trial. It also has a magistrate's courtroom. The prison
administered rehabilitation, education, and recreations programs in
farming, carpentry, literacy, and Bible study.
A boys' training school, which operated separately from the prison,
held 14 juveniles between 12 and 18 years of age.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers,
although no such visits took place during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest or imprisonment and the Government generally adhered
to these provisions in practice.
The Royal Saint Lucia Police numbered 704 officers and included a
Special Services Unit and a coast guard unit. The Police Commissioner
continued implementation of the 2003 5-year community policing
initiative to increase professionalism, prevent crime, and address
customer service issues.
The Constitution requires a court hearing within 72 hours of
detention. There was no constitutional requirement for a speedy trial,
but every Wednesday, the Government used the magistrate's court located
in the prison to reduce processing time for court hearings after
detention. Those charged with serious crimes spent an estimated 6
months to a year in pretrial detention; however, those charged with
petty offenses often received speedy trials, particularly if victims or
witnesses were likely to leave the island. Detainees are allowed prompt
access to counsel and family. There is a functioning bail system.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The two-level court system includes the Courts of Summary
Jurisdiction (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 London as the final court of appeal. A family court handles
child custody, maintenance, support, domestic violence, juvenile
affairs, and related matters.
The Constitution requires public trials before an independent and
impartial court and, in cases involving capital punishment, provision
of legal counsel for those who cannot afford a defense attorney. In
criminal cases not involving capital punishment, defendants must obtain
their own legal counsel. Defendants are entitled to select their own
legal counsel, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, and
have the right of appeal. Authorities observed both constitutional and
statutory requirements for fair public trials.
The court system continued to face a serious backlog of cases. The
Government hired three new magistrates during the year for a total of
nine. The average time for a trial was 3 to 6 months in the
magistrate's courts and 6 to 12 months for non-petty criminal cases.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were five major privately owned
newspapers, two privately owned radio stations, one partially
government-funded radio station, one government-operated television
station, and two private television stations.
Local media outlets and the opposition party continued to voice
concerns with the ``spreading false news'' clause, enacted in 2003 as
part of the new Criminal Code.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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.
The law requires permits for public meetings and demonstrations if
they are to be held in public places, such as on streets or sidewalks
or in parks. The police routinely granted such permits; the rare
refusal generally stemmed from the failure of organizers to request the
permit in a timely manner, normally 72 hours before the event.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Two Rastafarians, convicted of murder and arson and sentenced to
hang in 2003 for attacking parishioners at a Catholic Mass in 2000,
remained on death row.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 it was not used.
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.
During the year, the Cabinet of Ministers gave temporary residence
status with permission to work to nine Haitians and referred them to
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. Under the Constitution, general elections must be
held at least every 5 years by secret ballot, but may be held earlier
at the discretion of the Government in power. The Governor General
appoints the 11-member Senate, which includes 2 independents. In 2001,
in elections that generally were considered free and fair, Prime
Minister Anthony's SLP defeated the United Workers Party, led by
Morella Joseph. The SLP won 14 of 17 seats and 55 percent of the
popular vote.
The law provides for public access to information, and
parliamentary debates are open to the public. The Government
Information Service disseminates public information on a daily basis,
operates an extensive website, and publishes a number of official
periodicals.
There were no legal impediments to participation by women and
minorities in government and politics, and 8 women competed in the 2001
elections in a field of 45 candidates for 17 positions. Voters elected
two women to the House of Assembly, and there were four appointed
female senators. One of the 14 members of the cabinet was a woman, as
was the Governor General.
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 lower
officials to cooperate.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Neither the Constitution nor the law address discrimination
specifically; 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. Most charges involving domestic violence
must be brought under the ordinary Civil Code, but rape and other
crimes were subject to the Criminal Code. The family court heard cases
of domestic violence and crimes against women and children. 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, which include women,
worked closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Gender Relations.
There were 31 reported cases of domestic violence in 2003. Most of the
cases were referred to a counselor, and the police facilitated the
issuance of court protection orders in some. 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 Domestic Violence Act 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 that an
abuser's name be removed from housing leases or rental agreements,
revoking the right of the abuser to live in the same residence as the
victim.
The Saint Lucia Crisis Center for Women, a nongovernmental
organization located in Castries, monitored cases of physical and
emotional abuse and helped clients to deal with such problems as
incest, nonpayment of child support, alcohol and drug abuse,
homelessness, custody, and visitation rights. The Ministry of Health,
Human Services and Family Affairs reported 34 cases of domestic
violence, including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. During 2003,
the Women's Support Center, a government shelter for abused persons,
received 105 crisis calls and offered residential services to 24
clients and 27 dependent children. The center also engaged in an active
community outreach program that included visits to schools, health
centers, and community centers.
Prostitution is illegal; however, it was a growing problem. The
police did not take serious action against the clubs despite some
reports of child abuse and trafficking.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment; however, it remained a
problem.
Women's affairs were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home
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.
Children.--The Government gave high priority to improving
educational opportunities and health care for children. Education was
compulsory from age 5 through 15; registration fees were required.
Approximately one-third of primary school children continued on to
secondary schools, and the dropout rate from primary to secondary
school was higher for boys than for girls.
Government clinics provided prenatal care, immunization, child
health care, and health education services. Boys and girls had equal
access to medical care.
During the year, the Ministry of Health, Human Services, and Family
Affairs reported 41 cases of child sexual abuse, 34 cases of physical
abuse, 13 cases of psychological abuse, and 59 cases of neglect and
abandonment. In 2003, the Saint Lucia Save the Children Fund (LUSAVE)
reported receiving an average of three calls per day from abused
children and documented numerous incidences of children as young as 10
years of age giving birth as a result of sexual abuse. LUSAVE also
claimed to have evidence of child pornography, including the rape of
minors recorded on video for sale. As there was no welfare system in
place, 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.
Trafficking in Persons.--No laws specifically address trafficking
in persons; however, there were reports that internal trafficking,
particularly of minors, began to be a problem. There was a credible
report of trafficking for sexual exploitation of a woman from the
Dominican Republic whose passport was seized by a nightclub owner and
who claimed she was coerced into prostitution. Police intervened and
returned the woman's passport. The country had a reputation as a
regional hub for nightclubs and weekend trysts. While recognizing the
increase in prostitution and nightclub activity, the Government did not
acknowledge that trafficking was a problem and had no programs to
protect victims or prevent trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--No specific legislation protects the
rights of persons with disabilities or mandates provision of access to
buildings or government services for them. The Government is obliged to
provide disabled access to all public buildings, and several government
buildings added 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
until the secondary level. There also was a school for persons with
mental disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was widespread
stigma and discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS,
although the Government initiated several programs to address this
issue. In May, the Government committed $2.6 million (EC$7 million) for
a 5-year program to combat AIDS. The U.N. Population Fund also provided
support for youth-oriented AIDS prevention programs.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution 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 about 36
percent of the total work force was unionized.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions have the
legal right to engage in collective bargaining, and they exercised this
right in practice. The Registration of Trade Unions and Employer
Organizations Act regulates internal union governance. It also provides
that an employer must recognize a union if the union obtains the
support of 50 percent plus one of the employees at a particular
business.
Strikes in both the public and private sectors were legal, but
there were many avenues such as collective bargaining agreements and
government procedures that often precluded a strike. 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, and there were no reports that
such practices occurred. While there is no specific prohibition of
forced or compulsory labor by children, there were no reports of such
practices.
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 was not sufficient to 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. The 1999 Minimum Wage Act
established a commission responsible for setting a minimum wage level;
it met during 2003, but it had not finished its work by year's end.
There is no legislated workweek, although the common practice was
to work 40 hours in 5 days. Special legislation covers work hours for
shop assistants, agricultural workers, domestics, and persons in
industrial establishments.
Occupational health and safety regulations were relatively well
developed; however, there was only one qualified inspector 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
St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a multiparty, parliamentary
democracy governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and a unicameral
legislative assembly, with a governor general as titular head of state.
In 2001 elections that were generally free and fair, the Unity Labor
Party (ULP) won 12 of 15 parliamentary seats, and ULP leader Ralph
Gonsalves became the new Prime Minister. The judiciary is independent.
The Royal St. Vincent Police, the only security force in the
country, includes a coast guard and a small Special Services Unit with
some paramilitary training. Civilian authorities maintained effective
control of the security force; however, some members of the security
force committed human rights abuses.
The market-based economy was small, weak, and heavily in debt. The
country's population was approximately 117,000. The economy primarily
was based on agriculture (particularly bananas), construction, and
tourism. The country continued to suffer from a high rate of
unemployment and low per capita gross domestic product (GDP).
Unemployment was estimated at 25 percent in 2003. Real GDP rose to 3.6
percent for 2003 following improvements in the construction,
manufacturing, communications, and trade sectors. Consumer prices
increased approximately 1.7 percent during the year.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in a few areas. Principal human
rights problems included instances of excessive use of force by police,
the Government's failure to punish adequately those responsible for
such abuses, poor prison conditions, and an overburdened court system.
Violence against women and abuse of children also were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, in September, police beat Leroy Sayers, who was behaving
erratically and reportedly may have been having a seizure. Sayers later
died in police custody. His family claimed to have been kept from the
post mortem examination, and there was no opportunity for an
independent examination to determine the cause of death.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however,
regional human rights groups noted that a high percentage of
convictions were based on confessions. One human rights group believed
that most 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.
In April, police reportedly captured and beat escaped prisoner
Dexter Brewster, who sustained injuries that left him paralyzed from
the waist down. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights
Association (SVGHRA) protested the incident to the Commissioner of
Police but did not receive a response. At year's end, Brewster remained
in a prison that was not equipped to hold paralyzed prisoners.
Prison conditions were poor. Prison buildings were antiquated and
overcrowded, with Her Majesty's Prison in Kingstown holding 354 inmates
in a building designed for 75. These conditions resulted in serious
health and safety problems.
In September 2003, the Prison Superintendent acknowledged that,
despite reforms initiated in 2003, prisons were characterized by
endemic violence, understaffing, underpaid guards, uncontrolled weapons
and drugs, an increase in HIV/AIDS, and unhygienic conditions.
A prison guard training program, initiated in 2003, trained nearly
all 117 guards in methods used in the British prison system. A
rehabilitation program allowed inmates to receive contracts and jobs
with local entrepreneurs. A school program offered courses in
carpentry, tailoring, baking, and mechanical engineering.
The SVGHRA reported that prison guards routinely beat prisoners as
means of extracting information regarding escapes, crime, and violence
committed in the prison. During the year, guards reportedly beat one
prisoner, Michael Wilson, because he had engaged in homosexual
activity. Wilson had not been convicted of a crime but was in prison
awaiting trial after being denied bail. Wilson subsequently was given
bail and decided not to pursue a complaint against prison authorities.
There were 13 female inmates held in a separate section in the Fort
Charlotte prison. Pretrial detainees and young offenders (16 to 21
years of age) were held with convicted prisoners. Conditions were
inadequate for juvenile offenders.
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
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions; however, complaints continued regarding police
practices in bringing cases to court.
The Royal St. Vincent Police has 700 police officers, including a
small Special Services Unit with some paramilitary training. The force
has an additional 59 persons in the fire service and 74 in the coast
guard. 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 warrants are required in most instances. Detainees may seek
judicial determinations after 48 hours if not already provided. There
is a functioning and generally effective system of bail. A local human
rights group reported that most detainees were given prompt access to
counsel and family members, although in some instances, such access was
delayed.
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. Some
defense attorneys claimed that there were 6- to 12-month delays in
preliminary inquiries for serious crimes.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary consists of lower courts and a 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 had
the authority to sit as a magistrate if called upon. The Chief
Magistrate was also president of the Family Court, which handled
criminal cases for minors up to age 16.
The Constitution provides for public trials. The court appointed
attorneys for indigent defendants only when the defendant was charged
with a capital offense. Defendants were presumed innocent until proven
guilty and could appeal verdicts and penalties. The backlog of pending
cases was reduced during the year, even though the magistrate's court
in Kingstown lacked a full complement of magistrates. A local human
rights group reported that magistrates were overworked and underpaid.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were two major newspapers and numerous
smaller, partisan publications; all were privately owned. The sole
television station and six of seven radio stations were privately
owned.
Slander charges filed in 2002 by Prime Minister Gonsalves against a
popular radio talk show host and the company that owned the radio
station remained before the court at year's end.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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.
Members of the Rastafarian community continued to complain that law
enforcement officials unfairly targeted them. However, it was not clear
whether such complaints reflected discrimination by the authorities on
the basis of religious belief or simply enforcement of laws against
marijuana, which was used as part of Rastafarian religious practice.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and it was not used.
Although the country is a signatory of the 1951 U.N. 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. The country does not receive refugees; however, during the
year, the Government permitted victims of Hurricane Ivan from Grenada
to stay in the country on a temporary basis. A Red Cross representative
served as the honorary liaison with the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The Constitution provides for general elections at
least every 5 years.
In the 2001 elections, which observers declared to be generally
free and fair, the opposition ULP won 12 out of the Parliament's 15
elected seats, and Dr. Ralph Gonsalves became Prime Minister. Following
elections, the Governor General appoints six Senators, four on the
nomination of the Prime Minister and two on the nomination of the
Opposition Leader. Senators have the same privileges as the elected
members except that they are not permitted to vote on a motion of no
confidence brought against the Government.
The country had a national anti-corruption plan; however corruption
remained a moderate problem. The law provides for public access to
information and the Government provided such access in practice.
There were 2 women in the 15-seat Parliament and 3 women in the
cabinet--the Minister of Tourism, the Minister of Agriculture, and the
Attorney General.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were responsive to their views; however, the SVGHRA
complained that not all of its complaints or inquiries to the
Government received a response. 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.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution provides for equal treatment under the law
regardless of race or sex, and the Government generally enforced this
provision in practice.
Women.--Violence against women remained a serious problem. During
the year, the police received 66 reports of rape. Of these, 22 cases
were in court, 42 were under investigation, and 2 were dropped for lack
of evidence. In 2003, women made over 1,000 reports of physical,
sexual, emotional, and other domestic violence. The Domestic Violence/
Matrimonial Proceedings Act prohibits domestic violence. 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.
The SVGHRA conducted numerous seminars and workshops throughout the
country to familiarize women with their rights. Development banks
provided funding through the Caribbean Association for Family Research
and Action for a program of 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
effectively enforced the law. Depending on the magnitude of the offense
and the age of the victim, the sentence for rape generally was 10 years
to life in prison.
Prostitution is legal; however, it remained a problem among young
women and teenagers.
The law prohibits sexual harassment. A local human rights group
believed that the law was ineffective and required amendments to
address this problem.
Women enjoyed the same legal rights as men. Women received an
equitable share of property following separation or divorce. The Office
of Gender Affairs, under the Ministry of Education, Women's Affairs,
and Culture, 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.
Marion House, an independent social services agency, provided
counseling and therapy services, as well as parenting and support
programs for young adults aged 15 to 25.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. Primary education was compulsory, free, and universal, and the
Ministry of Education estimated that 99 percent of primary school age
children attended school. Secondary school was not compulsory, but the
Government investigated cases in which children were withdrawn from
school before the age of 16. As a supplement to secondary school, the
Government sponsored the Youth Empowerment Program, which was 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, to which private sector
employers contributed additional amounts in some instances. The
Ministry of Education estimated that approximately 83 percent of
secondary school-age children attended school during the year.
Despite government efforts to support health and welfare standards,
the infant mortality rate still was very high at 22 deaths per 1,000
live births, in part due to the large number of children born to
teenage mothers. Boys and girls enjoyed equal access to health care.
The law provides a limited legal framework for the protection of
children, and the Family Services Department, Ministry of Social
Development, monitored and protected the welfare of children. The
Department had yet to implement its National Child Abuse Register and
was unable to provide statistics for the year; however, the Department
reported 51 cases of sexual abuse, 55 cases of physical abuse, 112
cases of neglect, and 22 cases of abandonment during 2002. The Family
Services Department referred all reports of child abuse to the police
for action.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not address trafficking in
persons specifically; however, there were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no 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, 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.
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. Less than 10 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.--The law permits
unions to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government
protected these rights in practice; however, no law requires employers
to recognize a particular union as an exclusive bargaining agent. The
Trade Dispute, Arbitration, and Inquiry Act 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 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 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. The Labor Inspectorate at the Department of Labor received,
investigated, and addressed child labor complaints. Labor officers in
this unit conducted general inspections of workplaces annually. The age
of leaving school at the primary level was 15 years; when these pupils
left school, they usually were absorbed into the labor market as
apprentices. The only recognized child labor was children working on
family-owned banana plantations, particularly during harvest time, or
in family-owned cottage industries. The Government operated a Youth
Employment Service, which provided training and increased job
opportunities by employing young people in government ministries for up
to 1 year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Wages Council meets every 2
years to review minimum wages. Minimum wages, last set in 2003, varied
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 a minimum annual vacation of 5 to 14 days for agricultural
workers, depending on the number of days employed during the year.
Industrial workers receive 8 to 21 days of vacation, depending on the
number of days employed during the year and the worker's length of
service with the employer. The law provides that workers receive time-
and-a-half for hours worked over the standard workweek.
Legislation concerning occupational safety and health was outdated,
and enforcement of regulations was ineffective. Trade unions addressed
some violations regarding safety gear, long overtime hours, and the
safety of machinery. There were some reports of significant visual
impairment by visual display unit workers, and some reports of hearing
impairment by power station and stone crushing employees. 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 plants 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. After generally free and fair elections in
May 2000, the New Front, a coalition of 4 parties, won 33 seats in the
51-member National Assembly and, in August 2000, elected Ronald
Venetiaan of the National Party of Suriname (NPS), 1 of the coalition
members, as President. Venetiaan previously served as President from
1991 to 1996. The judiciary, although extremely inefficient, was
independent.
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 were under the control of the Minister of Defense.
Civilian police bore primary responsibility for the maintenance of law
and order and reported to the Ministry of Justice and Police. The
Government continued to implement Operation Safe Suriname, a
predominantly police-led operation to maintain security in and around
the capital, as well as in remote communities near large commercial
enterprises. The influence of former dictator Desi Bouterse within the
military has declined steadily since 2000, although he still retained
influence with some military officers. The civilian authorities
maintained effective control of the security forces. A few members of
the security forces committed isolated human rights abuses.
The economy is market-based, with strong government participation;
the Government and state-owned companies employed over half the working
population. The population was approximately 480,000. The economy
depended heavily on the export of bauxite derivatives. Unregulated gold
mining was an increasingly important economic activity that highlighted
a lack of land rights for indigenous and tribal people and lack of
government control of the interior. Estimated gross domestic product
grew by approximately 4.1 percent. By year's end, the inflation rate
was estimated at 10 percent, compared with 25 percent in 2003. Civil
servants received two 5 percent salary increases during the year, while
salary increases by state-owned and private companies varied from 5 to
10 percent. An estimated 50 to 60 percent of families lived below the
poverty line.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police mistreated
detainees, specifically at the time of arrest; guards abused prisoners;
and local detention facilities remained overcrowded. The judiciary
suffered from ineffectiveness and a huge case backlog due to the
shortage of judges, which resulted in lengthy pretrial detention. Self-
censorship by some media continued. Societal discrimination against
women, minorities, and indigenous people persisted. Violence against
women continued, and while the Government took steps to combat
trafficking in persons, trafficking in women and underage girls and
boys remained a problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were reports
of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the
Government or its agents. In May, two police officers shot and killed a
defenseless suspect. The two officers were arrested, and an
investigation remained pending at year's end. In two other cases of
fatal shootings by police officers, investigations vindicated the
officers.
The Government still did not address past abuses, which continued
to be a focus of concern. The Government did not investigate the 1986
massacre of more than 50 civilians at the village of Moiwana. In 1997,
the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Moiwana '86, established as a
watchdog on this and other human rights issues, took the case to the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and subsequently
forwarded the case to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights after
receiving no response from the Government. In September the Court heard
the matter, and a decision was pending at year's end.
The investigation into the 1982 killings by the Bouterse regime of
15 prominent political, labor, business, and media leaders, ordered in
2000 by the Court of Justice, continued throughout the year. A list of
more than 30 suspects, drawn up at the start of the investigation, with
Bouterse as the prime suspect, was reduced to less than 10. At mid-
year, the Prosecutor's Office declared the investigation completed, and
local officials stated that the case would likely be tried in 2005.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, 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.--The Constitution prohibits inhuman treatment or
punishment; however, human rights groups continued to express concern
about official mistreatment and 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 wounded five
suspects, including armed dangerous criminals, during arrests. In
January, police officers severely beat a suspect, who was taken to a
doctor for medical treatment. As a result of investigation by the
Police Personnel Investigation Department (OPZ), the officers received
a disciplinary punishment.
Through November, citizens filed 166 complaints with the OPZ, the
majority of which were for physical mistreatment (see Section 1.d.).
The authorities arrested 18 officers and disciplined 105 for various
offenses, including brutality; 19 officers were incarcerated, 32 were
suspended, and 5 were fired. According to human rights groups,
inadequate training of police officers serving as the jailers at local
detention facilities contributed to the abuses.
Prison conditions were poor and, in many cases, did not meet
international standards. There were three prisons and several detention
facilities at police stations where detainees were held before
appearing before a judge to be charged or to stand trial. Human rights
monitors expressed concern about conditions in the prisons,
particularly in local detention facilities, which remained overcrowded.
At police stations, prison officials allowed detainees no exercise and
rarely permitted them to leave their cells. Detainees and human rights
groups also complained about inadequate meals. At mid-year, security
concerns prompted prison officials to limit access by families to bring
food, raising protests from the incarcerated. There generally was no
consideration given to persons requiring a specific diet for religious
reasons. Human rights monitors reported that guards mistreated
detainees and that medical care and living conditions were inadequate.
Violence among prisoners was common, and the authorities generally
did not punish prisoners for violence against other prisoners. Most
facilities, especially older jails, remained unsanitary and seriously
overcrowded, with as many as four times the number of detainees for
which they were designed. In May, a government commission, installed in
2003 to investigate treatment of detainees in prison facilities,
presented its report to the Justice Minister. The commission
recommended renovating all prison facilities and--to lessen
overcrowding--an adjustment of the police detainment policy, such as
releasing those charged with lesser crimes after their statements were
taken.
Male and female prisoners were held separately. Conditions in
women's jail and prison facilities were generally better than those in
the men's facilities. 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 were considered adequate and included
educational and recreational facilities. There was a separate wing of
an adult prison for boys under age 18 who committed serious crimes,
where recreational facilities were more limited. A steadily growing
number of persons who already have been convicted but not yet placed in
prisons, due to a lack of space in prison facilities, continued to be
held in police custody or pretrial detention cells.
Moiwana '86 monitored the conditions of prisoners. Representatives
of the group reported that, in general, they had access to prisoners
and received cooperation from prison officials on routine matters.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions; however, prisoners who appealed their cases often
served their full sentences due to the lengthy appeals process
resulting from the lack of judges. The Attorney General's Office
reiterated its concern that prisoners who served their original
sentence 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.
The police force (Korps Politie Suriname) has approximately 1,200
police officers and 350 civilians and is divided into 4 departments:
Judicial (intelligence, forensics, fraud, narcotics, investigative),
general, Paramaribo, and interior (outside of Paramaribo). Police
effectiveness was hampered by a lack of equipment and training, low
salaries, and poor coordination with other law enforcement agencies.
Police conducted limited joint operations with the military in areas of
the country that lacked a police presence. Corruption remained a
problem, and senior officers met monthly with the Attorney General's
Office to review corruption and other cases against the police. The OPZ
investigated more than 100 complaints against officers and made
recommendations on whether an officer should be punished internally or
if criminal charges should be brought.
Individuals were apprehended with warrants and were promptly
informed about the charges against them. The police may detain for
investigation for up to 16 days a person suspected of committing a
crime for which the sentence is longer than 4 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. The average
length of pretrial detention was 30 to 45 days for lesser crimes.
Detainees were often held in overcrowded detention cells at local
police stations. 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. In
practice, the courts freed detainees who were not tried within the 164-
day period, in accordance with the law. Defendants enjoyed a
presumption of innocence.
There were no reports of political detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, disputes over the appointment of judges
to the bench undermined the independence of the judiciary in recent
years. The President had yet to confirm the Acting Attorney General,
who has served in that position (which has lifetime tenure) since 2000.
In addition, the President had yet to appoint a president of the Court
of Justice; the acting president has also occupied his position since
2000. The judiciary was significantly hampered by a shortage of judges,
which limited the effectiveness of the civilian and military courts.
There were only seven permanent judges and five deputy judges, some of
whom served part-time, for the entire country, a number that human
rights groups and lawyers associations widely viewed as inadequate.
The judicial system consisted of three lower courts, two
specialized courts, and the Court of Justice as an appeals court.
Although the Constitution calls for the establishment of an independent
constitutional court, the National Assembly has not created such a
court due to concerns that it would have the authority to overturn
government decisions. Other problems the judiciary faced included
financial dependency 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 obstacles caused a significant case backlog. The
courts required a minimum of 6 months to process criminal cases, and
civil cases were resolved approximately 3 to 4 years after being heard
by the courts.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair, public trial in
which defendants have the right to counsel. There is no jury system.
The courts assign private sector lawyers to defend indigent prisoners,
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. Detainees have the right to a prompt
judicial determination of the legality of their detention, and this was
respected in practice.
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. The military
courts follow the same rules of procedure as the civil courts. There is
no appeal from the military to the civil system.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The law
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 Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom.
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 to pressure by senior
government officials and other important community leaders on
journalists publishing negative or unflattering stories about the
administration.
There were 4 daily newspapers, 14 television stations, and
approximately 25 radio stations. Two television stations and two radio
stations were publicly owned. Three companies, one owned publicly,
provided cable television, which included foreign channels.
Unlike the previous year, journalists and media entities were free
from harassing lawsuits by public figures.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
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.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 Constitution does not address exile; however, it was not used
in practice.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee
status in accordance the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees or 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 U.N. 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 regularly scheduled, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage; however, in its 29 years of independence, the
country has experienced two military coups, 7 years of military rule,
and one instance in which massive public demonstrations forced an
agreement to hold elections a year early.
The Constitution stipulates that power and authority rest with the
citizens and provides for direct election by secret ballot of the 51-
member National Assembly every 5 years. The National Assembly in turn
elects the President by a two-thirds majority vote. If the legislature
is unable to do so, as was the case both in the 1991 and 1996 national
elections, the Constitution provides that a national people's assembly,
composed of Members of Parliament and regional and local officials,
shall elect the President.
The law allows early elections with the concurrence of both the
National Assembly and the President. In May 1999, widespread street
demonstrations triggered by the declining economy forced the Government
of then-President Wijdenbosch to call early elections, which were held
in May 2000. After those elections, which observers considered to be
generally free and fair, the National Assembly elected NPS leader
Ronald Venetiaan as President in August 2000.
The Constitution provides for the organization and functioning of
political parties. Various parties and two political coalitions were
represented in the National Assembly. President Venetiaan formed his
cabinet from members of the New Front coalition, comprised of the NPS,
a predominantly Creole party; the Progressive Reform Party, a
predominantly Hindustani party; the Suriname Labor Party, a political
wing of the largest labor union; and Pertjaja Luhur, a predominantly
Javanese party.
Corruption of government officials remained a problem; however, the
Government prosecuted former Finance and Natural Resource Minister
Errol Alibux for embezzlement. Alibux, who was convicted in absentia
for corruption in November 2003, returned to the country and
surrendered to law enforcement authorities in January. He contested the
Court of Justice verdict against him (a 1-year prison term and 3-year
bar from public office) via the Inter-American Human Rights Commission,
since the Court of Justice is the highest court in the country, and he
had no venue for appeal. The appeal was pending at year's end.
Laws provide for public access to government information, and
almost every Ministry has an information service; however, access to
government information was limited in practice.
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. While women made limited gains in attaining
political power in recent years, political circles remained under the
influence of traditional male-dominated groups, and women were
disadvantaged in seeking high public office. There were 10 women in the
51-seat National Assembly, and a woman was Vice Chairperson of the
National Assembly. The Cabinet included three women--Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Minister of Internal Affairs, and Deputy Minister of
Social Affairs. In 2001, the first woman judge joined the Court of
Justice.
The Constitution prohibits racial and religious discrimination;
however, several factors limited the participation of Maroons
(descendants of escaped slaves who fled to the interior to avoid
recapture) and Amerindians in the political process. Most of the
country's political activity takes place in the capital, Paramaribo,
and a narrow belt running east and west of it along the coast. The
Maroons and Amerindians were concentrated in remote areas in the
interior and therefore had limited access to, and influence on, the
political process. There were three Maroon and one Amerindian political
parties. In 2000, voters elected eight Maroons and one Amerindian to
the National Assembly. There were no Maroons or Amerindians in the
Cabinet.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups, such as
Organization for Justice and Peace, Foundation ``Know Your Rights,''
and Moiwana '86, generally operated without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases;
however, government officials generally were not cooperative or
responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution and laws, with the exception of certain ethnic
marriage laws, do not differentiate among citizens on the basis of
their ethnic origins, religious affiliations, or other cultural
differences. However, in practice, several societal groups, including
Maroons, Amerindians, and homosexuals, suffered various forms of
discrimination. Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS
also continued. Hospital workers and other health professionals were
reluctant to treat infected persons.
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.
According to a national women's NGO, Stop Violence Against Women,
victims continued to report cases of violence against women and
complained of an inadequate response from the Government and society to
what appeared to be a trend of increasing family violence. Police
received more than 700 reports of domestic violence during the year. In
2002, Stop Violence Against Women, which received reports of
approximately 300 abuse cases during the year, stated that of the
approximately 300 women reporting abuse most were married, between the
ages of 25 and 50, had 2 to 3 children, and were employed in a low-
paying job. Although the police were reluctant to intervene in
instances of domestic violence, a national women's group noted that
police attitudes had improved. There were victims' rooms in police
stations in Nickerie and Paramaribo to provide better services to crime
victims. There was no domestic violence hotline.
The law prohibits non-spousal rape. The police reported 59 cases of
non-spousal rape during the first 9 months of the year. The public
prosecutor's office estimated that approximately 15 rape cases were
concluded during the year, with sentences ranging between 5 months' and
5 years' imprisonment.
The law prohibits sexual exploitation, including prostitution;
however, in practice, prostitution generally was tolerated. In
December, concerns about the link between prostitution and trafficking
in persons resulted in raids on commercial sex locations and arrests of
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 into
prostitution. Police allowed many brothel-type establishments 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).
Various laws were used to prosecute perpetrators of sexual
harassment, and several cases of sexual abuse against minors came to
trial. The Youth Police reported more than 25 cases of sexual abuse
against minor; 13 cases came to trial, resulting in sentences averaging
3 years in prison.
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 marriage 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. A 2002 report showed that approximately
88 percent of women were employed in entry-level positions, 9 percent
had mid-level jobs, and 3 percent held management positions. 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 Gender Bureau in the Ministry of Internal Affairs
prepared an Integral Gender Action plan for 2000-2005; however,
financial and staffing constraints greatly limited its effectiveness.
The principal concerns of women's groups were political representation,
economic vulnerability, violence, and discrimination.
The National Women's Movement, the most active women's rights NGO,
continued assisting women with launching small home-based businesses,
such as sewing and growing vegetables, and provided general legal help.
Women's Business Group advocated business opportunities for women,
while 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 commercial sex trade workers,
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.
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, although some school-age children did
not have access to education due to a lack of transportation, building
facilities, or teachers. School attendance was free; however, most
public schools imposed a nominal enrollment fee, ranging from $10 to
$35 (SRD 25 to SRD 100) a year to cover costs. Approximately 85 percent
of children in cities attended school; children in the interior did not
receive the same level of education as those in the city, and as few as
50 percent actually attended school. 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. Children faced increasing
economic pressure to discontinue their education to seek employment
(see Section 6.d.).
Unlike in the past, there were no reports of malnutrition among
poor children. There were several orphanages and one privately funded
shelter for sexually abused children in the capital, where more than 50
percent of the country's population was concentrated. Elsewhere,
distressed children usually relied on the resources of their extended
families.
Government medical care for children was generally adequate, and
vaccination for all children was obligatory. However, the Government
offered very limited mental health care. An NGO, The Bureau for Child
Development, provided mental health care for abused children. There was
a home for HIV/AIDS orphans and abandoned children in Paramaribo.
There was no societal pattern of abuse directed against children;
however, some children were sexually abused. The legal age of sexual
consent is 14; however, it was not enforced strictly. In March, the
National Assembly adjusted the Asian Marriage Law to raise the age of
marriage consent from 13 to 15 for Asian girls and 15 to 17 for Asian
boys, provided parents of the parties agree to the marriage. The age of
marriage consent for all other (non-Asian) Surinamers remains at 18
with parental permission, and the permission requirement applies to all
individuals up to age 30. The law also mandated the presence of a Civil
Registry official to register all marriages.
Trafficking and commercial sex exploitation of minors remained a
problem (see Section 5, Trafficking). The Salvation Army and a Catholic
charitable organization provided shelter for homeless boys.
Trafficking In Persons.--No comprehensive trafficking in persons
law exists, but statutes that apply only to women and children prohibit
``white slavery,'' migrant smuggling, and pimping. In practice, these
statutes were rarely enforced, and trafficking in persons, including
for sexual exploitation, remained a problem. The Police Criminal Law
prohibits solicitation, but the law was not enforced. The Government's
Anti-trafficking Commission had primary responsibility for combating
trafficking; the Commission included representatives from law
enforcement (Attorney General's Office and the Military Police, which
handles immigration), the ministries of Justice and Police, Labor,
Defense, and Foreign Affairs, and the Maxi Linder Foundation. The
Commission submitted a proposal to the Minister of Justice and Police
in November to bring current legislation in accordance with
international anti-trafficking standards.
There were reports of trafficking of women and girls to, through,
and within the country for prostitution. Several commercial sex trade
establishments in the capital reportedly recruited Brazilian,
Colombian, Dominican, Guyanese, and Chinese women for prostitution.
There also were reports of underage Hindustani and Maroon girls and
Javanese and Hindustani boys trafficked within the country for
prostitution by recruiters or caretakers. 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 10 reports of brothel owners retaining passports
and airline tickets to uphold contract obligations. In such cases, the
police assisted these women to return to their country of origin at
their own expense. There were no trafficking convictions during the
year; however, on December 10, the police arrested the Deputy District
Commissioner of the district of Nieuw Nickerie for trafficking four
young Guyanese women into the country for prostitution. The
commissioner allegedly enticed the women, one of whom was underage,
with promises of employment as restaurant waitresses but, upon their
arrival, forced them to work as prostitutes. At year's end, he remained
in detention pending a hearing in his case. There were also reports
that persons were trafficked to work in Chinese restaurants and
supermarkets.
The Public Prosecutor's Office and the police established a
registry of all brothels and their employees by nationality. The Public
Prosecutor's Office, in cooperation with police officials, extended
services provided to victims of domestic violence to possible
trafficked victims and, in May, established a ``special victims' unit''
and a telephone hotline to handle all cases from the commercial sex
industry. The Maxi Linder Foundation continued assisting trafficking
victims in the commercial sex industry. Police cooperated with Curacao
and Guyana law enforcement on three trafficking in persons cases.
In November, the Anti-trafficking Commission, with the approval of
the Minister of Justice and Police, issued a National Action Plan to
combat trafficking in persons and two operations manuals on identifying
and prosecuting trafficking, one for police and another for
immigration. In December, pursuant to the plan, the Minister of Justice
and Police created a Special Police Unit to conduct investigations and
raids. Police raids on brothels and informal commercial sex locations
resulted in the deportation of several prostitutes. Other steps
outlined in the plan included instituting a system of checks for visa
adjudications and preventing trafficking through informational
campaigns. Success in implementing these was not yet clear at year's
end.
On February 24, the popular radio and television station ABC began
running public education programming aimed at combating trafficking in
persons. In early March, ABC held two 1-hour television and radio
interviews with government and NGO representatives to discuss
trafficking issues. On October 27-28, an International Organization for
Migration program in Paramaribo focused on preventing trafficking in
persons and assisting its victims. The program targeted an audience of
approximately 30 government officials. In November and December, the
country's two leading newspapers published articles on trafficking in
persons that quoted senior public officials.
Persons With Disabilities.--There were no laws concerning persons
with disabilities, no provisions for making private or public buildings
accessible to them, nor any laws mandating that they be given equal
consideration when seeking jobs or housing. 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.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity, and no discrimination
complaints were filed during the year; however, Maroons, who numbered
approximately 10 percent of the population, 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. In a March report to the
U.N. High Commission for Human Rights, the Government stated that
employers did not discriminate against Maroons and that Maroons (as
well as Amerindians) were consulted when rights to their traditional
agricultural and hunting lands were granted to various concessionaires.
The report did acknowledge logistical and financial difficulties the
Government faced in providing education to populations spread out over
large distances and conceded the need to do more to address health and
environmental concerns linked to gold mining, such as mercury
contamination.
The start of official gold mining activities by the Gross Rosebel
Goldmines Company raised protests in June and July from neighboring
Maroon villages regarding the company's recruitment policy and
competition for land rights for their own mining activity. The Maroon
residents blocked roads to the mining operations and commandeered a bus
carrying company workers, who were later released unharmed. The police
restored order, and no one was arrested.
Indigenous People.--The Constitution affords no special protection
for, or recognition of, indigenous people. Most Amerindians (about 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. Government services in the interior
were largely unavailable, and much of the infrastructure was destroyed
during the 1986-92 interior war; progress in reestablishing services
and rebuilding the infrastructure was very slow. Following
demonstrations in 2001 by veterans of the Jungle Commando, who played a
large role in the insurgencies, their de facto leader Ronny Brunswijk
and the Minister of Regional Development agreed to schedule quarterly
meetings to monitor implementation of the 2001 Lelydorp Accord.
Official and informal meetings between the involved parties continued
without substantive results. During the year, the Government integrated
10 former Jungle Commando members into the police but had not
implemented the native land rights portion of the agreement. The
Government's March report to the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights
described actions taken to protect the rights of Amerindians and
Maroons, as well as areas for improvement (see Section 5, Minorities).
The Government proclaimed the U.N.'s International Indigenous Day a
holiday.
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 2000, the Vereniging van Saramakaanse Gezagdragers, an
organization representing 12 Saramaccaner clans with authority over 60
villages in the Upper Suriname River area of central Suriname, filed a
petition with the IACHR claiming that lumber operations, mostly by
Chinese-owned concessions, threatened their way of life. The IAHCR
heard the case, and its decision remained pending at year's end. The
concessionaries ceased their activities. Meanwhile, the Government
granted permission to a Chinese company to start a palm-oil factory in
the district of Marowijne in the eastern part of the country. The
company also received permission for large-scale logging in concessions
around the factory. The Maroon communities in the vicinity of the
factory protested and threatened to use violence if the Chinese began
logging activities; however, a government-established interagency
committee mediated, urging acceptance of the deal, since the company
would hire local workers. In December, the company and the interagency
committee reached agreement for logging to begin within 3 months. 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.
Other Societal Abuses.--The law prohibits discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation; however, homosexuals continued to suffer
from employment discrimination. Persons with HIV/AIDS continued to
experience societal discrimination in employment and medical services.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution protects the right
of workers to associate and to choose their representatives
democratically. Nearly 60 percent of the work force was organized into
unions, and most unions belonged to one of the country's six 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
Constitution recognizes the right to organize and bargain collectively,
and the authorities generally respected this right in practice.
Collective bargaining agreements covered approximately 50 percent of
the labor force. There are no export processing zones.
The Constitution provides for the right to strike, and workers in
both public and private sectors exercised this right in practice.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, a
local NGO reported that child prostitution existed (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; and 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 only sporadically,
and child labor remained a problem in the informal sector.
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 4 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 abuse of commercial sexual exploitation of children and
teens by caretakers and older recruiters (see Section 5). In June, the
country ratified International Labor Convention 182 on the elimination
of the worst forms of child labor.
The Ministry of Labor's Department of Labor Inspection, with about
30 inspectors, has responsibility to implement and enforce the labor
laws, including those pertaining to the worst forms of child labor.
Staff shortages limited the extent and frequency of labor inspections;
inspectors performed approximately 10 inspections per day, concentrated
in the greater capital area and in the western district of Nickerie,
where most of the population lives. The Government did not investigate
exploitative child labor cases outside urban areas. An estimated total
of 450 inspections were performed during the year, with none resulting
in penalties or convictions for child labor. 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.
In September, the police began raids on known child labor locations
in Paramaribo, including street spots where underage vendors worked, as
well as nightclubs, casinos and brothels, in order to combat the
problem.
Suriname Labor College and other unions subsidized by the Ministry
of Labor conducted campaigns aimed at eliminating child labor in its
worst forms in various districts of the country, including Nickerie,
Paramaribo, and Marowijne; the campaign targeted public and private
sector officials, school teachers, students, and caregivers.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no legislation
providing for a minimum wage. Including a cost of living allowance, the
lowest wage for civil servants was approximately $160 (SRD 427) per
month, 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 Council of Ministers set and approved civil service
wage increases.
Work in excess of 9 hours per day or 45 hours per week on a regular
basis required special government permission, which was granted
routinely. Such overtime work earned premium pay. The law requires one
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. Parliament also elects a
president, whose office is largely ceremonial but with some appointive
power. In the 2002 general elections, which observers considered 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), breaking an 18 to 18 tie in Parliament and ending a 9-month
parliamentary stalemate. The judiciary is independent.
The Ministry of National Security oversees the police service,
prison service, and the defense force, rendering them responsive to
civilian authority. The police service maintains internal security. 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 had little direct influence over changes in
senior positions. While the civilian authorities maintained effective
control of the security forces, some members of the security forces
committed human rights abuses.
Oil and natural gas production and related downstream petrochemical
industries, including ammonia and methanol production, comprised the
foundation of the market-based economy. The country's population was
approximately 1.3 million. The service sector was the largest employer,
although the industrial and construction sectors also were significant.
Real Gross Domestic Product grew at 6.2 percent, while inflation was
4.75 percent. Wages generally did not keep pace with inflation.
Favorable energy prices contributed to the overall well being of the
economy.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were police
killings during apprehension and deaths of persons while in custody,
poor prison conditions, and reports of police and guard abuse of
prisoners. Violence against women remained a problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government and its agents;
however, 21 persons died during the year while in police custody or at
the hands of police. Excessive use of force continued to be a concern.
On January 24, a police officer shot two unarmed men during an
altercation at a Carnival party. One of the men died instantly, while
the other man fled. In June, a Magistrate's Court charged the officer
with manslaughter and released him on bail pending a trial.
On April 2, police shot and killed Galene Bonadie with an assault
rifle. Bonadie reportedly was involved in a verbal altercation with
police when an officer shot her in the head at close range. The
Director of Public Prosecutions ordered an inquest into the incident,
and the Homicide Bureau interviewed four policemen and six
eyewitnesses. A trial was underway at year's end.
On June 13, Noel Stanley died in police custody after he was
apprehended for alleged possession of marijuana. Stanley died in the
emergency room 3 hours after his arrest. A postmortem found signs of
beating and strangulation. The Homicide Bureau investigated the
incident, and a final disposition was pending at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2003 case of Gideon Edwards, who
was killed by police, or the 2003 case of Shaun McLeod, who died while
in police custody.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Criminal kidnappings continued to be a problem, with 165 reported
incidents at year's end. Citizens especially were concerned with
kidnappings for ransom, 28 of which occurred during the year; however,
this total represented a considerable reduction from the 51 reported
incidents in 2003.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were credible reports of police and prison personnel mistreating
citizens in incidents that involved beating and sexual abuse.
In April, Camille Mitchell claimed that she suffered a miscarriage
as a result of police mistreatment during a search of her home.
Mitchell was involved in a physical altercation with her cousin when
the officer allegedly slapped her and slammed her into a chair.
Also in April, a Golden Grove Remand Center inmate claimed that
prison guards beat him with a hose and sexually assaulted him with a
wooden baton. The prisoner sued five officers and the Office of the
Attorney General. The Commissioner of Prisons conducted an
investigation and submitted a report to the Minister of National
Security. Additional investigations were ongoing at year's end.
In June, Noel Stanley died in police custody after police officers
allegedly severely beat him (see Section 1.a.).
In July, Danesh Mahabir sued police officials for assault and
battery and unlawful detention that occurred in November 2003. During
the incident, police allegedly knocked Mahabir to the ground, kicked
him in the ribs, beat him with a baton, and slammed his hands in a car
door. The suit was ongoing at year's end.
Prison conditions were harsh. Overcrowding was severe, particularly
at the Port of Spain Prison, which held approximately 900 prisoners,
although designed to hold only 250 inmates when it was built in 1812.
Amnesty International (AI) reported that one cellblock held 114
prisoners in 10 feet by 10 feet cells, with upwards of 14 prisoners per
cell.
Conditions were extremely unsanitary. Illnesses such as
tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, conjunctivitis, and scabies spread easily.
Waste for one cellblock was disposed of within 5 feet of the meal
preparation area, and there were reports of insects infesting the
entire facility. During the year, AI reported that conditions amounted
to ``cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.''
Conditions at the maximum-security prison in Arouca and the Golden
Grove Remand Center also were poor. On two separate occasions, judges
declined to sentence elderly convicts to prison terms, citing the risk
of death due to unsanitary conditions and inadequate medical
facilities.
The maximum security prison had an intended capacity of 2,400
persons but, due to a faulty sewage system and inadequate electronic
security, held only 800 prisoners and did little to relieve the
overcrowding in the detention system.
There was a separate prison facility for women, and conditions
generally met international standards. The Youth Training Center held
children between the ages of 15 and 19. Younger children were sent to
the Boy's Industrial School.
Pretrial detainees were held separately from convicted prisoners,
although they could be in the remand section of the same facilities as
convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, but the Ministry of National Security must approve each
visit. Following prison visits during the year, members of the Criminal
Bar Association threatened legal action if the Government did not take
steps to improve prison conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
The national police force is divided into 9 countrywide divisions,
including 17 specialized branches, and had approximately 7,000 members.
The Police Service Commission, upon 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 service. A Special Crime
Fighting Unit, composed of police and Defense Force personnel,
conducted joint operations to combat violent crime, kidnappings for
ransom, and other security issues.
Police corruption continued to be a problem. On at least two
occasions during the year, police were apprehended with drugs, guns,
and grenades and in connection with other illicit activities. An
independent body, the Police Complaints Authority, received complaints
about the conduct of police officers, monitored the investigation of
complaints, and determined disciplinary measures where appropriate,
including dismissal. However, Police Service Commission restrictions
limited the authority's ability to dismiss police officers, and a large
backlog of outstanding complaints eroded the public's confidence in
this organization. Recent governments identified a need for reform
because the commission inhibits how the commissioner and his senior
staff may discipline offending officers operationally.
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 commission of the alleged offense. For less serious
offenses, the authorities typically brought the accused before a
magistrate by way of a summons, requiring the accused to appear within
48 hours, at which time the accused could enter a plea. For more
serious offenses, when the accused was brought before the court, the
magistrate proceeded with a preliminary inquiry or, alternatively,
committed the accused to prison on remand or allowed the accused to
post bail until the inquiry. In practice, serious offenders also were
charged within 48 hours following arrest.
The court may, and customarily did, grant bail to any person
charged with any offense other than murder, treason, piracy, hijacking,
or for any other offense for which death was the penalty fixed by law.
In cases in which 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. Police have the authority, under the Summary Courts Act,
to grant bail to individuals charged with summary offenses. Detainees
were granted prompt access to a lawyer and to family members.
The Minister of National Security may authorize preventive
detention in order to prevent actions prejudicial to public safety,
public order, or national defense, and the Minister must state the
grounds for the detention. There were no reports that the authorities
abused this procedure.
Lengthy pretrial detention, which resulted from heavy court
backlogs and an inefficient judiciary system, continued to be a
problem. On average, criminal indictees waited 19 months before going
to trial, and some inmates had not seen an attorney for 3 years or
more. In July, the Fourth Criminal Court acquitted Nicholas John and
Keino Lewis of murder after they had spent 7 years in jail awaiting
trial. In July, two men sued the Attorney General for false
imprisonment and malicious prosecution after spending more than a year
in prison on charges for which they later were acquitted. As of July,
more than 17,000 matters remained outstanding before the courts, dating
from 1998. Courts handled an average of 35 to 60 matters per day and
11,434 cases per year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. The judiciary provided citizens with a fair
judicial process, albeit at a slow pace due to backlogs and
inefficiencies. In a speech opening the annual law term, Chief Justice
Satnarine Sharma described dilapidated court buildings unfit for
proceedings, archaic rules, an antiquated court reporting system, poor
caseload management, and slow, expensive, and inequitable access to
justice.
The judiciary is divided into a Supreme Court of Judicature and the
Magistracy. The Supreme Court is composed of the Court of Appeal and
the High Court; the Magistracy includes the summary courts and the
petty civil courts.
All criminal proceedings commence with the filing of a complaint in
the summary court. Magistrates try minor offenses. For more serious
offenses, the magistrate must conduct a preliminary inquiry. If there
is sufficient evidence to support the charge, the accused is committed
to stand trial before a judge and jury of the High Court. All civil
matters are heard by the High Court. Both civil and criminal appeals
may be filed with the local court of appeal and ultimately to the Privy
Council in London.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right. All criminal
defendants have the right to an attorney and are considered innocent
until proven guilty. In practice, the courts sometimes appointed
attorneys for indigent persons charged with indictable offenses
(serious crimes). The law requires the provision of an attorney to a
person accused of murder. An indigent person may refuse to accept an
assigned attorney for cause and may obtain a replacement.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
A Board of Film Censors is authorized to ban films that it
considers to be against public order and decency or contrary to the
public interest. This includes films that it believes may be
controversial in matters of religion or race, or that contain seditious
propaganda. In practice, films rarely were banned.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
There was no official state religion and the Government did not
subsidize any particular religion. The Government limited the number of
foreign missionaries allowed to enter the country to 30 per
denomination. Missionaries must meet standard requirements for an entry
visa, must represent a registered religious group, and may not remain
in the country for more than 3 years at a time.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 it was not used.
In 2000, the Government acceded to the 1951 U.N. Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the
Government still had not passed legislation to implement obligations
accepted under the Convention. The Government cooperated with the
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government placed asylum seekers in the care of a local
nongovernmental organization (NGO) pending resolution of their cases,
which were reviewed by the office of the UNHCR. Until Parliament
approves the legislation, the Ministry of National Security's
Immigration Division handled any requests for asylum on a case-by-case
basis.
During the year, 13 individuals (6 Liberians, 5 Haitians, 1
Bangladeshi, and 1 Rwandan) requested asylum, and their applications
were pending at year's end.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. Citizens could freely choose and change the laws
and officials that govern them. The most recent national election was
held in October 2002, and observers found it to be generally free and
fair.
The two major political parties were the PNM (primarily but not
exclusively Afro-Trinidadian) and the UNC (primarily but not
exclusively Indo-Trinidadian). Voters in the 2002 national elections
supported the PNM, which retained control of the Government. The PNM
has held power continuously since independence in 1962, with the
exception of 1986-91 (National Alliance for Reconstruction) and 1995-
2001 (UNC). The PNM's dominance was not due to government restrictions
on the political opposition.
According to Transparency International, the perception of
corruption in the country increased each year since 2001. During the
year, the courts heard a case that implicated members of the then-
governing UNC in embezzlement and bid rigging on the Piarco Airport
expansion project. The proceedings were still ongoing at year's end.
The Freedom of Information Act provides for public access to
government documents upon application. The Integrity in Public Life Act
mandates that government figures publicly disclose their assets each
year to an Integrity Commission. In 2002, former Prime Minister Panday
was arraigned in Magistrate's Court under this Act in connection with
alleged corruption that occurred during his tenure as Prime Minister.
There were 21 women in the 66-seat legislature; there were 6 women
in the cabinet.
Both major political parties reached out to voters from relatively
small ethnic groups, and members of these groups occupied significant
positions in the Government. There were 6 members of minorities in the
66-seat legislature. There was one member of a minority in the cabinet.
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 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 sex.
Women.--Abuse of women continued to be a significant problem. Local
NGOs estimated that abuse affected 20 to 25 percent of women, although
there were no reliable statistics available. There was increased media
coverage of domestic abuse cases and signs of a shift in public
opinion, which previously had held that such cases were a private
matter. The Domestic Violence Act provides for penalties, including
fines and imprisonment, for spousal abuse. Police were somewhat
responsive to reports of domestic violence, but NGOs reported a need
for further reforms. The Government operated a 24-hour hotline for
victims of rape, domestic violence, or other violence against women,
which received calls and referred victims to shelters, counseling, or
other assistance. The police service reorganized its community police
unit, which had been trained especially to deal with crimes against
women, attaching its members to regular units to train other officers
and expand its reach.
Rape was illegal and punishable by life imprisonment, although the
courts often issued significantly shorter sentences. Murder, rape, and
other crimes against women were reported frequently, but NGOs estimated
that many sexual crimes went unreported. Police generally were
responsive to reports of rape; however, there also were many complaints
of police insensitivity in dealing with rape victims.
Two government ministries, operating independently, directed the
NGOs that ran most of the country's social programs addressing domestic
violence, including eight shelters for battered women. A rape crisis
center offered counseling for rape victims on a voluntary basis.
Prostitution is illegal, and the authorities continued to monitor
and pursue prosecutions against persons charged with soliciting for the
purpose of prostitution.
There are no laws specifically pertaining to sexual harassment,
although related laws could be applied. Most cases of sexual harassment
in the workplace went unreported.
Many women held positions in business, the professions, and
government. Nevertheless, men still tended to hold most senior
positions. There was no law or regulation requiring equal pay for equal
work, and pay discrepancies existed. Women had equal inheritance
rights, including after divorce or separation from their spouses.
Women's attendance in primary and secondary school was equal to that of
men's.
The Division of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Community
Development, Culture, and Gender Affairs was responsible for protecting
women's rights in all aspects of government and legislation. Several
active women's rights groups also existed, including the Women's
Federation and Working Women for Social Progress.
Children.--A lack of funds and expanding social needs challenged
the Government's ability to carry out its commitment to protect
children's rights and welfare. Education was free, compulsory, and
universal up to age 12. The Ministry of Education estimated that 89
percent of school age children attended school. Public education was
available through age 20, 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, and both girls and
boys enjoyed equal access.
The Domestic Violence Act provides protection for children abused
at home. Abused children removed from the home were placed with
relatives, government institutions, or NGOs.
The law establishes the upper age in the definition of a child at
18 years of age, abolishes corporal punishment for children under 18,
and prohibits sentencing a person under 18 to prison.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the country. In the event of
trafficking, perpetrators can be prosecuted under several related laws,
with penalties ranging from 7 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.
Domestic NGOs handled the care and oversight of trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. No legislation
specifically enumerates or protects the rights of persons with
disabilities or mandates the provision of access to buildings or
services. The lack of access to transportation, buildings, and
sidewalks was a major obstacle for persons with disabilities. The
Government provided some public assistance and partial funding to a
variety of NGOs, which, in turn, provided direct services to members or
clients with disabilities.
The Office of the Prime Minister's Social Services Delivery Unit is
responsible for addressing the concerns of the disabled community. In
August, this agency held a consultation conference with members of the
disabled community and other stakeholders to review the Government's
National Policy on Persons with Disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Various ethnic and religious
groups lived together peacefully, generally respecting one another's
beliefs and practices. However, at times, racial tensions appeared
between Afro Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians, each of which make up
approximately 40 percent of the population. Indo-Trinidadians and
persons of European, Middle Eastern, or Asian descent dominated the
private sector. Indo-Trinidadians predominated in agriculture as well.
Afro-Trinidadians were employed heavily in the civil service, police,
and armed forces. Some Indo-Trinidadians asserted that they were
excluded from equal representation in the civil service due to racial
discrimination. Some Indo-Trinidadians also denounced the use of the
Trinity Cross as the nation's highest award, claiming that its
Christian motif was not representative of a multi-religious society.
Indigenous People.--A very small group of the population identified
themselves as descendants of the original Amerindian population of the
country. 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 Industrial Relations Act (IRA)
provides that all workers, including those in state-owned enterprises,
may form and join unions of their own choosing without prior
authorization. The IRA provides for the mandatory recognition of a
trade union when it represents 51 percent or more of the workers in a
specified bargaining unit. An estimated 18 percent of the work force
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 who are found guilty of anti-union
activities to reinstate workers and pay compensation, or impose other
penalties including imprisonment
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allowed
unions to conduct their activities without interference, to participate
in collective bargaining, and to strike, and the Government protected
these rights in practice. However, employees in ``essential services,''
such as police and teachers, do not have the right to strike. These
employees negotiated with the Government's Chief Personnel Officer to
resolve labor disputes. There are several export processing zones
(EPZs). The same labor laws applied in the EPZs as in the rest of the
country.
There were significant legal strikes during the year.
The Labor Relations Act prohibits retaliation against strikers and
provides for grievance procedures through the Industrial Court. This
court consisted of government, business, and labor representatives, and
most observers considered it to be impartial.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by
children; however, there were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum legal age for workers is 12 years. Children from 12 to 14 years
of age may work only in family businesses. Children under the age of 18
legally may work only during daylight hours, with the exception of 16-
to 18-year-olds, who may work at night in sugar factories. The Ministry
of Labor and Small and Micro Enterprise Development and the Social
Services Delivery Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister are
responsible for enforcing child labor provisions. Enforcement was not
consistent because there was no comprehensive government policy on
child labor, and there were no specific systematic mechanisms for
receiving, investigating, and addressing child labor complaints.
There was no organized exploitation of child labor, but a 2002
UNICEF study estimated that 1.2 percent of children from 5 to 14 years
of age were engaged in paid work, and that 0.3 percent were engaged in
unpaid work for someone other than a family member.
The Government ratified ILO Convention 182 on elimination of the
worst forms of child labor in April 2003; however, it had yet to enact
the relevant enabling legislation by year's end. In August, the
Government held the inaugural meeting of the National Steering
Committee on the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour. The
Committee was tasked with developing a comprehensive National Policy on
child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage is
$1.33 (TT$8.00) per hour, which did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Actual wages varied considerably among
industries, and most workers earned more than the minimum wage. The
Ministry of Labor enforced minimum wage regulations.
The Minimum Wages Act establishes a 40-hour workweek, time and a
half pay for the first 4 hours of overtime on a workday, double pay for
the next 4 hours, and triple pay thereafter. For holidays and days off,
the act provides for double pay for the first 8 hours and triple pay
thereafter. Daily rest periods and paid annual leave formed part of
most employment agreements.
The Factories and Ordinance Bill sets requirements for health and
safety standards in certain industries and provides for inspections to
monitor and enforce compliance. The IRA protects workers who file
complaints with the Ministry of Labor regarding illegal or hazardous
working conditions. If it is determined upon inspection that hazardous
conditions exist in the workplace, the worker is absolved for refusing
to comply with an order that would have placed him or her in danger.
__________
URUGUAY
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is a constitutional republic with
an elected president and a bicameral legislature. On October 31, in
free and fair elections, Tabare Vazquez, leader of the Broad Front or
Encuentro Progresista-Frente Amplio (EP-FA) coalition, won a 5-year
presidential term. Vazquez was scheduled to assume office on March 1,
2005. The judiciary is independent.
The Interior Ministry administers the country's police departments
and the prison system and is responsible for domestic security and
public safety. The military is responsible for external security within
the prison system. Civilian authorities exercised effective control
over the security forces. Some members of the security forces committed
some human rights abuses.
The economy, which continued its second year of recovery from a 4-
year recession, is a mixture of private and state enterprises and is
heavily dependent on agricultural exports and agroindustry. The
country's population is estimated at 3.4 million. The leading exports
are meat, leather, and rice. The unemployment rate was 12.5 percent.
Although the economy grew at a rate of 11.3 percent, output remained
far below pre-2003 recession levels. Inflation was 7.8 percent,
compared with 19.4 percent in 2003. Real wages stabilized during the
year.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were
reports of police violence, including abuse of prisoners in the jails
and police stations; prison conditions remained poor; and court cases
sometimes lasted for many years, resulting in lengthy pretrial
detention. Violence against women, alleged discrimination against women
and the Afro-Uruguayan minority, and trafficking in persons were
problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of political killings.
There were no new developments respecting the charges of aggravated
homicide filed in June 2003 against former Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Juan Carlos Blanco, in connection with the death of Elena Quinteros in
1976.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were reports of abuse of prisoners, many of which the Government
investigated. The judicial and parliamentary branches of government are
responsible for investigating specific allegations of abuse. Human
rights groups reported that police sometimes mistreated detainees.
Detainees rarely filed complaints, but the Government investigated
those complaints that were filed.
Conditions in prisons were poor and deteriorated during the year.
There were numerous reports of abuse of prisoners inside the prison
system. An investigation into a claim that a guard at the Libertad
Prison tortured two prisoners accused of raping children remained
pending at year's end. Human rights groups and an organization of the
families of prisoners alleged that prisoners were routinely beaten
during processing and during searches; that food, bedding, and clothing
were of poor quality and insufficient quantity; and that access to
medical care was poor. Poor sanitation was blamed for an outbreak of
bacterial infection among prison inmates.
Overcrowding continued due to budget problems and stronger minimum
sentencing guidelines adopted during the 1990s. The prison population
stabilized during the year, but there were approximately 7,000
prisoners in prison facilities designed to hold only 2,940, which
caused sanitation, social, and health problems in the major facilities.
The Libertad prison, badly damaged in a riot in 2002, continued to
house hundreds of prisoners, despite its official capacity of zero. As
a temporary solution, the Government held some of the overflow
prisoners in modified shipping containers. To alleviate overcrowding,
the Government used modular cells to house the most dangerous inmates
at the Libertad facility; the cells lacked running water and posed
sanitation problems.
In addition to overcrowding, the penal system suffered from
understaffing and corruption. Prisoners were not always separated
according to the severity of their crimes. Narcotics, weapons, and cell
phones were smuggled into several facilities, allegedly with official
collusion. Family visitation, in which family members provide food to
supplement a prisoner's diet, was allowed, but it was made difficult as
the family members were subjected to invasive searches, sometimes under
unhygienic conditions.
According to press reports and the regional AIDS rights
organization, Asociacion de Ser Positivo, the majority of prisoners
infected with HIV and AIDS did not receive adequate treatment or
medication. Disease transmission rates and the extent of the infection
within the inmate population were unknown.
Female prisoners were held in separate facilities from male
prisoners with the exception of the Artigas Prison, in which women were
housed 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.
Minors were held in institutions operated by the National Institute
for Adolescents and Children (INAU). 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 bad as in the adult versions, with some youths
permitted to leave their cells only 1 hour per day.
Juvenile offenders who were not considered to pose a threat to
society were placed in halfway house facilities, oriented towards
rehabilitation. These facilities provided educational, vocational, and
other opportunities, and the juvenile offenders were able to enter and
leave without restriction.
Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicted
prisoners.
Unlike in the previous year, 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 Constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions in practice. The law requires the police to have a
written warrant issued by a judge before making an arrest (except when
the police apprehend the accused during commission of a crime), and the
authorities generally respected this provision in practice.
The National Police numbered approximately 30,000 officers with
broad jurisdiction under the direction of the Ministry of Interior. The
police have a hierarchical structure with the Chief of Police, Director
of Intelligence Unit, and Director of the Drug Unit reporting to the
Vice Minister of the Interior. The Minister of Interior attempted to
reform the police by creating a service mentality and moving toward a
community-policing model; however, low salaries resulted in petty
corruption and officers taking second jobs to support their families.
New police officers earned $169 (4,480 pesos) per month, and 15-year
veterans earned $235 (6,230 pesos) per month.
An internal police investigative unit receives complaints from any
person concerning possible noncriminal police abuse of power, but it
was understaffed and only could 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, and this law
was respected in practice.
The Constitution provides the accused with the right to a judicial
determination of the legality of detention 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) have no validity. Further, a judge must investigate any
detainee claim of mistreatment.
If the detainee cannot afford a lawyer, the courts appoint a public
defender. If the crime carries a penalty of at least 2 years in prison,
the accused person is confined during the judge's investigation of the
charges unless the authorities agree to release the person on bail
(which seldom happens). As a result, between 60 and 65 percent of all
persons incarcerated were awaiting a final decision in their case.
However, only those committing more serious crimes were actually jailed
while waiting for the judge to investigate charges. The majority of
persons facing charges were not jailed. The length of time an accused
spends in jail pending trial also varied depending on the complexity of
the case and the size of the judge's docket. The uncertainty respecting
length of imprisonment 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 proceedings usually are based on 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. 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.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
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 provisions in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom; however, the authorities may abridge these rights if persons
are deemed to be inciting violence or ``insulting the nation.''
The Inter American Press Association reported that at least 15
journalists and 3 media outlets were subject to criminal prosecution
for news and opinions published in the course of their work as
journalists. Two of these journalists and one media outlet were forced
to publish court rulings, and one journalist, who received a 10-month
suspended prison sentence, remained under police supervision pursuant
to a court order. In addition, 10 journalists and 4 media outlets were
sued in civil court for news and opinions published in the course of
their work as journalists. Four of these reporters and one media outlet
were ordered to pay damages even though the accuracy of the published
information was not challenged.
The independent media were active, and all elements of the
political spectrum freely expressed their viewpoints in both print and
broadcast media. However, human rights activists and journalists
alleged that state enterprises such as the telephone and electric
companies on occasion withheld advertising from independent media that
were critical of the Government and favored media friendly to the
Government with extensive paid advertising.
The law provides for free expression and communication of thoughts
and opinions, within the limits contained in the Constitution, and it
outlines methods of responding to ``inexact or aggravating
information.'' The law provides for between 3 months and 2 years
imprisonment for ``knowingly divulging false news that causes a grave
disturbance to the public peace or a grave prejudice to economic
interests of the State'' or for ``insulting the nation, the State, or
their powers.'' The authorities rarely used this law and did not do so
during the year.
Access to the Internet was available and unrestricted.
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.
There is a strict separation of church and state, and religious
instruction in public schools is prohibited.
In April, anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi statements were painted in and
around Jewish cemeteries. Authorities quickly painted over the
graffiti, and no arrests were made. There were no developments in the
case of three juvenile skinheads indicted on charges related to anti-
Semitic harassment in 2002.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 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; however, this option has not
been exercised for at least 2 decades.
The law provides for the granting of refugee status in accordance
with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its
1967 Protocol. 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. The
Government cooperated with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees. An interagency refugee review commission established in 2003
has granted refugee status in 9 of the 10 cases it has reviewed. The
Government granted temporary protection in cases in which an
applicant's claims were verified by the UNHCR. The Government continued
to cooperate with international organizations to provide temporary
residence to human rights advocates who claimed that they were subject
to persecution in their home country; if still at risk after 1 year,
the person may apply for refugee status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The country is a multiparty democracy with
mandatory voting for those 18 years of age or older. The Colorado
party, the Blanco party, and the Broad Front coalition are the major
political groupings.
On October 31, in free and fair elections, Tabare Vazquez, leader
of the EP-FA coalition, won a 5-year presidential term with an absolute
majority in first-round balloting. The EP-FA won 16 of 30 seats in the
Senate and 52 of 99 seats in the Senate. President-elect Vazquez was
scheduled to take office on March 1, 2005. The election marked an end
to the domination of the traditional Blanco and Colorado parties; it
was also the first time in 50 years that any party has won an absolute
majority in Congress.
Women participated actively in the political process and
government, although primarily at lower and middle levels. Three of 30
senators and 11 of 99 deputies were women. None of the 13 cabinet
ministers were women; however, President-elect Vazquez nominated 2
women to serve in his cabinet. With the exception of an alternate
deputy, there were no Afro-Uruguayans in Congress.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution and the law prohibit discrimination based on race,
sex, religion, or disability; however, societal discrimination against
some groups existed.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a problem. The
nongovernmental organization (NGO) National Follow-Up Commission-Women
for Democracy, Equality and Citizenship reported that a woman died
every 9 days as a result of rape or domestic violence. The law provides
for sentences of 6 months to 2 years in prison for a person found
guilty of committing an act of violence or of making continuing threats
to cause bodily injury to persons related emotionally or legally to the
perpetrator. The state owned telephone company provided a free
nationwide hotline answered by trained NGO employees for victims of
domestic violence. The Criminal Code covers spousal abuse and spousal
rape, although criminal charges rarely were initiated for those crimes.
A government office of assistance for victims of domestic violence
trained police on how to resolve complaints of violence against women.
A directorate within the Ministry of Interior continued a public
awareness campaign about domestic violence and operated community
assistance centers where abuse victims received information and
referrals to government and private organizations in their area that
aid abused women. Both the Ministry of Interior and NGOs operated
shelters in which abused women and their families could seek temporary
refuge.
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, few
such complaints were filed, a circumstance attributed to a lack of
understanding by women of their rights.
Women enjoyed equality under the law in the workplace but faced
discrimination stemming from traditional attitudes and practices;
however, there never have been any cases brought under the law. The
workforce exhibited some segregation by gender. Women, who made up
almost one-half the workforce, tended to be concentrated in lower-
paying jobs. Women's salaries averaged two-thirds those of men,
continuing a gradual improvement with respect to pay equity.
Approximately 60 percent of the students at the public university were
women. Women often pursued professional careers but were
underrepresented in traditionally male-dominated professions.
A small institute in the Ministry of Education coordinated
government programs for women. There were a number of active women's
rights groups, and many of their activities remained centered on
follow-up to the platform of action of the 1995 U.N. Conference on
Women.
Children.--The Government generally is committed to protecting
children's rights and welfare, and it regarded the education and health
of children as a top priority. 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.
There is no societal pattern of abuse of children. Minors under the
age of 18 are not subject to criminal trial but receive special
treatment with special judges and, when sentenced, stay in institutions
run by INAU for the period determined by the judge; these institutions
emphasized the rehabilitation of minors. INAU maintained an extensive
network of programs, including shelters for at-risk children. INAU also
operated a confidential hotline for children who were victims of
domestic abuse.
Health care is free for all citizens, and the Government, with the
help of UNICEF, has undertaken a program to educate parents regarding
the need for regular checkups and immunization.
Although there were few substantiating statistics, polls and
arrests of children participating in sexual work indicated that child
prostitution existed (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children
and adolescents; however, there were some cases involving trafficking
of women and child prostitution.
In November, following Senate approval of bills approved by the
Chamber of Deputies in 2003, two antitrafficking laws took effect: The
law to Combat Commercial and Noncommercial Sexual Exploitation of and
Violence Against Children and Adolescents and the law to Combat Child
Pornography and Prostitution. These laws criminalize trafficking in
persons and provide penalties ranging from 6 months' to 12 years'
imprisonment. Prostitution is legal for persons over the age of 18, and
there is no law specifically prohibiting participation by minors.
Suspected traffickers have been prosecuted on charges of corruption,
conspiracy, fraud, and other felonies. The Ministry of the Interior has
primary responsibility for investigating trafficking cases.
The country was a source for trafficked persons, and internal
trafficking was a problem. There were no reliable estimates on the
number of women who worked as prostitutes abroad (generally in Europe
and Australia) or on the proportion that were induced into such work by
fraud or were subjected to conditions approaching servitude. Some
foreign prostitutes entered the country, but irregular border controls
limited the collection of such trafficking statistics. Officials
believed that trafficking mostly affected women between the ages of 18
and 24. In the only reported case during the year, a man remained in
preventive custody awaiting extradition to Italy for luring 13
Uruguayan women to Italy, where they were forced into the sex trade.
According to the Casa de los Ninos, commercial sexual exploitation
of children between the ages of 11 and 15 occurred mostly in the states
bordering Brazil and Argentina. Authorities believed that this
trafficking was specifically for prostitution and pornography. There
also was concern about possible child prostitution rings 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. Anecdotal evidence indicated that, in recent
years, child prostitution has increased, especially in the interior of
the country. Children's rights NGOs and the media received reports that
minors resorted to prostitution as a means of survival or to provide
assistance to their families in rural areas where unemployment was more
than 20 percent.
INAU provided funding for a number of NGOs that have 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.
Early in the year, the Government established the Interdepartmental
Commission for the Prevention and Protection of Children Against Sexual
Exploitation that cooperated with INAU in creating a national plan of
action, which included protection measures for victims and witnesses.
In response to an increase in the incidence of sexual exploitation,
the Ministry of the Interior created an office to prevent such crimes.
The office conducted research on trafficking in persons and Internet
child pornography, assisted in creating a binational antitrafficking
commission with Brazil, and investigated two cases involving child
prostitution that were prosecuted successfully and resulted in jail
sentences. At year's end, it was pursuing a child pornography
investigation involving a British citizen's alleged efforts to recruit
adolescents for use in pornography.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services.
A national disabilities commission oversees implementation of a law
on the rights of persons with disabilities. Although the law mandates
accessibility for persons with disabilities only to new buildings or
public services, the Government provided access to a number of existing
buildings. The law reserves 4 percent of public sector jobs for persons
with disabilities. 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 latest available information on the
extent of discrimination was a 1999 study by the NGO Mundo Afro, which
found that the illiteracy rate among black women was twice the national
average, that the percentage of black women who had pursued higher
education was one-third that of the general population, and that one
half of Afro-Uruguayan women worked as household domestics. Afro
Uruguayans were practically unrepresented in the bureaucratic and
academic sectors. During the year, Mundo Afro received 20 complaints of
discrimination; however, Mundo Afro stated that most instances of
discrimination were not reported.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Constitution states that laws
should promote the organization of trade unions and the creation of
arbitration bodies; however, there is almost no legislation
specifically entitling workers to form and join unions of their choice.
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
(under 5 percent). Labor unions were independent of political party
control but traditionally associated more closely with the left-of-
center Broad Front political coalition.
A Ministry of Labor's Collective Bargaining Division, which
investigates antiunion discrimination claims filed by union members,
has received no such claims since 2000. Labor unions have complained
that some businesses encouraged formation of worker cooperatives, which
served to reduce their labor costs.
There are mechanisms for resolving workers' complaints against
employers, but unions complained that courts sometimes applied these
mechanisms arbitrarily. Unions maintained that organizers were
dismissed for fabricated reasons, thus allowing employers to avoid
penalties under the law.
There are no laws expressly prohibiting antiunion discrimination,
but a 1993 executive decree established fines for employers engaging in
antiunion activities. The law does not require employers to reinstate
workers fired for union activities and does not require employers to
pay an indemnity to such workers. In cases of legal challenges by union
members for unlawful firings, courts tended to impose indemnity levels
that were higher than those normally paid to dismissed 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.''
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. There were no unions in these zones because the
few workers employed were not in traditionally organizable occupations,
that is, one in which a number of workers are employed in a
nonprofessional capacity.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Constitution
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
Child Labor Code protects children, and the Ministry of Labor and
Social Security is responsible for enforcing this law. Enforcement has
proven difficult due to a lack of resources and the fact that the
majority of 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 that generally were 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 6 hours per day within a
36-hour workweek and may not work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Permission to work is only granted to minors who have completed 9
years of compulsory education or who remain enrolled in school and are
working toward completing the period of 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. A program by INAU and an NGO to provide food vouchers of $38
(1,000 pesos) per month to parents who take their children off the
streets and send them to school continued during the year. This amount
approximated what a child might earn working on the street.
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 minimum wage, set in September at
approximately $49 (1,300 pesos) per month, functions more as an index
for calculating wage rates than as a true measure of minimum
subsistence levels, and 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 is 48 hours in industry and 44 hours in
commerce, with a 36-hour break each week. The law stipulates that
industrial workers receive overtime compensation for work in excess of
48 hours and that workers are entitled to 20 days of paid vacation
after a year of employment.
The law protects foreign workers and does not discriminate against
them. However, to receive official protection, the companies that
employ foreign workers must report them as employees. Many workers--
both native and foreign--worked off the books 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.
__________
VENEZUELA
Venezuela is a constitutional democracy with a president and
unicameral legislature. In addition to the executive, legislative, and
judicial branches of government, the Constitution provides for a
``Citizen Power'' branch--which includes the Ombudsman, the Public
Prosecutor, and the Comptroller General--and an ``Electoral Power''
branch, headed by the National Electoral Council (CNE). In July 2000,
voters elected President Hugo Chavez of the Fifth Republic Movement
(MVR) in generally free and fair elections. The MVR and the pro-Chavez
Movimiento al Socialismo party won a majority in the legislature. In
August 2003, the Supreme Court appointed a transitional CNE after the
National Assembly failed to do so. According to the Constitution, the
civilian judiciary is an independent branch of power; however, it was
highly inefficient, corrupt, and subject to political influence from
both the executive and legislative branches.
Following a national strike from December 2002 to February 2003,
government and opposition representatives signed an agreement in May
2003 that committed both sides to follow the Constitution and laws and
acknowledged the constitutional right to hold a presidential recall
referendum if legal criteria were met. After the CNE rejected a first
group of signatures, opponents of President Chavez gathered sufficient
signatures at the end of November 2003 for the presidential recall
referendum. In February, the CNE disallowed, on what appeared to be
political rather than legal grounds, more than 1 million of the
approximately 3.7 million signatures. The opposition subsequently
succeeded in ratifying sufficient signatures to activate the recall
referendum through the appeals process (reparos), despite government
threats of retaliation against signers. On August 15, 5.8 million
persons voted to keep Chavez in office, and 3.9 million persons voted
to remove him, according to official results. Opponents of the
President charged that the process was fraught with irregularities and
that electronic manipulation of the vote constituted fraud. Although
the Organization of American States (OAS) and Carter Center observers
noted that the process ``suffered from some irregularities,
politicization, and intimidation,'' they found that the official
results were compatible with their own quick count and ``reflected the
will of the electorate.''
The security apparatus consists of civilian and military elements,
both accountable to elected authorities. The military played an
increasingly larger role in civilian life. Active and retired military
officers held high-ranking government positions, and 6 of the 21
cabinet members previously served in the military. The presidents of
three major state-owned corporations--Corporacion Venezolana de
Guayana, Corporacion Zulia, and PDV Marina--are active duty military
officers. The military also administered and executed numerous public
service projects. The Ministry of Defense controlled the General
Directorate for Military Intelligence (DIM), which is responsible for
collecting intelligence related to national security and sovereignty.
The National Guard, an active branch of the military, has arrest powers
and is largely responsible for maintaining public order. The Ministry
of Interior and Justice controls the Investigative and Criminal Police
Corps (CICPC), which conducts most criminal investigations, and the
Directorate for Intelligence and Prevention Services (DISIP), which
collects intelligence and has a law enforcement role. Mayors and state
governors are responsible for local and state police forces and
maintain independence from the central Government. The Caracas
Metropolitan Police is the main civilian police force in the five
municipalities that form the capital. While civilian authorities
generally maintained control over security forces, members of the
security forces committed numerous and serious human rights abuses
during the year.
The population was approximately 25 million. The country is
abundant in natural resources and has a mixed agricultural and
industrial market-based economy; however, the vast majority of natural
resource extraction and production was done by entities owned and
operated wholly or in part by the Government. The economy began to
recover, with growth of more than 16 percent, following contraction of
8.9 percent in 2002 and 7.6 percent in 2003. Government statistics
placed the unemployment rate at 15 percent; however, approximately 50
percent of employed adults worked in the informal sector. The petroleum
sector provided the majority of foreign exchange earnings. Despite
record oil prices and resulting revenue for the Government, the country
faced ongoing deficits and other financial difficulties. Independent
economists estimated the Government's deficit for the year was 7.2
percent of gross domestic product.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; despite
attempts at improvement in a few areas, its performance deteriorated in
other areas, particularly regarding politicization of the judiciary and
restrictions on electronic media, and serious problems remained. The
police and military committed unlawful killings of criminal suspects.
The police reportedly had links to vigilante groups that killed
suspected criminals. Investigations into unlawful killings by the
security forces of criminal suspects remained extremely slow. Torture
and abuse of detainees persisted, and the Government failed to punish
police and security officers guilty of abuses. Prison conditions
remained harsh; violence and severe overcrowding constituted inhuman
and degrading treatment. Arbitrary arrests and detentions continued.
Impunity was one of the country's most serious human rights problems.
Crimes involving human rights abuses did not proceed to trial due to
judicial and administrative delays. Corruption, lengthy pretrial
detention, and severe inefficiency in the judicial and law enforcement
systems also were problems. A law enacted in May increased the number
of Supreme Court judges and the power of the executive branch, the
legislature, and the citizen power over the judiciary. Some judges were
summarily dismissed or forced to retire. Prosecutors selectively
investigated several opposition leaders and brought charges against
some.
The Government conducted illegal wiretapping of private citizens
and intimidated political opponents. President Chavez, officials in his
administration, and members of his political party consistently
attacked the independent media, the political opposition, labor unions,
the courts, the Church, and human rights groups. Many government
supporters interpreted these remarks as tacit approval of violence;
they then threatened, intimidated, and physically harmed at least
dozens of individuals opposed to Chavez during the year. The
International Association of Broadcasters complained that the
Government abused its legal power to order that all television and
radio stations air material of national interest by requiring the
transmission of speeches by President Chavez and other government
officials and of other political programming favorable to the
Government. A press law enacted in December places restrictions on
broadcast content that threaten press freedom. Violence and
discrimination against women, abuse of children, discrimination against
persons with disabilities, and inadequate protection of the rights of
indigenous people remained problems. Trafficking in persons was a
problem. The Government's confrontation with the Venezuelan Workers
Confederation (CTV) and fired petroleum sector employees continued, and
child labor increased.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no politically motivated killings by the
Government or its agents; however, police, soldiers, and government
supporters killed several persons at anti-government demonstrations
(see Section 2.b.).
According to human rights groups, security forces committed
unlawful killings, including summary executions of criminal suspects,
used excessive force, and mistreated persons in custody resulting in
deaths.
The human rights group Red de Apoyo reported that, on January 10, a
group of men, presumably Lara State police officers dressed in black,
rounded up nine men and executed them. On March 10, Juan Carlos
Zambrano died after being beaten by soldiers who had detained him on
March 4 in Lagunillas, Zulia. Six soldiers were arrested on charges of
murder in October and ordered detained pending trial (see Section
1.c.). Amnesty International (AI) reported that, in May, Enmary Cava
was killed in Cagua, Aragua State, after she and her family had
received death threats. The family had called on prosecutors to
investigate the death of two brothers and their father at the hands of
Aragua State police.
The Venezuelan Program of Action and Education in Human Rights
(PROVEA), a human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO), documented
231 unlawful killings from October 2003 through September. PROVEA and
the human rights NGO Committee for the Families of the Victims of
February 1989 (COFAVIC) identified cases of police death squad
activity, linked to police participation in criminal activity. PROVEA
noted that such activity decreased in Portuguesa, Yaracuy, and
Anzoategui States as a result of media attention and prosecutions.
Prosecutors rarely brought cases against perpetrators of unlawful
killings. The police characterized such incidents as ``confrontations''
(thereby asserting a legal justification for using deadly force) even
when eyewitness testimony and evidence strongly indicated otherwise.
When prosecutors did investigate, 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 pre-ordained result. In
addition, the civilian judicial system struggled to implement the
Organic Criminal Procedures Code (COPP) and remained highly inefficient
and corrupt (see Section 1.e.). In the small number of cases in which
the courts convicted perpetrators of unlawful and other killings,
sentences frequently were light, or the convictions were overturned on
appeal. Members of the security forces charged with or convicted of
crimes rarely were imprisoned.
In March, Red de Apoyo called on the mayor of Metropolitan Caracas
to fire three Metropolitan Police officers found guilty of murder in
November 2003, who were still working as police officers; the
authorities subsequently opened administrative procedures to fire the
officers but had not acted by year's end.
On August 23, a judge approved release on bail for 14 Portuguesa
State police officers being held on 68 counts of murder for their
alleged participation in the death squad ``Exterminio.'' The men had
been in custody for 20 months longer than the legal 24-month pre-trial
detention limit, a delay due in part to the reluctance of citizens to
serve as lay judges in the case. Prosecutors appealed the decision to
release the officers from detention, and the measure was suspended. A
trial was pending at year's end.
There were no developments in the investigation of the August 2003
killing of human rights worker Joe Luis Castillo in Machiques, Zulia
State. Police suspected two Colombian alleged paramilitaries who were
subsequently killed, according to press accounts, and no new
developments were expected in the investigation.
Police fired on criminal suspects who disobeyed orders to halt and
often used deadly force when confronting suspects or rescuing kidnap
victims. In November, for example, the Interior Ministry reported that
police killed 135 persons who ``resisted authority'' that month.
Security forces also killed some prisoners; however, the majority of
deaths resulted from other causes (see Section 1.c.).
In March, prosecutors charged four National Guardsmen with the
November 2003 killing of seven prisoners at the Vista Hermosa prison;
the guardsmen also allegedly participated in the severe beating of 200
prisoners. While detained, two of the officers were promoted. The case
had not gone to trial by year's end.
During demonstrations from February 27 to March 5, unidentified
persons killed between 9 (official figure) and 16 (opposition figure)
persons and injured 193 throughout the country; on August 16, a group
of government supporters fired into a crowd of protesters killing 1
person and injuring 9 others, including a National Assembly deputy (see
Section 2.b.).
There were two high profile cases of mistreatment of soldiers
resulting in death. On March 5, Army Private Roberto Aguilar died of
drowning in a cesspool on a military installation in Zulia State. His
family claimed he was forced into the cesspool as punishment. After a
conflict between military and civilian courts, on August 4, the Supreme
Court ruled that a civilian court had jurisdiction. Four soldiers were
detained, and the case had not gone to trial by year's end.
On March 30, eight soldiers were burned in a punishment cell in
Fuerte Mara in Zulia State; two of the soldiers died of their injuries.
Family members charged that one of the soldiers claimed the prisoners
were set on fire from outside the cell. In December, prosecutors
charged one of the victims with setting the fire, and three doctors
with malpractice for the death of one of the soldiers.
On April 2, army Lieutenant Alessandro Sicat was convicted of
murder and attempted murder and sentenced to 21 years in prison. Sicat
sprayed and ignited paint thinner in the holding cell of three
allegedly disobedient soldiers in 2001.
The press reported several cases of lynching and attempted lynching
of suspected criminals. A significant portion of the population tacitly
supported vigilante activity to control crime.
b. Disappearance.--On October 31, retired Air Force Colonel Silvino
Bustillo, one of the leaders of the Plaza Francia military dissidents
in 2002, allegedly disappeared after being followed by agents of the
DIM. The Government alleged that Colonel Bustillos was in hiding, and
had contacted his family, which they denied. As of December, Colonel
Bustillo's whereabouts and condition were unknown.
Human rights groups noted that police officers sometimes disposed
of the bodies of their victims to avoid investigations. PROVEA recorded
11 reports of disappearances allegedly involving security forces from
October 2003 to September.
On May 16, CICPC officers allegedly detained three persons in San
Cristobal, Tachira State. The three were never brought before a judge
and were presumed to have been killed. Prosecutors began an
investigation and ordered the detention of seven CICPC officers, but
the officers had not been apprehended by year's end.
From January through August, 88 ranchers were kidnapped, according
to the National Cattle Ranchers Federation (Fedenaga). Although rancher
kidnappings by Colombian terrorist organizations have been a problem in
the border states for decades, Fedenaga attributed most of the increase
to domestic criminal gangs, common criminals, and the Bolivarian
Liberation Forces (FBL), a relatively new organization allegedly
composed of militant supporters of the President. They believed that
the FBL targeted ranchers as much for political as for economic
reasons. The Government denied any links to the FBL. In September, the
head of the CICPC in Tachira State told reporters that some police and
National Guard officers collaborated with kidnappers.
On August 9, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights agreed to
hear a case against DISIP Commissioner Jose Yanez Casimiro and retired
Commissioner General Justiniano Martinez Carreno in the alleged
disappearances of Oscar Blanco Romero and Marco Monasterio following
the Vargas floods in 1999. In December, Attorney General Isaias
Rodriguez announced that the officers had been charged in the
disappearance of the two men; a judge released the officers on bail.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Constitution prohibits torture and the holding of
detainees incommunicado, provides for the prosecution of officials who
instigate or tolerate torture, and grants victims the right to medical
rehabilitation; however, security forces continued to torture and abuse
detainees. Abuse most commonly consisted of beatings during arrest or
interrogation, but there also were incidents in which the security
forces used near-suffocation and other forms of torture.
PROVEA reported that between October 2003 and September, it
received 58 complaints of torture and 491 regarding cruel, inhuman, and
degrading treatment. From January to June, Red de Apoyo received 30
complaints from alleged torture victims.
The Government did not ensure independent investigation of
complaints of torture. COFAVIC questioned the Attorney General's
ability to oversee neutral investigations, because he was an active
member of the President's political party and a former vice president
in the current Government. Human rights groups also asserted that the
Institute of Forensic Medicine, part of the CICPC, was unlikely to be
impartial in the examinations of cases that involved torture by CICPC
members. Few cases of torture resulted in convictions.
The Human Rights Ombudsman documented 7 complaints of torture and
17 of abuse during the disturbances from February 27 to March 5 (see
Section 2.b.). Many of the complaints were reported to prosecutors, but
no arrests had been made as of year's end. COFAVIC reported nine cases
of torture, with an identifiable pattern throughout the country. There
were no arrests associated with these cases. For example, on March 1,
National Guard troops detained Carlos Eduardo Izcaray, a National
Symphony cellist, near a violent street protest. According to AI,
Izcaray was beaten repeatedly, given electric shocks, exposed to tear
gas in a confined space, had tear gas powder smeared on his face, and
was threatened with death.
Reports of beatings and other humiliating treatment of suspects
during arrests were common and involved various law enforcement
agencies.
In March, the soldiers who arrested Carlos Zambrano and beat him to
death (see Section 1.a.) also raped his girlfriend.
In November, police arrested three ex-police officers as suspects
in the November 18 killing of prosecutor Danilo Anderson. Lawyers for
the three accused the police of torturing the three men after illegally
detaining them. All three were arrested days after being reported
missing. The torture allegations included the use of electric shock,
sensory deprivation, and psychological torture. A judge ordered an
investigation into the allegations of torture, but no arrests had been
made by year's end.
Prison conditions were harsh due to scarce resources, poorly
trained and corrupt prison staff, and violence by guards and inmates.
The prison population was at 118 percent of capacity; 22 of the
country's 32 prisons were overpopulated, some severely, according to
the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. Severe overcrowding in some
prisons constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. Prisoners often
complained of food and water shortages.
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, especially as convicted murderers and rapists often
were held with unsentenced 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.).
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
Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP), a prison monitoring NGO, estimated
that interior guard force had only one-tenth the required strength.
Violence between gangs was common, with shootouts and riots common
occurrences. From January through December 31, the OVP recorded 327
deaths and 655 injuries in the prisons. Security forces committed some
of the killings in prisons (see Section 1.a.), but most inmate deaths
resulted from prisoner-on-prisoner violence, riots, fires, and from
generally unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Prisoners also died as a
consequence of poor diet and inadequate medical care.
On August 5, prisoners in the Barcelona prison staged a ``blood
strike,'' inflicting wounds on themselves, to protest prison
conditions.
Women inmates were held in separate prisons, where conditions
generally were better than those in the men's facilities. 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, filthy cells, fed only once
a day, and forced to sleep on bare concrete floors. Pretrial detainees
were not held separately from convicted prisoners.
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 and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the security forces
continued to arrest and detain citizens arbitrarily.
The National Guard, a branch of the military, has arrest powers and
is largely responsible for maintaining public order, guarding the
exterior of key government installations and prisons, conducting
counter narcotics 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 and is responsible for
investigating cases of corruption, subversion, and arms trafficking.
Mayors and governors oversee local and state police forces. Often,
mayors and governors recruited retired National Guard officers for the
top leadership of their police. 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. Some local police forces offered human rights training for
their personnel.
The COPP states that a person accused of a crime cannot be
incarcerated during criminal proceedings unless that person was
apprehended in the act of committing a crime or a judge determines that
there is a danger that the accused may flee or impede the
investigation. All detainees must be taken before a prosecutor within
12 hours and before a judge within 48 hours to determine the legality
of the detention. To keep a suspect in pretrial detention, a judge must
rule that: A crime meriting a prison sentence of more than 2 years has
been committed; there is solid evidence that the suspect is guilty of
the crime; and there is a danger of flight or that the detainee might
try to obstruct the investigation. A person accused of a crime may not
be detained for longer than the possible minimum sentence for that
crime, nor for longer than 2 years, except in certain circumstances, as
when the defendant is responsible for the delay in the proceedings.
Although COPP procedures generally were followed once suspects entered
the justice system, confusion over its implementation remained, and
arbitrary detention continued to be common.
There was a bail system, but it was common to hold prisoners
without according them access to bail. According to the OVP, there were
approximately 18,781 prisoners in December, of whom 8,915 had not been
convicted of a crime and were held without bail, and the Ministry of
the Interior and Justice reported that 48 percent of all prisoners were
in pretrial detention. Trials were delayed due to many factors,
including the limited power of judges to compel authorities to
transport prisoners to court.
Prisoners often had to bribe police to transport them to court for
hearings. Judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers also were
responsible for delays, due to excessive workload, corruption, and
attempts to avoid controversial cases. Prisoners had reasonably good
access to counsel and family members.
The Human Rights Ombudsman's office reported that, during the
disturbances from February 27 to March 5, authorities arrested 513
persons and held 53 persons in pretrial detention for their actions.
Arbitrary detentions by the Caracas Metropolitan Police, the DISIP,
municipal police forces, the National Guard, and the CICPC continued;
however, PROVEA estimated that the number of persons detained in anti-
drug sweeps had declined.
The Government used the justice system selectively against the
political opposition, including investigations against, and arrests of,
opposition leaders on charges of conspiracy and treason.
On May 4, a judge ordered Baruta mayor Henrique Capriles Radonski
detained on charges relating to a violent demonstration in front of the
Cuban Embassy in 2002, despite the lack of evidence and the fact that
Capriles was a public official. On September 6, a judge ordered him
released on bail. Human rights groups, the political opposition, and
media called Capriles a political prisoner. On October 18, an appeals
court dismissed the Capriles case, a decision that the prosecution
appealed.
On May 22, a military court ordered the detention of retired Army
General Francisco Uson for ``defaming'' the army, despite the fact that
Uson was retired and therefore not subject to military jurisdiction.
When asked about the Fuerte Mara case (see Section 1.a.) in an
interview program, Uson had explained how a flamethrower functions. On
October 4, the military court found Uson guilty of insulting the army
and sentenced him to 5 years in prison. The defense appealed the
decision.
On August 9, in the 2002 case against National Guard General Carlos
Alfonzo Martinez, a judge ruled that the general was not guilty of
instigating rebellion and abandoning his command but found him guilty
of violating a security zone. General Martinez was sentenced to 5
years' probation and was forbidden to contact the media. Prosecutors
and defense lawyers appealed the decision, and prosecutors also opened
a new investigation against General Martinez for his actions in support
of the Plaza Francia military dissidents in 2002. In October, an
appeals court overturned General Martinez' conviction and set him free,
a decision that the prosecutors appealed.
Prior to the August 15 presidential recall referendum, Carlos Melo,
an opposition leader, was detained on charges of weapons possession,
and was held until an appeals court ordered him released a few weeks
later. Images captured by a video monitor at the time of Melo's
detention supported his contention that the charges were fabricated.
In March, three judges were fired without cause, immediately after
releasing protesters arrested in the February-March disturbances (see
Section 1.e.). In May, one of the tenured judges who ruled to free
Carlos Melo was suspended indefinitely, while the tenured judge who
wrote the decisions to release Capriles and General Alfonzo Martinez
was suspended in December; in both cases, the alleged reasons for the
suspensions were minor infractions of judicial rules.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The civilian judiciary is an
independent branch of power according to the Constitution; however, it
was subject to political influence, highly inefficient, and sometimes
corrupt.
The judicial sector consists of the Supreme Court, the Attorney
General's office, and the Ministry Interior and Justice. The Supreme
Court is the country's highest court and directly administers the lower
courts. It is divided into six chambers: Constitutional, criminal,
social, administrative, electoral, and civil. The Supreme Court
administers the lower courts through the Executive Directorate of the
Magistracy (DEM). The competitive exams to select permanent judges
remained suspended, and only provisional and temporary judges, who
constituted 80 percent of all working judges, were hired. The Supreme
Court's Judicial Committee may hire and fire temporary judges without
cause and did so, without explanation. Provisional judges legally have
the same rights as permanent judges; however, in March, the Judicial
Committee fired without cause a temporary judge who had been working
for 3 years and at least two provisional judges (see Section 1.d.).
Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised the problem that this situation
represents for judicial independence, as did leaders of the judicial
system.
On May 18, the National Assembly passed the Organic Law of the
Supreme Court, which increased the number of Supreme Court judges from
20 to 32 and allowed them to be appointed with a simple, rather than a
two-thirds, majority vote of the National Assembly. The law also
permits the Moral Council (Attorney General, Human Rights Ombudsman,
and Comptroller General) to suspend judges and allows the National
Assembly to revoke the appointment of Supreme Court judges by a simple
majority vote, even if they were appointed by a two-thirds majority. On
June 15, using this authority, the legislature annulled the appointment
of the Court's vice president. HRW noted that the law threatens the
independence of the judiciary by subjecting it to political control.
Control judges oversee the protection of the rights of suspects and
hear 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.
Corruption was widespread, and judges also were susceptible to
political pressure. Following the February/March protests, several
provisional judges who freed protesters were fired. Human rights groups
and judicial observers believed that they were fired for their refusal
to detain protesters. In September, police detained provisional control
judge Juan Ramon Leon Villanueva for soliciting a bribe from the head
of the CICPC. Leon was the most recent judge to confirm the detention
of Baruta mayor Capriles, prior to his release (see Section 1.d.). Leon
accused other judges of setting him up. Following the killing of
prosecutor Danilo Anderson on November 18, prosecutors investigated
allegations that Anderson may have been involved in extorting money
from persons in return for not pursuing investigations against them.
The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
The COPP provides for the right to a fair trial and considers the
accused innocent until proven guilty. The COPP also provides for open,
public trials with oral proceedings. Suspects have the right to plead
guilty without trial and make reparation agreements. Trial delays were
common. A professional judge and two lay judges try serious cases. A
single judge may hear serious cases, if the defendant or victim so
requests and the judge agrees, or if attempts to appoint lay judges
have failed. Difficulty in finding persons willing or able to serve as
lay judges frequently caused delays. Usually, single judges try minor
cases. Defendants and complainants have the right of appeal.
The law provides for public defenders for those unable to afford an
attorney; however, there were not enough public defenders. According to
the DEM, as of September 2003, there were 619 public defense attorneys
for the entire country, of whom 188 handled juvenile cases exclusively.
Prison officials often illegally demanded payment from prisoners
for transportation to judicial proceedings. Those who were unable to
pay often were forced to forgo their hearings (see Section 1.c.).
On July 19, the Supreme Court president swore in the members of the
First and Second Courts for contentious administrative matters. The
Committee of Judicial Restructuring disbanded the First Court in 2003
following a series of decisions unfavorable to the Government. Citing
reasons of workload, the DEM then created two courts.
The military created executive courts, as part of the restructuring
the military justice system, mirroring the civilian courts. The
Constitution establishes that trials for military personnel charged
with human rights abuses would be held in civilian rather than military
courts. However, the provision does not apply to cases that predate the
1999 Constitution.
On April 2, army Lieutenant Alessandro Sicat was convicted of
murder and attempted murder and sentenced to 21 years in prison (see
Section 1.a.).
man rights NGOs continued to express concern that the Supreme
Court'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, making them more responsive to the views of their
military leaders and influencing them to act slowly in cases in which
the military is implicated. In May, without due administrative process,
five military judges were fired for incompetence, although they had
between 15 and 19 years' experience. Four of the judges were handling
politically sensitive cases at the time.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Constitution prohibits such actions; however, the
security forces continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights by
conducting searches of homes without warrants, such as during anticrime
sweeps in poor neighborhoods. There were reports of illegal wiretapping
and invasion of privacy by the security forces.
Throughout the country, witnesses to abuses by security forces
reported instances in which their family members later were harassed,
threatened, or killed (see Section 1.a.). There were also reports that
the family members of persons, including military personnel, who signed
the petitions for a recall referendum were threatened with loss of jobs
and benefits.
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, persons associated with
the Government provoked, threatened, physically harmed, or encouraged
others to attack private media owners, their installations, and
journalists. The Government did not restrict academic freedom.
International organizations such as the Inter American Press
Association (IAPA) and domestic journalists charged the Government with
encouraging a climate of hostility toward the media. The IAPA called on
the Government to end anti-democratic practices. Although assaults
against the media declined compared with 2003, journalists attributed
this trend to their lack of access to government events and their
avoidance of activities in pro-government neighborhoods. Pro-government
assailants shot and injured four reporters, and one reporter was
killed, allegedly by drug traffickers. National Guard troops shot and
injured several reporters with rubber bullets and tear gas cannisters,
sometimes fired at close range. Legislative and administrative efforts
to limit private media's right to freedom of expression continued,
including threats of prosecution and the enactment of a restrictive law
to govern media content.
The country has 15 national newspapers (14 based in Caracas, 1 in
Maracaibo); 77 regional newspapers; 89 magazines and weekly journals;
34 representatives of foreign media outlets; 47 national and
international television and radio news agencies; 344 commercial and
over 150 FM and AM community radio stations; and 31 television
channels, 23 of which were in the interior. Both government and private
media were highly politicized. The majority of the larger newspapers
opposed the President. One tabloid in Caracas, whose sole source of
advertisement appeared to be the Government, sided fully with the
Government.
Print and electronic media were independent, and many criticized
the Government, although they felt threatened by the Government and
pro-government sympathizers. In 2003, the OAS's Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Special Reporter on Press Freedom
noted that reprisals and threats of violence restricted freedom of
expression in practice. During the year, the IACHR granted
``precautionary'' protective measures to petitioners in 12 cases and
granted ``provisional'' protective measures in another 4 cases. The
Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that such international orders were not
binding in the country, and media owners and journalists complained
that they were not carried out in good faith by the Government.
President Chavez repeatedly singled out media owners and editors,
charging that the media provoked political unrest. The National Press
Union accused the Government of punishing or firing state press
employees for political reasons, particularly for signing the petition
for the August 15 referendum. The country remained on the International
Press Institute's watch list of countries with a growing tendency
toward suppression or restriction of press freedom.
Journalists lodged 30 complaints of harassment during the year.
Supporters of the Government committed most of the incidents against
the private media; however, opposition supporters committed a few acts
against state-owned or community media. The National Guard, the DIM,
the DISIP, and some local police forces also harassed journalists.
Government sympathizers also harassed, vandalized property and
equipment, and threatened the private media.
On September 1, unidentified assailants killed radio personality,
opinion columnist, and activist Mauro Marcano Ramos of the State of
Monagas. Ramos was known as a harsh critic of drug traffickers. In
February and March, National Guard and other unidentified persons shot
and injured several journalists covering protests in Caracas.
The National Union of Press Workers reported 35 cases of assaults
on journalists in the first 8 months of the year. The Committee to
Protect Journalists investigated and verified 28 of those cases.
Pro-government and state-owned media reported four assaults, one
case of vandalism, and three cases of harassment. On March 2, for
example, opposition supporters vandalized the offices of VTV. Outside
the capital, opposition demonstrators surrounded, threatened, and beat
two operators of a community radio station. The IACHR later granted the
couple precautionary measures.
The Government had two national television stations, a national
radio network, and a newswire service whose directors were named by the
President. The President had a weekly show on television and radio and
frequently demanded access to major media outlets. Independent media
observers criticized the state media for extreme pro-government
politicization. Most community media--radio and television stations
with different frequency licensing requirements and advertising
regulations--were pro-government in editorial policy.
The 2002 Organic Telecommunications Law establishes that the
President can suspend telecommunications broadcasts. The President
referred to this law repeatedly and threatened to revoke commercial
broadcast licenses or not convert pre-2000 licenses to new ones. Media
professionals complained that investigations of television and radio
stations by state broadcast regulation agency CONATEL were politically
motivated.
On August 11, government sympathizers attacked a crew from news
channel Globovision in front of the vice presidency in sight of both
the building's staff and nearby National Guard troops. The National
Guard troops made no effort to intervene. The attackers stole one of
the station's radios and used the stolen radio to disrupt the station's
ability to communicate with its crews. National Guard troops prevented
a crew from changing the radio frequency and detained crew members at
the site of the tower for 2 days, during which they were not allowed to
receive any food or supplies. On August 15, the day of the presidential
recall referendum, CONATEL workers made surprise inspections of the
facilities of several private television stations.
Media analysts, journalists, and other observers alleged that the
Government used criminal defamation and libel laws to intimidate or
harass the media.
On December 7, the Government enacted the Law of Social
Responsibility in Radio and Television, which restricts certain
content, such as sex and violence, to specific hours of the day and
requires disclosure of sources of information. The law also requires
private radio and television stations to show a set amount of
domestically and independently produced programming. The law makes
CONATEL the arbiter of compliance with the law. The IAPA criticized the
law as a ``clear interference in news media content and a restriction
of the work of journalists to report and provide opinion.'' HRW said
that the law ``severely threatens press freedom.'' The IACHR also
expressed concern over enactment of the law, noting that it places
conditions on information carried by news broadcasts, employs vague
terminology, provides for ``potentially excessive penalties,'' and
places broad restrictions on the content of programs that could have
the effect of intimidating the media.
The Government influenced the media through licensing requirements
for journalists, broadcast licensing concessions for television and
radio stations, and lucrative public sector advertising. In July, the
Supreme Court reaffirmed the law that requires practicing journalists
to have journalism degrees and be members of the National College of
Journalists and prescribes 3- to 6-month jail terms for those who
practice journalism illegally. These requirements are waived for
foreigners and for opinion columnists.
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 interfered
with the broadcasts of licensed stations. The Government, not the
communities, reportedly funded the community stations, whose
broadcasting was pro-government and anti-opposition.
The law permits the Government to order national broadcasts
(cadenas) requiring all broadcast media to pre-empt scheduled
programming and transmit the Government's message in its entirety.
Domestic and international observers criticized the Government for
abusing this legal provision. The International Association of
Broadcasters stated that it considered the Government's ``unlimited
abuse of official 'cadenas' on radio and television'' a violation of
Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights and ``one of
several direct or indirect means the Government uses to intimidate the
communications media and society in general.'' According to private
media sources, through December, there had been 282 hours of cadenas.
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.
State-controlled television and radio stations and many foreign news
reporters continued to have full access to official events.
There were recurrent, violent pro-government demonstrations in
front of the studios of RCTV. On June 3, a group of men surrounded the
station's headquarters, shot at office windows, vandalized the
building, and drove a truck into the lobby of the building and set it
afire. On June 8, video captured by the station showed a DISIP truck
pulling up to the same building and several men, dressed in civilian
clothing, getting out of the truck and further vandalizing the
building.
Also on June 3, government sympathizers attacked the offices of the
dailies El Nacional and Asi es la Noticia for 4 hours. Approximately 20
persons threw rocks and bottles, crashed a truck into the building's
parking lot, set ablaze a distribution truck, and ransacked the offices
of Asi es la Noticia.
Journalists complained that official actors, including the National
Guard, DIM, DISIP, and some local and municipal police forces,
perpetrated a significant number of violent or threatening incidents
against the media. Complaints lodged with the National Syndicate of
Press Workers listed 7 assaults, 13 cases of harassment, and 2
incidents of vandalism directly involving such official perpetrators.
In February, several police officers beat Victor Serra, a Merida
reporter. On March 2, three National Guardsmen harassed and attacked
Juan Carlos Aguirre and Francisco Marcano, of CMT television, while
they covered a protest in Caracas. On May 10, DIM agents stopped a
reporter, photographer, and driver at a roadblock; beat and threatened
them at gunpoint; and confiscated their cameras, tape recorders,
radios, and press credentials.
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Constitution
provides for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice. Public
meetings, including those of all political parties, generally were held
unimpeded, although government supporters disrupted numerous marches
and rallies. The Government required permits for public marches but did
not deny them for political reasons. A 2002 government decree
established eight security zones in Caracas and gave the central
Government, rather than municipal officials, the authority to permit
demonstrations there. The zones included areas around military
installations, state television and radio stations, and headquarters of
Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).
The Constitution prohibits the use of firearms to control peaceful
demonstrations. Supporters and opponents of the Government repeatedly
demonstrated in the capital and other cities during the year, and
several demonstrations resulted in injuries or loss of life. The
authorities used firearms (including military weapons), tear gas, and
billy clubs against demonstrators, and occasionally demonstrators
fought back with clubs and rocks.
On February 27, National Guard troops confronted a peaceful
opposition march using tear gas and rubber bullets. The Government had
changed the ending point of the march 24 hours beforehand. The ensuing
violent confrontation continued for many hours, with civilian Chavez
supporters and police using firearms to support the National Guard. A
preschool was evacuated when the children were affected by tear gas.
Demonstrations throughout the country, at times violent, followed for
the next 7 days. According to the Human Rights Ombudsman, 9 persons
were killed, 193 injured, and 513 detained. Human rights organizations
and the political opposition claimed 16 persons were killed. Among
those killed was Evangelina Coromoto Carrizo Leal, a local leader of
Democratic Action, who was shot to death during a demonstration in
Machiques, Tachira State on March 4. One National Guard officer was
arrested, but was confined to his base, rather than detained. In
November, a judge ordered the case to go forward. Many of those
detained, and human rights organizations accused the police and
National Guard of excessive use of force, torture, and abuse, and the
Human Rights Ombudsman documented 7 cases of torture and 17 cases of
abuse (see Section 1.c.).
On August 16, some 50 persons demonstrated at Caracas' Plaza
Francia against alleged fraud in the August 15 referendum. A group of
government supporters arrived, and after a verbal confrontation, began
shooting. One demonstrator was killed, and nine injured. Police
arrested three of the gunmen after the media showed photos and
videotape of them shooting into the crowd. In November, a judge ordered
the three to stand trial.
Professional and academic associations generally operated without
interference; however, in 2000, the Supreme Court defined which
organizations could act in the name of ``civil society'' to defend
collective rights before the courts. The 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 brought charges of conspiracy against the NGO
SUMATE 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 Government and the Holy See have signed a concordat that
underscores the country's historical ties to the Roman Catholic Church
and provides government subsidies to the Church, including to its
social programs and schools. Other religious groups are free to
establish and run their own schools. While these groups do not receive
subsidies from the Government, they may receive funding to repair
buildings for religious use.
Religious groups must register with the Ministry of Interior and
Justice's Directorate of Justice and Religion to hold legal status as a
religious organization and to own property. The requirements for
registration are largely administrative; however, some groups
complained that the process was slow and inefficient. Foreign
missionaries must have a special visa to enter the country.
Missionaries generally were not refused entry but faced the general
bureaucratic inefficiency of the Government taking months or years to
process a request.
Several senior government officials, including the President,
personally attacked Catholic Church leaders and made numerous public
statements intended to intimidate the Church. In April, President
Chavez denounced the country's Catholic Church leadership as ``immoral
liars.''
Statements by senior government officials supporting Iraq's Saddam
Hussein and Islamic extremist movements raised tensions and intimidated
the country's Jewish community. In April, the office of Vice President
Rangel released a press statement referring to the owners of a business
involved in a labor dispute as being ``of Jewish nationality,''
although they were citizens of the country. Anti-Semitic leaflets also
were available to the public in an office waiting room at the Ministry
of Interior and Justice.
On May 27, small explosive devices went off near two Mormon
churches. Damages were slight, and there were no injuries. Anti-Mormon
propaganda pamphlets were found at each site.
In November, CICPC officers investigating the killing of prosecutor
Danilo Anderson searched the Hebrew Center of Caracas, just as a school
on the site was opening. Jewish community leaders expressed outrage and
indicated doubt regarding the authorities' explanation for the search.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004 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 petition for the recall of the President. There were also reports
that those whose identification numbers appeared on a list of petition
signers had to pay exorbitant bribes to receive their documents.
A judge issued an order preventing the departure from the country
of a lawyer representing former National Assembly workers in a
corruption suit against the former President of the National Assembly.
The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
Both the Constitution and the Organic Refugee Law provide for the
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 U.N.
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. In
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution.
In February, the Government began granting refugee status to a
small number of applicants. As of December, 3,800 persons had applied
for refugee status to the National Refugee Commission (NRC), which was
constituted in August 2003. The NRC approved 207 persons and denied 200
persons. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) worked with
the NCR to investigate cases to speed the Commission's work.
Persons who applied formally for refugee status received a 90-day
renewable identification card allowing them to work, attend public
school, or receive public health services. As of September 13,
approximately 300,000 Colombians along the border were naturalized or
granted residency through a government campaign that began in February.
There were no statistics on how many of those naturalized or given
residency were refugees, because it was common for Colombians fleeing
across the boarder to blend into local communities where they had
familial or ethnic ties rather than apply for formal refugee status.
The NCR and UNHCR assumed that many Colombians chose to be naturalized
rather than apply for refugee status because the process was quicker,
required minimal documentation, and offered greater protection under
the law.
Few undocumented aliens found at security checkpoints along the
border were deported unless an investigation revealed a criminal
background. In late May, some 300 indigenous Wayuu fled into the
country from Colombia and received temporary protective status.
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. The
Constitution provides for the direct election of the President and
unicameral National Assembly, as well as of state governors, state
legislative councils, and local governments. The Constitution also
permits citizens to request recall referenda after the mid-point of the
term of any elected official. Political parties organize and their
candidates are allowed to run for office freely and to seek the support
of voters. The President has extensive powers, and the legislature
appoints the members of the Supreme Court and the Citizen Power Branch
consisting of the Ombudsman, Public Prosecutor, and Comptroller
General. In August 2003, after the National Assembly failed to do so,
the Supreme Court appointed a transitional five-member CNE, which
included two members and a president generally known to be pro-
government.
Opponents of the President have sought to remove him from power
since 2002. Following a national strike from December 2002 to February
2003, government and opposition representatives signed an agreement in
May 2003 that committed both sides to follow the Constitution and laws
and acknowledged the constitutional right to hold a recall referendum
if legal criteria were met. At the end of November 2003, opponents of
President Chavez gathered sufficient signatures for the recall
referendum. Opposition and pro-government parties also collected
signatures to recall 70 National Assembly deputies. In February, the
CNE disallowed more than 1 million of the approximately 3.7 million
signatures collected for a presidential recall, on what appeared to be
political rather than legal grounds. The opposition subsequently
obtained sufficient signatures to activate the presidential recall
referendum through the appeals process (reparos) in which nearly 1.2
million signers were asked to appear again to confirm their signatures.
The Carter Center found that signature collections during the
reparo period were conducted in ``an atmosphere mostly free of
violence--and with mostly clear and transparent procedures''; however,
MVR Deputy Luis Tascon placed the names and national identification
numbers of all those persons who had signed the petitions on his
webpage. The information was used to discriminate against those who had
signed, some of whom lost their government jobs, and many more of whom
were denied government services, such as passports and identity cards.
There were numerous reports that persons were intimidated by government
officials not to ratify their signatures or to withdraw them,
threatening loss of jobs, scholarships, pensions, and even denial of
medical treatment.
Following the CNE's June 3 decision to allow the referendum, the
Government engaged in a massive naturalization and identification
effort that took place in a few months. The Government claimed that the
intention was to redress years of unjustified delays in granting
citizenship and identity documents to poor citizens. CNE employees
whose loyalty to the Government was unclear were reportedly not allowed
to work in the units responsible for changes in the registry.
Opposition supporters were denied any opportunity to observe the
process, and the electoral registry grew by more than 1.4 million. Many
of these voters had no addresses. Additional unexplained changes in
voter addresses occurred just before the referendum, making it
impossible for some persons to vote.
On August 15, the country held its first-ever referendum to recall
a president. The OAS found that irregularities and pro-government bias
marked the process leading up to the vote. Because of delays reportedly
related to the implementation of an untried electronic voting and
fingerprint system, the CNE allowed the polls to stay open an extra 8
hours. On August 16, some 3 hours after the polls closed, the CNE
announced that President Chavez had won the vote. International
observers declared that the CNE results were compatible with their
findings. Chavez opponents challenged the CNE results, alleging
irregularities, including that the vote count had been manipulated
electronically and that the Government had illegally registered more
than 1 million new voters. There were widespread media reports of
intimidation, forced retractions, and threats of government retaliation
against those who signed the petition or intended to vote to recall the
President. Neither the CNE nor the Supreme Court found merit in the
opposition's challenges, the Carter Center concluded that the automated
machines worked well, and the CNE announced that the Government had
received 59 percent of the nearly 10 million votes recorded. The OAS
``found no element of fraud in the process,'' although the Carter
Center observers noted that the process ``suffered from some
irregularities, politicization, and intimidation.'' The OAS and the
Carter Center stated that the official results were compatible with
their own quick count and ``reflected the will of the electorate,'' and
the OAS Permanent Council passed a resolution that acknowledged the
referendum results.
There was a popular perception of widespread corruption among all
levels of the Government. The Comptroller General's office was largely
inactive, except to accuse the Government's opponents of corruption.
Journalists reported several cases of apparent corruption implicating
high-level government officials, but none were investigated. The
National Office of Identification and Immigration, the agency
responsible for issuing identity cards and passports, was corrupt, a
fact openly acknowledged by officials.
The Constitution provides for citizens' access to government
information and forbids censoring. Human rights groups reported that
the Government routinely ignored this requirement, and did not make
information available.
On September 24, in response to a lawsuit by the NGO PROVEA, the
Human Rights Ombudsman's office defended its right to refuse to release
information on human rights abuses on the grounds that it was
protecting the privacy rights of victims and that it had no legal
responsibility to give information to PROVEA.
Women and minorities participated fully in government and politics.
The National Assembly's Family, Women, and Youth Committee promoted
political opportunities for women. In the 2000 elections, women won 20
seats in the 165-seat Assembly. There were 3 women in the 21-member
cabinet and 8 women among the 32 Supreme Court justices.
Indigenous people traditionally have not been integrated fully into
the political system due to low voter turnout, geographic isolation,
and limited economic and educational opportunities. The Constitution
reserves three seats in the National Assembly for indigenous people,
and these seats were filled in the 2000 election. There were no
indigenous members in the cabinet. One of the vice presidents of the
National Assembly was an indigenous person.
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 occasionally responsive to their views.
However, during the year, NGOs complained that a 2000 Supreme Court
ruling that restricts the rights of NGOs that receive funding from
foreign sources was being used to prosecute some NGOs (see Section
2.b.).
On February 15, President Chavez accused the electoral NGO SUMATE
of treason for accepting funding from a foreign source. Prosecutors
subsequently began an investigation of four principal members of the
NGO and, in August, charged SUMATE with conspiracy to destroy the
country's republican form of government. Following a Supreme Court
ruling that the prosecution had violated procedures, the case was
suspended pending the gathering of testimony from overseas. Prosecutors
also opened an investigation of the leader of the education reform NGO
Assembly of Educators for receiving money from a foreign source.
President Chavez and NGOs have not met to discuss human rights
problems since 1999. However, NGOs developed relationships with
specific government bodies such as the Ministry of Education, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Assembly. The CNE
designated the nonpartisan NGO Electoral Eye as the only national
observation group for the August 15 referendum.
Several human rights NGOs received threats and intimidation by
government representatives and supporters. Throughout the year, COFAVIC
received e-mail and telephone threats from persons who identified
themselves as Chavez supporters. The Metropolitan Police provided
bodyguards for the COFAVIC director and protection in and around
COFAVIC's office, in fulfillment by local authorities of an IACHR
protective order. In February, the Government complied with a December
2003 IACHR order to pay $1.56 million (2,496 million bolivars) to
compensate relatives of the victims of the Caracazo riots and killings
of 1989.
In June, police harassed the leader of a local human rights NGO on
two occasions, and presumed government supporters spread threatening
material near his home.
Police stated that they suspected Colombian paramilitaries killed
human rights activist Joe Luis Castillo in 2003 (see Section 1.a.).
In June, HRW criticized the new Organic Law of the Supreme Court
and the politicization of the justice system. The Government responded
with a personal attack on the HRW Executive Director, but did not
address the substance of HRW's concerns (see Section 1.e.).
PROVEA reported that, in December, the president of Corpozulia (a
government-owned and controlled regional development corporation in the
State of Zulia) and a Ministry of Energy and Mines official accused an
environmental activist of being an agent of a foreign government and a
terrorist. The activist was protesting potentially environmentally
destructive coal mining operations.
The Ombudsman is responsible for ensuring that citizens' rights are
protected in a conflict with the state; however, human rights NGOs
claimed that the Ombudsman's office acted on only a small number of
cases presented to it. COFAVIC claimed that the Ombudsman and the
Attorney General's office were not independent of the Executive Branch
and therefore were unable to carry out effective investigations. During
the year, the Ombudsman's office repeatedly defended the Government
when accusations of human rights violations were made against it. In
February and March, while recognizing the excesses of the security
forces, the Ombudsman's office justified the repression against
demonstrators by stating that protesters violated citizens' rights to
work, travel, and education. The Ombudsman's office played no role in
protesting the CNE's lack of openness and partisan decisions in the
run-up to the presidential recall referendum.
The National Assembly's Sub-Commission on Human Rights played an
insignificant role in the national debate on human rights and released
no public reports.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of politics,
age, race, sex, creed, or any other condition, and the law prohibits
discrimination based on ethnic origin, sex, or disability; however, the
Government did not protect women adequately against societal and
domestic violence and did not ensure persons with disabilities access
to jobs and public services, nor did it safeguard adequately the rights
of indigenous people during the year.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a problem, and women
faced substantial institutional and societal prejudice with respect to
rape and domestic violence. Domestic violence and rape often were not
reported to the police. According to the Center for Women's Studies at
the Central University of Venezuela (CEM), there were 900 reported rape
cases as of June, compared with 2,100 such cases throughout 2003. There
were 8,000 cases of reported domestic violence from January 2003 to
June 2004. Police generally were reluctant to intervene to prevent
domestic violence, and the courts rarely prosecuted those accused of
such abuse. 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 cases. Women generally were
unaware of legal remedies and had little access to them. Few police
officers were trained to assist rape victims. Only 1,500 of the 11,000
women who reported rape or abuse in 2003 and the first half of the year
filed formal charges. In August, Linda Loaiza, the victim of brutal
mistreatment and torture, staged a 6-day hunger strike to protest that
her alleged aggressor had not been brought to trial in 2 years and thus
could be released.
Rape was difficult to prove largely because a medical examination
was required within 48 hours of the crime. The Penal Code also provides
that an adult man guilty of raping an adult woman with whom he is
acquainted can avoid punishment if, before sentencing, he marries the
victim. If the rape victim is a prostitute, the rapist must serve only
one-fifth of the sentence if convicted, a rule that applies to any
crime committed against a prostitute. Prostitution is not illegal.
Sexual harassment in the workplace was a common problem but is not
a criminal offense.
Women accounted for approximately half the student body of most
universities and worked in many professions, including medicine and
law. They were underrepresented in leadership positions and, on
average, earned 30 percent less than men. Women attended military
academies and served as officers in the armed forces.
Women and men are legally equal in marriage. The Constitution
provides for sexual equality in exercising the right to work. The Labor
Code specifies that employers must not discriminate against women with
regard to pay or working conditions, must not fire them during
pregnancy or for 1 year after giving birth, must grant them unpaid
leave and benefits for 6 weeks before the birth of a child and 12 weeks
after, and must provide them with 10 weeks of unpaid leave if they
legally adopt children under 3 years of age. According to the Ministry
of Labor and the CTV, these regulations were enforced in the formal
sector.
The National Institute for Women, a government agency, had two
programs to assist women in need and enhance the economic independence
of women. The Women's Bank provided approximately 40,000 women with
business and empowerment training and small-scale financing for micro-
enterprises managed by women. During the year, the Women's Shelters
Program opened its first shelter to receive, care for, and rehabilitate
women in distress.
There were at least 10 NGOs in Caracas concerned with domestic
violence, sex education, and economic discrimination. However, the
recommendations of these groups were not implemented widely by the
police or other concerned government agencies. Political differences
created division among women's organizations, decreasing their
effectiveness in advancing women's rights.
Children.--The Organic Procedural Law on Adolescents and Children
establishes legal protection of children under the age of 18,
regardless of nationality; however, the law was not fully implemented.
The Constitution provides that the State is to provide free education
up to the university-preparatory level, and the law provides for
universal, compulsory, and free education; however, an estimated 57
percent of children left school before the ninth grade. The Ministry of
Education, Culture, and Sports provided a public school feeding program
for some children to promote school access and attendance through the
high school level. Primary and secondary education was chronically
underfunded.
There were numerous government health care programs provided for
boys and girls on the basis of equal access. UNICEF reported that the
under-5 mortality rate was 21 per 1,000 and that the Government
financed the expanded program of immunization.
Reports of child abuse were rare due to a fear of entanglement with
the authorities and societal ingrained attitudes regarding family
privacy. According to UNICEF and other NGOs working with children and
women, child abuse often included incest. The judicial system, although
slow, ensured that in most situations children were removed from
abusive households once a case had been reported; however, public
facilities for such children were inadequate and had poorly trained
staff.
UNICEF and CECODAP estimated that approximately 15,000 children
lived on the street. Authorities in Caracas and several other
jurisdictions tried to cope with the phenomenon of street children by
imposing curfews for unsupervised minors. Reform institutions were
filled to capacity, so hundreds of children accused of infractions,
such as curfew violations, were confined in inadequate juvenile
detention centers (see Section 1.c.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The Constitution prohibits trafficking in
persons, although there is no implementing law specifically for
prosecution of all forms of trafficking in persons; however, there were
reports that the country was a source, destination, and transit country
for trafficked men, women, and children.
Trafficking may be prosecuted under laws against forced
disappearance and kidnapping (punishable by 2 to 6 years imprisonment)
and, in the case of children, under the Organic Law to Protect Children
and Adolescents (which carries a fine of 1 to 10 months' income for
trafficking in children). The Law of Migration and Immigration,
published on May 24, makes human smuggling punishable by 4 to 8 years
in prison.
In January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs inaugurated an
interdepartmental working group to develop plans to combat trafficking
in persons. The working group designed but has yet to implement an
informational campaign.
The Government did not arrest or prosecute any individuals for
trafficking in persons during the year, and no figures on trafficking
were available from either government or NGO sources. CICPC's Interpol
Division worked on two human trafficking cases involving seven women
trafficked to Mexico and Spain. The two women lured to Mexico for
sexual exploitation with false offers of employment were repatriated,
but, despite cooperation with Spanish law enforcement, the five women
trafficked to Spain had not been repatriated by year's end.
PROVEA received complaints that women were trafficked to Europe for
purposes of prostitution. Undocumented or fraudulently documented
Ecuadorian and Chinese nationals transited the country and reportedly
were forced to work off the cost of their transportation in conditions
of servitude. Organized criminal groups, possibly including Colombian
drug traffickers, Ecuadorian citizens, and Chinese mafia groups,
reportedly were behind some of these trafficking activities. The
Ombudsman's office continued to investigate whether some of the
children separated from their parents in the 1999 flooding in Vargas
State may have been trafficked.
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.
There were small specially trained CICPC sections devoted to
prostitution and the protection of women.
Government efforts to prevent trafficking are the responsibility of
the Public Prosecutor's Family Protection Directorate and the National
Institutes for Women and Minors. NGOs such as CECODAP and the Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women also were involved in activities to combat
trafficking; however, no details on their work were available.
Persons With Disabilities.--According to local advocates, persons
with disabilities encountered discrimination in many sectors, including
education, health care, and employment. Persons with disabilities had
minimal access to public transportation, and ramps were practically
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
change societal prejudice against persons with disabilities.
There were no reports of discrimination against persons with mental
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 modern civilization and lacked access to basic
health and educational facilities. High rates of cholera, hepatitis B,
malaria, and other diseases plagued their communities. 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 Constitution 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.
There were no developments in the May 2003 case of the Yaruro
indigenous group in Apure State who complained to the human rights
group PROVEA that ranchers and others had invaded their lands,
adversely impacting the area's natural resources on which the
indigenous community depended. The Yaruro had also demanded compliance
with Articles 120 and 129 of the Constitution requiring that any
exploitation of natural resources within an indigenous group's
territory only be undertaken after consultation with the effected
group.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Both the Constitution and the Labor
Code recognize and encourage the right of workers to organize; however,
the Government continued to violate the right of association. According
to the Constitution, all workers, without prejudice or need of previous
authorization, have the right to form and join unions of their choice.
The Labor Code extends this right to all private and public sector
employees, except members of the armed forces. Approximately 10 to 12
percent of the 12-million-member national labor force was unionized.
The Constitution provides that labor organizations are not subject
to intervention, suspension, or administrative dissolution, and workers
are protected against any discrimination or measure contrary to this
right. Labor organizers and leaders may not be removed from their
positions during the period of time or under the conditions in which
they exercise their leadership functions. The CNE has the authority to
administer the internal elections of labor confederations, which
contravenes International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions 87 and
98. A 2002 law gives the CNE a technical advisory role in elections,
which has proven to be the general practice. However, labor groups
complained that the CNE is still empowered to certify union election
winners, nullify elections, and adjudicate disputes.
The Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers and
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) concluded that
the Government seriously violated the right of association. The ILO
repeatedly expressed concerns that the Labor Code violates freedom of
association by requiring a high number of workers (100 workers) to form
workers' trade unions and a high number of employers to form employer
trade unions (10 employers). A constitutional requirement for
alternation in union leadership leaves vague the right of unions to re-
elect their leaders. The ILO noted the Government's intent to reform
the Labor Code to address these deficiencies, although the legislation
remained pending in the National Assembly.
The Government still refused to recognize the legitimacy of the
CTV's elected leadership and refused to appoint the CTV Secretary
General as labor's representative at the ILO's annual meetings in 2003
and during the year. The ILO determined that the CTV was the country's
most representative labor confederation.
The Labor Code mandates registration of unions with the Ministry of
Labor, but it limits the Ministry's discretion by specifying that
registration may not be denied if the proper documents (a record of the
founding meeting, the statutes, and membership list) are submitted.
Nonetheless, the Ministry of Labor continued to deny registration to
UNAPETROL, a union composed of oil workers who were later fired for
participating in the December 2002-February 2004 national strike (see
Section 6.b.).
The CTV filed a formal complaint with the ILO that, during the
year, 1,200 public sector workers had been fired or forced to retire in
retaliation for having signed the petition calling for a recall
referendum on President Chavez. The CTV alleged that the total number
of public sector workers removed from their positions was more than
5,000 (see Section 3).
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
Constitution provides that all public and private sector workers have
the right to voluntary collective bargaining and to arrive at
collective bargaining agreements. The Constitution directs the
Government to ensure development of collective bargaining and to
establish conditions favorable to collective relationships and the
resolution of labor conflicts. The Labor Code 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 in collective
bargaining agreements toward sympathetic unions and fostered the
creation of parallel unions. 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
of Labor 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 Labor Ministry usually
designated the parallel union as the one authorized to negotiate the
contract.
The Constitution and the Labor Code recognize the right of all
public and private sector workers to strike in accordance with
conditions established by labor law; however, 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. The Labor Code allows the President to order
public or private sector strikers back to work and to submit their
dispute to arbitration if the strike ``puts in immediate danger the
lives or security of all or part of the population.''
The status of approximately 19,000 employees of PDVSA who were
fired during and in the aftermath of the December 2002-February 2003
national strike remained legally uncertain. The Government continued to
deny the former workers severance and pension benefits as well as
access to company housing, schools, and medical clinics. The Minister
of Labor rejected a petition from the workers requesting compensation
for what they claimed was an illegal firing. Although the ILO concluded
in June that the PDVSA workers had engaged in a national strike, the
Government permitted only a few employees to return to their jobs. The
Government reportedly reinstated or compensated some workers who were
on excused leave prior to or during the strike. The Government
continued to pursue criminal charges against seven former PDVSA
executives for alleged incitement to rebellion and sabotage of the oil
industry.
There were unconfirmed reports that CTV President Carlos Ortega,
who fled the country in March 2003, had returned but was in hiding.
Prosecutors were seeking to try Ortega for civil rebellion and
incitement to commit a crime for his participation in the national
strike. The ILO recommended the Government lift the arrest orders
against the strike leaders.
There were brief strikes throughout the year, including one in
April-May in an important steel complex in Bolivar State.
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.--The Labor Code
states that no one may ``obligate others to work against their will,''
and such practices generally were not known to occur; however, there
were reports of trafficking in children for employment purposes (see
Sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law contains provisions to protect 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. UNICEF's latest data
reported that, as of 2001, 7 percent of children were in the labor
market. A 2002 ICFTU report estimated that 1.2 million children were
working in such areas as agriculture, domestic service, and street
vending and that approximately 300,000 children worked in the formal
sector.
The Labor Code allows 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. It states that children between the ages of
14 and 16 may not work without the permission of their legal guardians.
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. The Constitution prohibits adolescents from
working in jobs that will affect their development (see Section 5). The
Criminal Code prohibits inducing the prostitution and corruption of
minors. Persons convicted of these crimes may be sentenced to
imprisonment from 3 to 18 months, and up to 4 years if the minor is
younger than 12 years old.
Those under 16 years of age may by law work no more than 6 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. Children working in the informal sector,
mostly as street vendors, generally worked more hours than permitted
under the law. According to a 2003 Foundation for Social Action study,
63 percent of child street vendors worked 7 days a week. The Ministry
of Education, Culture, and Sports ran educational programs to
reincorporate school drop-outs and adults into the educational system;
however, there was no independent accounting of the effectiveness of
the programs.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Constitution provides
workers with the right to a salary that is sufficient to allow them to
live with dignity, and provides them and their families with the right
to basic material, social, and intellectual necessities. The
Constitution obliges the State to provide public and private sector
workers with an annually adjusted minimum wage, using the cost of the
basic basket of necessities as a reference point. Under the Labor Code,
minimum wage rates are set by administrative decree, which the
legislature may suspend or ratify but may not change. The national
minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family, although the Government in May raised the monthly minimum
wage by 30 percent to $167 (321,235 bolivars). Unions noted that a
worker's income was often less than the cost of basic monthly food for
a family of five, which, in June, was estimated by the Government's
Central Office of Statistics and Information to be $168 (322,088
bolivars). The figure did not include other necessities such as medical
care, transportation, clothing, and housing. The Ministry of Labor
enforced minimum wage rates effectively in the formal sector of the
economy, but approximately 50 percent of the population worked in the
informal sector where labor laws and protections generally were not
enforced.
The Constitution stipulates that the workday may not exceed 8 hours
daily or 44 hours weekly and that night work may not exceed 7 hours
daily or 35 hours weekly. Managers are prohibited from obligating
employees to work additional time, and workers have the right to weekly
time away from work and annual paid vacations. Some unions, such as the
petroleum workers' union, have negotiated a 40-hour week. Overtime may
not exceed 2 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 of
Labor effectively enforced these standards in the formal sector.
The Constitution provides for secure, hygienic, and adequate
working conditions; however, authorities have not yet promulgated
regulations to implement the Health and Safety Law, which was not
enforced. The Labor Code 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.
The Code also requires that workplaces maintain ``sufficient
protection for health and life against sickness and accidents,'' and it
imposes fines ranging from one-quarter to twice the minimum monthly
salary for first infractions. However, in practice, Ministry of Labor
inspectors seldom closed unsafe job sites. Under the law, workers may
remove themselves from dangerous workplace situations without jeopardy
to continued employment.
__________
APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A
Notes on Preparation of the Country Reports
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, we must submit the Country Reports to Congress by February
25. To comply with this requirement, 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.
Because of the preparation time required, it is possible that year-end
developments may not be reflected fully. 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 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 often
is difficult. With the exception of some terrorist organizations, most
opposition groups and certainly most governments 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 particular 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) that are believed, based on all the evidence
available, to have committed human rights abuses. Where credible
evidence is lacking, we have tried to indicate why it is not available.
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, the introduction of each country's report
contains a brief setting that provides the context for reviewing its
human rights performance. A description of the political framework and
the role of security agencies in human rights is followed by a brief
paragraph on the economy. The introduction concludes with an overview
of human rights developments during the calendar year that mentions
specific areas (for example, torture, freedom of speech and of the
press, discrimination) where abuses, problems, and notable improvements
occurred.
We have continued the effort from previous years to expand coverage
of 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 section headings in each country
report are not meant to be comprehensive descriptions of each subject
but to provide an overview of the key issues covered and to show the
overall organization of subjects:
Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Includes killings in
which there is evidence of government involvement without due process
of law or of political motivation by a government or by opposition
groups. 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 committed by
police or security forces that resulted in the unintended death of
persons without due process of law (for example, mistargeted bombing or
shelling or killing of bystanders). In general, excludes combat deaths
and killings by common criminals, if the likelihood of political
motivation can be ruled out (see also ``Internal Conflicts'' below).
Although mentioned briefly here, deaths in detention due to official
negligence 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 those missing are discovered also are
covered in the above section, while those eventually identified as
arrest or 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 or opposition groups. Concentrates discussion on
actual practices, not on 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. In some reports, there may
be discussion of poor treatment that may not constitute torture or
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Covers prison conditions,
including information based on international standards, and deaths in
prison due to negligence by government officials.
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Covers cases in which detainees,
including political detainees, are held in official custody without
being charged or, if charged, are denied a public preliminary judicial
hearing within a reasonable period.
Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Describes briefly 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). Includes discussion of ``political prisoners''
(political detainees are covered with arbitrary detention), defined as
those convicted and imprisoned essentially for political beliefs or
nonviolent acts of dissent or expression, regardless of the actual
legal charge. Also includes the 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.--Discusses the ``passive'' right of the individual to
noninterference by the State. 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 Violations of Humanitarian Law in
Internal and External Conflicts.--An optional section for use in
describing abuses that occur in countries experiencing significant
internal or external 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, that is where there is no
significant internal or external conflict, lethal use of excessive
force by security forces is discussed in the section on ``Arbitrary or
Unlawful Deprivation of Life''; nonlethal excessive force is 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. Includes
discussion of Internet and academic freedom.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Evaluates the
ability of individuals and groups (including political parties) to
exercise these freedoms. Includes the ability of trade associations,
professional bodies, and similar groups to maintain relations or
affiliate with recognized international bodies in their fields. The
right of labor to associate, organize, and bargain collectively is
discussed under the section on ``Worker Rights'' (see Appendix B).
Freedom of Religion.--Discusses whether the Constitution or laws
provide for the right of citizens of any religious belief to worship
free of government interference and whether the government generally
respects that right. Includes 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 annual
International Religious Freedom Report supplements the information in
this section.
Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration,
and Repatriation.--Includes discussion of internally displaced persons
(IDPs); ``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. Also discusses whether, and under what
circumstances, governments exile citizens.
Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their
Government.--Discusses the extent to which citizens have freedom of
political choice and have the legal right and ability in practice to
change the laws and officials that govern them. Assesses whether
elections are free and fair.
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. 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. Discusses corruption in the executive or
legislative branches of government and whether the public has access in
lay and practice to government information.
Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons.--
Contains subheadings on Women, Children, Trafficking in Persons, and
Persons with Disabilities. As appropriate, also includes subheadings on
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Indigenous People, Incitement to
Acts of Discrimination, and Other Societal Abuses and 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.) Discusses societal violence against
women, e.g., ``dowry deaths,'' ``honor killings,'' wife beating, rape,
female genital mutilation, and government tolerance of such under the
subheading on women. Discusses the extent to which the law provides
for, and the government enforces, equality of economic opportunity for
women. Discusses violence or other abuse against children under that
subheading. Discusses the extent to which persons with disabilities,
including persons with mental disabilities, are subject to
discrimination in, among other things, employment, education, and the
provision of other government services.
The trafficking in persons subheading 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
In many cases, 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 19, 2004 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 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 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 and takes into
account the following additional guidelines:
a. The right of association has been defined by the International
Labor Organization (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 strikes may 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.
b. 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 unions, both in law and practice, effectively are
protected against anti-union discrimination.
c. 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. Forced labor should not be
used as a means of: (1) mobilizing and using labor for purposes of
economic development; (2) racial, social, national, or religious
discrimination; (3) political coercion or education, or as a punishment
for holding or expressing political or ideological views opposed to the
established political, social, or economic system; (4) labor
discipline; or (5) as a punishment for having participated in strikes.
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.''
d. Minimum age for employment of children 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,''
which had been ratified by 149 countries by the end of the year,
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.'' 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.
e. 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 rest day; a specified number of
annual paid leave days; and minimum conditions for the protection of
the safety and health of workers. Differences in the levels of economic
development are taken into account in the formulation of
internationally recognized labor standards. For example, many ILO
standards concerning working conditions permit flexibility in their
scope and coverage. They also may permit governments a wide choice in
their implementation, including progressive implementation, by enabling
them to accept a standard in part or subject to specified exceptions.
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, that is, 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.
APPENDIX C--International Human Rights Conventions
[See the footnotes for a key to the International Human Rights Conventions listed here.]
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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
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Afghanistan........................................................ 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
Andorra............................................................ -- -- -- -- -- P P -- P -- -- -- S S -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P S 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 --
Australia.......................................................... 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
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 S P P P P -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
Bosnia & Herz...................................................... 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 --
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 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
Cen. African Rep................................................... 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
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
Hong Kong........................................................ P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P --
Macau from 12-20-99.............................................. -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- P -- --
Macau to 12-19-99................................................ -- -- -- P -- -- -- P -- -- P -- P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P --
(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 --
Comoros............................................................ -- P P -- P P P -- -- -- -- P S -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P S P P
Congo, Dem. Rep. 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 -- -- -- --
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
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 -- 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 P
Dom. 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 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
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 -- -- 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
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
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
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
Guinea-Bissau...................................................... -- P -- -- P P P -- -- -- -- P S S P P P -- -- P P P S P --
Guyana............................................................. 1 P P -- P P P -- -- -- 1 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 --
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
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 --
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
Japan.............................................................. -- 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 -- -- 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 --
Korea, Dem. Rep. of*............................................... -- -- -- P -- P P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- -- P -- P -- P --
Korea, Rep. 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 --
Latvia............................................................. 2 -- 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
Lesotho............................................................ 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 S S 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
Madagascar......................................................... P P P -- P P P S -- P P -- P P -- -- P P P P P P S 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 --
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 --
Mauritania......................................................... 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
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 --
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 -- -- -- -- -- 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
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
Namibia............................................................ -- P P P P P P -- -- -- -- P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P
Nauru*............................................................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- S S -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 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
Nicaragua.......................................................... P P P P P P P -- -- P P P P P P P P P P P P P S 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
Pakistan........................................................... P P P P P P P P -- P P P 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
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 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
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
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 -- S P P
Sao Tome & Principe................................................ -- -- P -- P P P -- -- -- -- -- S S S P P -- -- P P S S 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 & Montenegro................................................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 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
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
St. Lucia.......................................................... P P P 1 P P P -- -- 1 P P P -- -- -- -- -- -- P P P -- P P
St. Vincent*....................................................... 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 -- -- -- -- -- S P P
Suriname........................................................... 2 P P -- P P P -- -- 1 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
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
Tajikistan*........................................................ -- 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
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 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
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 Emir................................................... -- 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............................................................ P 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 --
Vanuatu*........................................................... -- -- -- -- -- P P -- -- -- 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 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 --
Vietnam*........................................................... 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......................................................... 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 = Party S = Signatory * designates a 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
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APPENDIX D
International Human Rights Conventions
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.--2004 Selected U.S. Assistance Programs--Actual Obligations Country/Account Summaries (`Spigots')
($ in thousands)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Countries/Accounts CSH DA ESF FMF FSA GHAI IMET INCLE ACI MRA NADR PKO SEED Other Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Africa
Africa Regional........... 23,027 45,707- -- -- -- -- 2,830 -- -- -- 9,761 -- -- 81,325
Africa Regional Fund...... -- -- 11,929 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 11,929
African Contingency -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 15,410 -- -- 15,410
Operations Training and
Assistance...............
African Development Bank.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,075 5,075
African Development -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 18,579 18,579
Foundation...............
African Development Fund.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 112,060 112,060
Angola.................... 8,100 6,171 3,479 -- -- -- 300 -- -- -- 5,300 -- -- -- 23,350
ATA Regional--Africa...... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,718 -- -- -- 10,718
Benin..................... 7,550 8,209 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,622 18,381
Botswana.................. -- -- -- 500 -- 8,806 922 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,430 11,658
Burkina Faso.............. -- -- -- -- -- -- 115 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,719 2,834
Burundi................... 700 2,270 3,479 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,449
Cameroon.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 361 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,142 3,503
Cape Verde................ -- -- -- -- -- -- 200 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,519 1,719
Central Africa Regional... -- 16,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16,000
Chad...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 574 -- -- -- 950 -- -- 1,569 3,093
Comoros................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 121 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 121
Cote d'Ivoire............. -- -- -- -- -- 7,523 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,523
Democratic Republic of 22,404 12,699 4,971 -- -- -- 332 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40,406
Congo....................
Djibouti.................. -- -- -- 6,378 -- -- 406 -- -- -- 271 -- -- -- 7,055
Eritrea................... 5,000 1,739 -- -- -- -- 42 -- -- -- 1,452 -- -- -- 8,233
Ethiopia.................. 33,600 18,426 3,971 2,480 -- 15,231 542 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 74,250
Gabon..................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 283 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,372 2,655
Gambia.................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 183 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,936 2,119
Ghana..................... 18,620 18,645 -- 737 -- -- 921 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,545 41,468
Guinea.................... 6,350 12,505 -- -- -- -- 482 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,543 21,880
Kenya..................... 34,877 12,001 7,953 6,635 -- 34,631 638 -- -- -- 1,488 -- -- 2,937 101,160
Kimberley Process......... -- -- 1,491 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,491
Lesotho................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,282 2,282
Liberia................... 2,819 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 160 -- -- 200,000 202,979
Madagascar................ 10,365 10,378 -- -- -- -- 333 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,203 23,279
Malawi.................... 19,800 12,441 -- -- -- -- 415 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,173 34,829
Mali...................... 14,200 25,267 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,573 43,040
Mauritania................ -- -- -- -- -- -- 234 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,840 2,074
Mauritius................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 144 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 144
Military Health Affairs... -- -- -- 1,490 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,490
Mozambique................ 20,380 24,572 -- -- -- 11,083 243 -- -- -- 1,492 -- -- 2,092 59,862
MRA Africa................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 226,387 -- -- -- -- 226,387
Namibia................... 3,965 6,631 -- -- -- 14,147 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,092 26,835
NED Democracy Programs--AF -- -- 2,982 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,982
Niger..................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,735 2,735
Nigeria................... 32,208 15,396 4,971 -- -- 25,415 -- 2,250 -- -- -- -- -- -- 80,240
REDSO/ESA................. 12,500 22,977 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 35,477
Regional Center for 5,950 18,921 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 24,871
Southern Africa..........
Regional Organizations.... -- -- 2,982 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,982
Republic of the Congo..... -- -- -- -- -- -- 27 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 27
Rwanda.................... 13,300 5,871 -- -- -- 16,382 298 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 35,851
Safe Skies................ -- -- 4,971 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,971
Sao Tome and Principe..... -- -- -- -- -- -- 188 -- -- -- 50 -- -- -- 238
Senegal................... 14,675 13,896 -- 737 -- -- 1,188 -- -- -- 112 -- -- 3,448 34,056
Seychelles................ -- -- -- -- -- -- 98 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 98
Sierra Leone.............. 100 3,685 4,971 -- -- -- 416 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 9,172
Somalia................... 100 899 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 999
South Africa.............. 31,028 29,398 1,988 -- -- 31,787 -- 1,770 -- -- -- -- -- 3,114 99,085
Sudan..................... 11,500 50,263 10,941 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,858 5,000 -- 90,000 170,562
Swaziland................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 131 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,574 1,705
Tanzania.................. 23,000 7,523 -- -- -- 25,027 -- -- -- -- 844 -- -- 2,545 58,939
Togo...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 204 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,489 2,693
Uganda.................... 36,020 28,176 -- 1,990 -- 44,598 371 -- -- -- 150 -- -- 1,535 112,840
West Africa Regional...... 19,300 20,489 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 39,789
Zambia.................... 34,801 14,186 -- -- -- 29,210 461 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,421 82,079
Zimbabwe.................. 11,100 1,375 2,982 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 15,457
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Africa................ 477,339 466,716 74,061 20,947 -- 263,840 11,173 6,850 -- 226,387 25,845 30,171 -- 488,164 2,091,493
================================================================================================================================================================================================
East Asia and the Pacific
ASEAN..................... -- -- 994 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 994
ATA Regional--East Asia -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8,707 -- -- -- 8,707
and the Pacific..........
Burma..................... -- -- 12,923 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12,923
Cambodia.................. 29,360 2,750 16,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,916 -- -- -- 52,926
China..................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 863 863
East Timor................ -- -- 22,367 2,420 -- -- 159 -- -- -- -- 1,050 -- 1,320 27,316
Environmental Programs.... -- -- 1,740 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,740
Fiji...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 229 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,439 1,668
Indonesia................. 33,000 33,291 49,705 -- -- -- 599 -- -- -- 5,998 -- -- -- 122,593
Kiribati.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,322 1,322
Laos...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,000 -- -- 1,412 -- -- -- 3,412
Malaysia.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 939 -- -- -- 230 -- -- -- 1,169
Micronesia................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,963 1,963
Mongolia.................. -- -- 9,941 995 -- -- 872 -- -- -- -- 1,000 -- 1,646 14,454
MRA East Asia............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,404 -- -- -- -- 20,404
NED Democracy Programs-- -- -- 2,982 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,982
EAP......................
Papua New Guinea.......... -- -- -- -- -- -- 292 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 292
Philippines............... 28,850 21,568 17,645 19,880 -- -- 2,700 2,000 -- -- 750 15,000 -- 2,774 111,167
Regional Development 17,073 9,200 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 26,273
Mission/Asia.............
Regional Women's Issues... -- -- 1,988 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,988
Samoa..................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,293 1,293
Singapore................. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 430 -- -- -- 430
Solomon Islands........... -- -- -- -- -- -- 45 -- -- -- -- -- -- 27 72
South Pacific Fisheries... -- -- 17,894 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17,894
Taiwan.................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 550 -- -- -- 550
Thailand.................. -- -- -- 881 -- -- 2,572 2,000 -- -- 1,380 500 -- 1,840 9,173
Tibet..................... -- -- 3,976 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,976
Tonga..................... -- -- -- 500 -- -- 136 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,093 1,729
Vanuatu................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 100 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,778 1,878
Vietnam................... 6,100 3,000 -- -- -- 10,000 -- -- -- -- 3,214 -- -- -- 22,314
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total East Asia and the 114,383 69,809 159,055 24,676 -- 10,000 8,643 6,000 -- 20,404 26,587 17,550 -- 17,358 474,465
Pacific....................
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Europe and Eurasia
Albania................... -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- 1,198 -- -- -- 600 -- 28,235 1,501 36,534
Armenia................... -- -- -- 2,485 74,558 -- 869 -- -- -- 300 -- -- 1,604 79,816
ATA Regional--Europe and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,079 -- -- -- 20,079
Eurasia..................
Azerbaijan................ -- -- -- 2,485 38,782 -- 1,084 -- -- -- 3,068 -- -- 1,326 46,745
Belarus................... -- -- -- -- 8,055 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8,055
Bosnia and Herzegovina.... -- -- -- 18,400 -- -- 991 -- -- -- 600 -- 44,735 -- 64,726
Bulgaria.................. -- -- -- 8,450 -- -- 1,463 -- -- -- 2,000 -- 27,835 3,214 42,962
Central and Eastern Europe 250 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 250
Regional.................
Central Asian Republics... 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,000
Croatia................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 850 -- 24,853 -- 25,703
Cyprus.................... -- -- 38,420 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 400 -- -- -- 38,820
Czech Republic............ -- -- -- 7,869 -- -- 2,276 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,145
Estonia................... -- -- -- 5,979 -- -- 1,408 -- -- -- 995 -- -- -- 8,382
European Bank for -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 35,222 35,222
Reconstruction and
Development..............
Georgia................... -- -- -- 12,000 71,701 -- 1,228 -- -- -- 1,500 3,000 -- 1,525 90,954
Greece.................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 568 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 568
Hungary................... -- -- -- 6,938 -- -- 2,044 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8,982
International Fund for -- -- 18,391 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 18,391
Ireland..................
Irish Visa Program........ -- -- 3,479 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,479
Kazakhstan................ -- -- -- 2,980 33,342 -- 1,233 -- -- -- 2,000 -- -- 2,312 41,867
Kosovo.................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 78,534 -- 78,534
Kyrgyz Republic........... -- -- -- 4,075 36,238 -- 1,047 -- -- -- 500 -- -- 1,669 43,529
Latvia.................... -- -- -- 6,496 -- -- 1,337 -- -- -- 2,185 -- -- -- 10,018
Lithuania................. -- -- -- 6,389 -- -- 1,343 -- -- -- 840 -- -- -- 8,572
Macedonia................. -- -- -- 7,950 -- -- 858 -- -- -- 550 -- 38,770 1,542 49,670
Malta..................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 250 -- -- -- 250
Moldova................... -- -- -- 990 22,543 -- 1,225 -- -- -- 640 -- -- 2,253 27,651
MRA Europe................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 54,558 -- -- -- -- 54,558
OSCE Bosnia............... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 11,500 -- -- 11,500
OSCE Croatia.............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,800 -- -- 1,800
OSCE Kosovo............... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,000 -- -- 7,000
OSCE Regional--Europe and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8,014 -- -- 8,014
Eurasia..................
Poland.................... -- -- -- 32,500 -- -- 2,283 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 34,783
Portugal.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 752 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 752
Regional FSA.............. -- -- -- -- 42,646 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 42,646
Regional SEED............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 37,775 -- 37,775
Romania................... -- -- -- 8,950 -- -- 1,529 -- -- -- 715 -- 27,835 3,141 42,170
Russia.................... 3,000 -- -- -- 96,350 -- 778 -- -- -- 1,800 -- -- -- 101,928
Science Centers/Bio -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 50,202 -- -- -- 50,202
Redirection..............
Serbia and Montenegro..... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 750 -- 133,803 -- 134,553
Slovakia.................. -- -- -- 6,603 -- -- 1,075 -- -- -- 305 -- -- -- 7,983
Slovenia.................. -- -- -- 1,974 -- -- 950 -- -- -- 365 -- -- -- 3,289
Tajikistan................ -- -- -- 1,995 24,451 -- 351 -- -- -- 300 -- -- -- 27,097
Turkey.................... -- -- 10,000 35,000 -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- 600 -- -- -- 50,600
Turkmenistan.............. -- -- -- 500 5,700 -- 340 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,858 8,398
Ukraine................... 1,750 -- -- 5,000 94,283 -- 1,834 -- -- -- 2,142 3,500 -- 4,504 113,013
Uzbekistan................ -- -- -- -- 35,888 -- 484 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,070 38,442
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Europe and Eurasia.... 6,000 -- 70,290 191,008 584,537 -- 35,548 -- -- 54,558 94,536 34,814 442,375 63,741 1,577,407
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Near East
Algeria................... -- -- -- -- -- -- 722 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 722
ATA Regional--Near East -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 11,781 -- -- -- 11,781
Asia.....................
Bahrain................... -- -- -- 24,682 -- -- 568 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 25,250
Egypt..................... -- -- 571,608 1,292,330 -- -- 1,369 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,865,307
Iraq...................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 -- -- -- 500
Israel.................... -- -- 477,168 2,147,256 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,624,424
Jordan.................... -- -- 348,525 204,785 -- -- 3,225 -- -- -- 2,030 -- -- 1,268 559,833
Lebanon................... -- 400 34,794 -- -- -- 700 -- -- -- 900 -- -- -- 36,794
Middle East Partnership -- -- 89,469 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 89,469
Initiative...............
Middle East Regional -- -- 5,467 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,467
Cooperation..............
Morocco................... -- 5,400 -- 9,940 -- -- 1,997 -- -- -- 350 -- -- 3,110 20,797
MRA Humanitarian Migrants -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 49,705 -- -- -- -- 49,705
to Israel................
MRA Near East............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 100,538 -- -- -- -- 100,538
Multinational Force and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16,213 -- -- 16,213
Observers................
NED Muslim Democracy -- -- 3,479 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,479
Programs.................
Oman...................... -- -- -- 24,850 -- -- 825 -- -- -- 400 -- -- -- 26,075
Saudi Arabia.............. -- -- -- -- -- -- 24 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 24
Tunisia................... -- -- -- 9,827 -- -- 1,899 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 11,726
United Arab Emirates...... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 250 -- -- -- 250
West Bank/Gaza............ -- -- 74,558 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 74,558
Yemen..................... -- -- 11,432 14,910 -- -- 886 -- -- -- 1,243 5,000 -- -- 33,471
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Near East............. -- 5,800 1,616,500 3,728,580 -- -- 12,215 -- -- 150,243 17,454 21,213 -- 4,378 5,556,383
================================================================================================================================================================================================
South Asia
Afghanistan............... 31,000 148,822 899,558 413,705 -- -- 674 220,000 -- -- 64,902 20,000 -- -- 1,798,661
ATA Regional--South Asia.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,524 -- -- -- 6,524
Bangladesh................ 35,500 18,200 4,971 -- -- -- 862 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,566 61,099
India..................... 47,800 22,539 14,912 -- -- -- 1,366 -- -- -- 685 -- -- -- 87,302
Maldives.................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 181 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 181
MRA South Asia............ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 73,741 -- -- -- -- 73,741
Nepal..................... 24,840 8,874 4,971 3,975 -- -- 546 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,108 45,314
Pakistan.................. 25,600 49,400 200,000 74,560 -- -- 1,384 31,500 -- -- 4,930 -- -- -- 387,374
South Asia Regional Fund.. -- -- 1,988 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,988
Sri Lanka................. 300 4,750 11,929 2,495 -- -- 553 -- -- -- 1,775 -- -- -- 21,802
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total South Asia............ 165,040 252,585 1,138,329 494,735 -- -- 5,566 251,500 -- 73,741 78,816 20,000 -- 3,674 2,483,986
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Western Hemisphere
Administration of Justice. -- -- 4,424 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,424
Amazon Environmental -- 10,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,000
Initiative...............
Argentina................. -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,087 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,087
ATA Regional--Western -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,331 -- -- -- 5,331
Hemisphere...............
Bahamas................... -- -- -- 99 -- -- 165 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,264
Belize.................... -- -- -- 191 -- -- 277 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,614 2,082
Bolivia................... 14,602 12,032 8,000 3,976 -- -- 589 -- 91,000 -- -- -- -- 2,870 133,069
Brazil.................... 9,650 7,643 750 -- -- -- -- -- 10,200 -- -- -- -- -- 28,243
Caribbean Regional........ 4,029 6,281 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,310
Central American Regional. 4,950 15,807 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,757
Chile..................... -- -- -- 347 -- -- 600 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 947
Colombia.................. -- -- -- 98,450 -- -- 1,676 -- 473,900 -- -- -- -- -- 574,026
Costa Rica................ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,395 1,395
Cuba...................... -- -- 21,369 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,369
Dominican Republic........ 13,166 11,413 3,682 2,000 -- -- 973 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,734 33,968
Eastern Caribbean......... -- -- -- 3,137 -- -- 719 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,044 6,900
Ecuador................... -- 7,068 10,473 -- -- -- -- -- 35,000 -- -- -- -- 2,995 55,536
El Salvador............... 7,150 27,155 -- 5,000 -- -- 1,480 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,158 42,943
Guatemala................. 11,400 12,362 4,971 -- -- -- 504 3,000 -- -- -- -- -- 3,601 35,838
Guyana.................... 1,700 2,850 -- 95 -- 5,097 359 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,489 11,590
Haiti..................... 22,783 8,899 54,982 295 -- 13,047 235 -- -- -- -- 210 -- 1,403 101,854
Hemispheric Cooperation -- -- 6,941 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,941
Program..................
Honduras.................. 12,777 22,797 -- 2,375 -- -- 1,309 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,063 43,321
Inter-American Development -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 24,853 24,853
Bank--Multilateral
Investment Fund..........
Inter-American Foundation. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16,238 16,238
Jamaica................... 4,621 14,160 -- 597 -- -- 700 1,500 -- -- -- -- -- 2,608 24,186
LAC Regional.............. 12,144 33,527 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 45,671
Latin America Regional.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,850 -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,850
Mexico.................... 3,700 17,282 11,432 -- -- -- 1,275 37,000 -- -- -- -- -- 987 71,676
MRA Western Hemisphere.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,526 -- -- -- -- 21,526
Nicaragua................. 7,406 25,536 -- 938 -- -- 779 -- -- -- 300 500 -- 2,499 37,958
OAS Demining.............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,611 -- -- -- 2,611
OAS Development Assistance -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,468 5,468
Programs.................
OAS Fund for Strengthening -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,982 2,982
Democracy................
OAS Special Mission in -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,971 4,971
Haiti....................
Panama.................... -- 5,622 1,000 2,000 -- -- 558 -- 6,487 -- 40 -- -- 2,478 18,185
Paraguay.................. 2,325 4,140 2,982 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,020 12,467
Peru...................... 17,582 13,786 7,453 -- -- -- -- -- 116,000 -- -- -- -- 1,892 156,713
Peru-Ecuador Peace........ -- -- 3,976 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,976
South America Regional.... -- 2,400 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,400
Suriname.................. -- -- -- 114 -- -- 151 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,206 1,471
Third Border Initiative... -- -- 4,976 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,976
Venezuela................. -- -- 1,497 -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- 6,497
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Western Hemisphere.... 149,985 260,760 148,908 119,614 -- 18,144 13,436 47,350 737,587 21,526 8,282 710 -- 96,568 1,622,870
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Global
Asia Regional............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,000
Asia--Near East Regional.. 2,317 19,667 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 21,984
Asian Development Fund.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 143,569 143,569
ATA Course Translations... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,748 -- -- -- 2,748
ATA Program Management.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,888 -- -- -- 5,888
Center for Human -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 746 746
Settlements..............
Central Programs.......... -- -- -- -- -- 129,797 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 129,797
Civilian Police Program... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,700 -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,700
CTBT International -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 18,888 -- -- -- 18,888
Monitoring System........
Debt Restructuring........ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 94,440 94,440
Demand Reduction.......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000
Demining Administrative -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 690 -- -- -- 690
Expenses.................
Demining Crosscutting -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,019 -- -- -- 4,019
Initiatives..............
Demining Research and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 744 -- -- -- 744
Training.................
Democracy, Conflict & 4,345 86,429 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 90,774
Humanitarian Assistance..
Development Credit -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,953 7,953
Program--Admin. Exp......
E-D--IMET Schools......... -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,360 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,360
Economic Growth, -- 172,987 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 172,987
Agriculture and Trade....
Enhanced International -- -- -- 1,990 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,990
Peacekeeping Capabilities
Export Control Program -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,850 -- -- -- 1,850
Administration...........
Export Control Regional -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,426 -- -- -- 6,426
Advisors.................
Export-Import Bank-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 72,467 72,467
Administrative Expenses..
Export-Import Bank--Direct -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- (42,000) (42,000)
Loans, Negative Subsidies
FMF Administrative Costs.. -- -- -- 40,260 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40,260
General Costs............. -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 500
Global Development -- 14,960 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,960
Alliance.................
Global Environment -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 138,418 138,418
Facility.................
Global Health............. 328,806 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 329,806
Global Regional Export -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 585 -- -- -- 585
Controls.................
Human Rights and Democracy -- -- 34,296 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 34,296
Fund.....................
INL Anticrime Programs.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 11,324 -- -- -- -- -- -- 11,324
International Atomic -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 52,687 -- -- -- 52,687
Energy Agency Voluntary
Contribution.............
International Civil -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 994 994
Aviation Organization....
International Conservation -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 6,362 6,362
Programs.................
International -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,889 1,889
Contributions for
Scientific, Educational,
and Cultural Activities..
International Development -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 907,812 907,812
Association..............
International Disaster and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 253,993 253,993
Famine Assistance........
International Fund for -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,916 14,916
Agricultural Development.
International Law -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,500
Enforcement Academies....
International -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12,200 -- -- -- -- -- -- 12,200
Organizations............
International 564,900 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 564,900
Organizations/
Partnerships.............
International Panel on -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,567 5,567
Climate Change/UN
Framework Convention on
Climate Change...........
International Trust Fund-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 9,941 -- -- -- 9,941
NADR.....................
Interregional Aviation -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 70,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 70,000
Support..................
Legislative and Public -- 2,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,000
Affairs..................
MANPADS................... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,000 -- -- -- 2,000
Millennium Challenge -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 994,100 994,100
Account..................
Mobile Antiterrorism -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,776 -- -- -- 4,776
Training Team (MATT).....
Montreal Protocol -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,876 20,876
Multilateral Fund........
MRA Administrative -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 20,876 -- -- -- -- 20,876
Expenses.................
MRA Migration............. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17,303 -- -- -- -- 17,303
MRA Refugee Admissions.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 132,464 -- -- -- -- 132,464
MRA Strategic Global -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 63,210 -- -- -- -- 63,210
Priorities...............
Multilateral Investment -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,117 1,117
Guarantee Agency.........
New Course Development.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,300 -- -- -- 3,300
No-Year/Carry Forward..... -- -- -- -- -- -- 718 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 718
Non-Proliferation and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 29,823 -- -- -- 29,823
Disarmament Fund.........
Oceans, Environmental and -- -- 3,976 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 3,976
Science Initiative.......
Office of Transition -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 54,676 54,676
Initiatives..............
OPIC--Administrative -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 41,141 41,141
Expenses.................
OPIC--Credit Funding...... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 23,858 23,858
OPIC--Net Offsetting -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- (288,999) (288,999)
Collections..............
Other Bilateral Programs.. -- -- -- -- -- 16,500 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16,500
Other Programs............ 6,749 5,718 12,426 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 24,893
Partnership to Eliminate -- -- 1,988 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,988
Sweatshops...............
Peace Corps Other......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 149,736 149,736
Program & Policy 4,310 5,898 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,208
Coordination.............
Program Development and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 13,850 -- -- -- -- -- -- 13,850
Support..................
Program Equipment......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 500 -- -- -- 500
Reconciliation Programs... -- -- 7,953 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7,953
SA/LW Conference.......... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 30 -- -- -- 30
Security and -- -- 2,982 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,982
Sustainability Programs..
Strategic Information/ -- -- -- -- -- 14,850 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 14,850
Evaluation...............
Systems Support and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,000
Upgrades.................
Technical Oversight and -- -- -- -- -- 34,972 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 34,972
Management...............
Trade and Development -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 49,705 49,705
Agency...................
Trafficking in Persons.... -- -- 12,427 -- -- -- -- 12,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 24,427
Treasury Technical -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 18,888 18,888
Assistance...............
U.S. Emergency Refugee and -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 29,823 29,823
Migration Assistance Fund
UN Children's Fund........ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 119,292 119,292
UN Development Fund for -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 994 994
Women....................
UN Development Program.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 101,398 101,398
UN Environment Program.... -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,935 10,935
UN High Commissioner, -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2,484 2,484
Human Rights.............
UN Voluntary Fund for -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,491 1,491
Technical Cooperation in
the Field of Human Rights
UN Voluntary Fund for -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5,468 5,468
Victims of Torture.......
United Nations Crime -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,000 -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,000
Center...................
USAID Capital Investment -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 98,315 98,315
Fund.....................
USAID Inspector General -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 36,694 36,694
Operating Expenses.......
USAID Operating Expenses.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 651,136 651,136
Wheelchairs............... -- -- 4,971 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 4,971
World Meteorological -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1,988 1,988
Organization.............
World Trade Organization.. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 994 994
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Global................ 911,427 308,659 81,019 42,250 -- 196,119 4,578 148,574 -- 233,853 144,895 -- -- 3,733,236 5,804,610
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Total FY 2004............... 1,824,174 1,364,329 3,288,162 4,621,810 584,537 488,103 91,159 460,274 737,587 780,712 396,415 124,458 442,375 4,407,119 19,611,214
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX F--Resolutions Adopted by the Commission on Human Rights at its 60th Session
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agenda
Year/Res. No. Res. Title Method of Adoption Item
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004/1 Grave situation in the Occupied Recorded vote 31/2/18 8
Palestinian Territory.
2004/2 Strengthening the Office of the United Recorded vote 51/0/2 18
Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights.
2004/3 Situation in Occupied Palestine.......... Recorded Vote 52/1/0 5
2004/4 Question of Western Sahara............... Without a vote 5
2004/5 Use of mercenaries as a means of Recorded vote 36/14/3 5
violating human rights and impeding the
exercise of the right of peoples to self/
determination.
2004/6 Combating Defamation of Religions........ Recorded vote 29/16/7 6
2004/7 Right to Development..................... Recorded vote 49/3/0 7
2004/8 Human Rights in the occupied Syrian Golan Recorded vote 31/1/21 8
2004/9 Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab Recorded vote 27/2/24 8
territories.
2004/10 Question of the violation of human rights Recorded vote 31/7/15 8
in the occupied Arab territories,
including Palestine.
2004/11 Situation of Human Rights in Cuba........ Recorded vote 22/21/10 9
2004/12 Situation of Human Rights in Turkmenistan Recorded vote 25/11/17 9
2004/13 Situation of Human Rights in the Recorded vote 29/8/16 9
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
2004/14 Situation of Human Rights in Belarus..... Recorded Vote 23/13/17 9
2004/15 Cooperation with representatives of Without a vote 9
United Nations human rights bodies.
2004/16 Inadmissibility of certain practices that Recorded vote 36/13/4 6
contribute to fuelling contemporary
forms of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance.
2004/17 Adverse effects of the illicit movement Recorded vote 38/13/2 10
and dumping of toxic and dangerous
products and wastes on the enjoyment of
human rights.
2004/18 Effects of structural adjustment policies Recorded vote 29/14/10 10
and foreign debt on the full enjoyment
of all human rights, particularly
economic, social and cultural rights.
2004/19 The right to food........................ Recorded vote 51/1/1 10
2004/20 Promotion of the enjoyment of the Recorded vote 38/1/14 10
cultural rights of everyone and respect
for different cultural identities.
2004/21 Adequate housing as a component of the Without a vote 10
right to an adequate standard of living.
2004/22 Human rights and unilateral coercive Recorded Vote 36/14/3 10
measures.
2004/23 Human Rights and Extreme Poverty......... Without a vote 10
2004/24 Globalization and its impact on the full Recorded vote 38/15/0 10
enjoyment of all human rights.
2004/25 The Right to Education................... Without a vote 10
2004/26 Access to medication in the context of Without a vote 10
pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria.
2004/27 The right of everyone to the enjoyment of Recorded vote 52/1/0 10
the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health.
2004/28 Prohibition of forced evictions.......... Recorded vote 45/1/7 10
2004/29 Question of the realization in all Recorded vote 48/0/5 10
countries of the economic, social and
cultural rights contained in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and in the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
and study of special problems which the
developing countries face in their
efforts to achieve these human rights.
2004/30 Enhancing the role of regional, sub/ Recorded vote 45/0/8 11
regional and other organizations and
arrangements in promoting and
consolidating democracy.
2004/31 Strengthening of popular participation, Recorded vote 28/14/11 11
equity, social justice and non/
discrimination as essential foundations
of democracy.
2004/32 Integrity of the judicial system......... Without a vote 11
2004/33 Independence and impartiality of the Without a vote 11
judiciary, jurors and assessors and the
independence of lawyers.
2004/34 The right to restitution, compensation Without a vote 11
and rehabilitation for victims of grave
violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
2004/35 Conscientious objection to military Without a vote 11
service.
2004/36 Elimination of all forms of religious Without a vote 11
intolerance.
2004/37 Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary Recorded vote 39/0/12 11
executions.
2004/38 The incompatibility between democracy and Without a vote 11
racism.
2004/39 Arbitrary detention...................... Without a vote 11
2004/40 Enforced or involuntary disappearances... Without a vote 11
2004/41 Torture and other cruel, inhuman or Without a vote 11
degrading treatment or punishment.
2004/42 The right to freedom of opinion and Without a vote 11
expression.
2004/43 Human rights in the administration of Recorded vote 43/1/8 11
justice, in particular juvenile justice.
2004/44 Human rights and terrorism............... Recorded vote 31/14/8 11
2004/45 Trafficking in women and girls........... Without a vote 12
2004/46 Elimination of violence against women.... Without a vote 12
2004/47 Abduction of children in Africa.......... Without a vote 13
2004/48 Rights of the child...................... Recorded vote 52/1/0 13
2004/49 Violence against women migrant workers... Without a vote 14.A
2004/50 Missing persons.......................... Recorded vote 52/0/1 14.D
2004/51 Rights of persons belonging to national Without a vote 14.B
or ethnic, religious and linguistic
minorities.
2004/52 Human rights of persons with disabilities Without a vote 14.D
2004/53 Human rights of migrants................. Without a vote 14.A
2004/54 Tolerance and pluralism as indivisible Without a vote 14.B
elements in the promotion and protection
of human rights.
2004/55 Internally displaced persons............. Without a vote 14.C
2004/56 International Convention on the Without a vote 14.A
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families.
2004/57 Working Group on Indigenous Populations Recorded vote 38/15/0 15
of the Sub/Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights.
2004/58 Working Group on Indigenous Populations Recorded vote 38/2/13 15
of the Sub/Commission on the Promotion
and Protection of Human Rights, and the
International Decade of the World's
Indigenous Peoples.
2004/59 Working group of the Commission on Human Without a vote 15
Rights to elaborate a draft declaration
in accordance with paragraph 5 of
General Assembly resolution 49/214 of 23
December 1994.
2004/60 The work of the Sub/Commission on the Without a vote 16
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
2004/61 Situation of human rights in Myanmar..... Without a vote 9
2004/62 HR and indigenous issues................. Without a vote 15
2004/63 Enhancement of international cooperation. Without a vote 17
2004/64 Promotion of a democratic and equitable Recorded vote 31/15/7 17
international order.
2004/65 Promotion of peace as a vital requirement Recorded vote 32/15/6 17
for the full enjoyment of all human
rights by all.
2004/66 Human rights and international solidarity Recorded vote 37/15/1 17
2004/67 Question of the death penalty............ Recorded vote 29/19/5 17
2004/68 Human rights Defenders................... Without a vote 17
2004/69 Status of the International Covenants on Without a vote 17
Human Rights.
2004/70 The role of good governance in the Without a vote 17
promotion of human rights.
2004/71 Follow/up to the United Nations Decade Without a vote 17
for Human Rights Education.
2004/72 Impunity................................. Without a vote 17
2004/73 Composition of the staff of the Office of Recorded vote 35/14/4 18
the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights.
2004/74 Regional cooperation for the promotion Without a vote 18
and protection of human rights in the
Asian and Pacific region.
2004/75 National institutions for the promotion Without a vote 18
and protection of human rights.
2004/76 Human rights and special procedures...... Recorded vote 35/0/18 --
2004/77 Protection of United Nations personnel... Without a vote 18
2004/78 Effective implementation of international Without a vote --
instruments on human rights, including
reporting obligations under
international instruments on human
rights.
2004/79 Technical cooperation and advisory Without a vote 19
services in Cambodia.
2004/80 Assistance to Somalia in the field of Without a vote 19
human rights.
2004/81 Advisory services and technical Without a vote 19
cooperation in the field of human rights.
2004/82 Advisory services and technical Without a vote 19
assistance in Burundi.
2004/83 Technical cooperation and advisory Without a vote 19
services in Liberia.
2004/84 Technical cooperation and advisory Without a vote 19
services in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo.
2004/85 Technical cooperation and advisory Without a vote 19
services in Chad.
2004/86 Assistance to Sierra Leone in the field Without a vote 19
of human rights.
2004/87 Protection of human rights and Without a vote 17
fundamental freedoms while countering
terrorism.
2004/88 World Conference against Racism, Racial Recorded vote 38/1/14 6
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance and the comprehensive
implementation of and follow/up to the
Durban Declaration and Programme of
Action.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPENDIX G--United Nations Commission on Human Rights Voting History, 2003-2004
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Belarus Chechnya Cuba Turkmenistan DPRK Iraq China (n/a) Zimbabwe (n/a)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
03 04 03 04 03 04 03 04 03 03 04 03 04
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFRICA-15
Algeria (03).......................................... a -- n -- n -- a -- n * -- y --
Burkina Faso (05)..................................... a a a a n n a a a * y y y
Cameroon (03)......................................... a -- a -- y -- a -- a a -- y --
DROC (03)............................................. a a n n n n a a a a y y y
Egypt (08)............................................ -- n -- n -- n -- n -- -- y -- y
Eritrea (08).......................................... -- a -- n -- a -- a -- -- y -- y
Ethiopia.............................................. -- a -- n -- n -- a -- -- y -- y
Gabon (05)............................................ a a n n n a n a y a y y y
Kenya (03)............................................ y -- a -- a -- a -- y y -- y --
Libya (03)............................................ n -- n -- n -- n -- n * -- y --
Mauritania (08)....................................... -- a -- a -- a -- a -- -- y -- y
Nigeria (08).......................................... -- n -- n -- n -- a -- -- y -- y
Senegal (03).......................................... a -- a -- a -- a -- a a -- y --
Sierra Leone (04)..................................... a n a n y n a a a * y y y
South Africa (03)..................................... n n n n n n a a a * y y y
Sudan (04)............................................ n n n n n n n n n y y y y
Swaziland (05)........................................ n a n n a n a a a a y y y
Togo (04)............................................. a a n n a n a a a a y y y
Uganda (04)........................................... a a n n a a a a a y a y y
Zimbabwe (05)......................................... n n n n n n n n n n y y y
================================================================================================================================================================================================
ASIA-12
Bahrain (04).......................................... a a a a n n n n a y y y y
Bhutan (08)........................................... -- a -- a -- a -- a -- -- y -- y
China (05)............................................ n n n n n n n n n * y y y
India (03)............................................ n n n n n n n a a a y y y
Indonesia (08)........................................ -- n -- n -- n -- n -- -- y -- y
Japan (05)............................................ y y a a y y y y y y n n n
Korea (04)............................................ y y a a y y y y * y a n n
Malaysia (03)......................................... n -- a -- n -- n -- n n -- y --
Nepal (08)............................................ -- a -- n -- a -- a -- -- y -- y
Pakistan (04)......................................... a a a a n n n n a a y y y
Qatar................................................. -- a -- a -- n -- n -- -- y -- y
Saudi Arabia (03)..................................... a a a a n n n n y y y y y
Sri Lanka (05)........................................ y y n n a a y y a y y y y
Syria (03)............................................ n -- n -- n -- n -- n a -- y --
Thailand (03)......................................... a -- a -- a -- a -- a y -- y --
Vietnam (03).......................................... n -- n -- n -- n -- n a -- y --
================================================================================================================================================================================================
GRULAC-11
Argentina (05)........................................ a a a a a a y y y y a n n
Brazil (05)........................................... y y n n a a a y y y y a a
Chile (04)............................................ y y y a y y y y y y a n n
Costa Rica (03)....................................... y y y a y y y y y y n n n
Cuba (03)............................................. n n n n n n n n n n y y y
Dominican............................................. -- y -- a -- y -- y -- -- a -- n
Republic (08).......................................
Guatemala (03)........................................ a y a a y y y y y y n n n
Honduras (08)......................................... -- a -- a -- y -- y -- -- n -- n
Mexico (04)........................................... y y y a y y y y y * a n a
Paraguay (05)......................................... y y a a y a y y y y a n n
Peru (03)............................................. y y a a y y y y y y a n n
Uruguay (03).......................................... y -- a -- y -- y -- y y -- n --
Venezuela (03)........................................ a -- n -- n -- a -- y a -- y --
================================================================================================================================================================================================
E. EURO-5
Armenia (04).......................................... n n n n y y n a y y a n n
Croatia (04).......................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
Hungary (08).......................................... -- y -- y -- y -- y -- -- n -- n
Poland (03)........................................... y -- y -- y -- y -- y y -- n --
Russian Federation.................................... n n n n n n n a n a y y y
Ukraine (05).......................................... n n n n n n n n y y y n n
================================================================================================================================================================================================
WEOG-10
Australia (05)........................................ y y y y y y y y y y n n n
Austria (04).......................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
Belgium (03).......................................... y -- y -- y -- y -- y y -- n --
Canada (03)........................................... y -- y -- y -- y -- y y -- n --
France (04)........................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
Germany (05).......................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
Ireland (05).......................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
Italy (08)............................................ -- y -- y -- y -- y -- -- n -- n
Netherlands (08)...................................... -- y -- y -- y -- y -- -- n -- n
Sweden (04)........................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
UK (03)............................................... y y y y y y y y y y n n n
U.S. (05)............................................. y y y y y y y y y y n n n
================================================================================================================================================================================================
Final Vote
yes................................................... 23 23 15 12 24 22 23 25 28 31 28 28 27
no.................................................... 14 13 21 23 20 21 16 11 10 3 16 24 24
abstain............................................... 16 17 17 18 9 10 14 17 14 12 9 -- 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* = Did not vote.
n/a = No Action Vote.
Countries in bold were new to the CHR in 2004.
Numbers within parenthesis indicate the year a country's term ends.
APPENDIX H.--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.)